London students to test stadium for Olympic Games

The Standard has learnt that the British students' annual track and field championships will take place in May 2012 as the "test event" for the main stadium.

The highlight of the higher education sports calendar, the three-day British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) championships typically features top athletes from 90 colleges and universities.

The event is traditionally dominated by Loughborough University, whose former students include London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe.

The 80,000 capacity Olympic arena will be a major advance on previous venues as last year's BUCS event was staged at a tiny athletics club in Bedford.

Plans to move to the annual athletics grand prix - the premier UK track and field event of the summer - from the 25,000-seat Crystal Palace stadium to the Olympic stadium before 2012 have been abandoned due to scheduling. Unlike the students' event, the grand prix cannot interrupted due to teething troubles on the day as it is broadcast on live TV.

The BUCS will enable the 2012 organising committee, Locog, to test all aspects of the venue from crowd control, transport and the field of play.

Only if the event passes without incident will organisers be granted a license from the Health and Safety Executive.

It is thought around 30,000 spectators - the size of the "test" crowd for the main stadium for the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games - will be needed to rigorously test the venue. Locog may choose to draft in volunteers to make up the numbers for the BUCS event which normally attracts only a few thousand spectators.

Much of the test event schedule has now been agreed between Locog and the 26 Olympic sports.

The schedule consists of invitational events rather than major internationals and reflects Locog's concern to keep a tight control on costs.

Games organisers are restricted in their ability to offset event cost with sponsorship as many potential backers may be rivals of the official 2012 commercial partners.

Some Olympic venues have already effectively been tested this year. The O2 Arena in Greenwich, which will host the 2012 artistic gymnastics and basketball finals, has hosted NBA games and basketball internationals and was the venue for this year's world gymnastics championships. Hyde Park, the 2012 triathlon venue, this summer hosted a leg of the world series with cycling and running in and around the park and swimming in the Serpentine.