Jamie Staff, gold medallist in the Team Sprint at the Beijing 2008 Games, visited the London 2012 Velodrome this week to mark the completion of the venue's steel structure.

The 6,000-seat Velodrome will host the Olympic and Paralympic Track Cycling events in 2012 and is on track to be one of the first venues to be completed in the Olympic Park in early 2011.

After the Games the Velodrome will be used by elite athletes and the local community and be part of a VeloPark that will include a BMX track, mountain bike trail and a road-racing circuit.

Mr Staff said: "It was great to visit the London 2012 Velodrome site and I was hugely impressed by the progress being made. It was good to see at first hand how the venue is being designed and built to create a great crowd atmosphere and deliver the best possible conditions for track cyclists. I’m sure this will be a perfect venue for Team GB to continue to hit gold in 2012."

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Construction work started on the Velodrome in March 2009 – one of the last of the 'big five' Park venues to get underway. Now the Velodrome steel structure has been completed, work has started to install the distinctive double-curved cable-net roof.

ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: "The completion of the Velodrome steel structure gives us an exciting glimpse of what will not only be a world-class venue for the Games and legacy, but another striking piece of architecture for the Olympic Park.

"The Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre are already firm fixtures on the east London skyline but the Velodrome taking shape has created a new focal point in the north of the Olympic Park. This year will be the toughest so far across the site, and we now turn our attentions to the lifting of the huge cable-net roof of the Velodrome, a key engineering challenge, which will help crown this spectacular venue."

(CD/GK)