General Information

The Basketball Arena for the 2012 Games is located in Stratford, London. It’s a temporary venue, and the largest built for any Games. It will be also used at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and could be used to the 2016 Games.

Additional Information

The Basketball Arena will have 12,000 seats for basketball and the semi-finals and finals of handball, and 10,000 for wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. The arena will also be used as a holding area for athletes during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games.

Concept designs by Wilkinson Eyre Architects were agreed in June 2008 and a planning application was submitted in November 2008. In late October 2009 it was announced that preparatory work had begun on the site and Paisley-based Barr Construction would begin building the main arena in spring 2010. The Basketball Arena took 15 months to build and was completed in June 2011.

Basketball: Highlights

Basketball tournament at the 2012 Games is scheduled to be held from 28 July to 12 August at the Basketball Arena and the O2 Arena (called North Greenwich Arena because of the ban on commercialisation in venue names during the Games). The United States men’s and women’s teams will be defending their current gold medals.

Handball: Highlights

Handball competitions at the 2012 Games are scheduled to be held from 28 July to 12 August. Preliminary rounds and quarter-finals will take place in the Copper Box, while the semi-finals and final will take place in the larger Basketball Arena.