Final Countdown To London Games Begins

Preparations for the London Olympics have entered the home strait with the opening of the £269m Aquatics Centre.

Tom Daley will plunge into the diving pool this evening as part of a series of events to mark exactly one year until the 2012 Games begin.

The dive will be shown live on a giant screen in Trafgalgar Square where a special party is being held.

Among those attending will be London 2012 chief Lord Sebastian Coe and Mayor Boris Johnson.

They will be joined by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who will formally invite the world's athletes to the Games.

The wave-shaped Aquatics Centre is the last of the five permanent venues at the Olympic Park in Stratford to be finished.

Its completion has allowed the organisers to congratulate themselves on getting them all built on time and on budget.

The other 'big builds' include the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium, the Velodrome and the International Broadcast Centre.

"To have all the permanent venues complete with a year still to go to the Games is a great achievement," declared Mr Johnson.

"It's a pretty big moment for us," said Lord Coe. "Though a mountain of work is still needed to prepare (the venues) we have an extraordinary platform to build on.

"I don't think we are sitting here fearful of anything - we have everything under control."

Praising the work done so far, Mr Rogge said: "London 2012 is now ideally placed not just to deliver top level Olympic competition but also to leave a great legacy to the British people."

The party in the square will provide the first glimpse of how London will look when key buildings and parts of the city are "dressed" for the Games.

The design of the gold, silver and bronze medals to be won at London 2012 will also be unveiled at the celebration.

Olympic rowing champion Zac Purchase said: "I am really excited to get to look at what the London medals are like. I thought the Beijing medals, with the jade inset, were particularly nice."

London will be the first city to host the Olympics for a third time after previously doing so in 1908 and 1948.