Six purpose-built venues from 2012 are still standing in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and all six are open to the public in some form. Three more were designed to be taken apart and are gone. The Copper Box Arena is the one nobody plans a visit around and the one that best answers the question this page exists for: you can get inside a 2012 Olympic venue for the price of a basketball ticket or a gym session.
The park's nickname for the Copper Box is the "box that rocks". In 2012 it held the handball, the fencing leg of the modern pentathlon and the goalball. Today it is a flexible indoor arena with retractable seating for up to 7,500 people, a professional sports calendar, a public gym and, at various times, e-sports tournaments and concerts.
Our overview of the 2012 Games and the park lists the venues in a table. This page goes further: what happened to each one, what is left of the temporary ones, and which of the 2012 venues outside the park you can still use.
The Copper Box Arena
- In 2012
- Handball, modern pentathlon fencing and goalball.
- Now
- Indoor arena, retractable seating for up to 7,500, plus a public gym and fitness studios.
- Resident teams
- London Lions basketball and London Pulse netball, playing through the year.
- Also hosts
- Wheelchair basketball, handball, volleyball, netball, fencing, badminton, gymnastics, boxing, e-sports and concerts.
- Gym
- Cardio machines, resistance equipment and free weights, plus a group cycle studio, a class studio and a functional fitness room.
- Where
- Middle of the park, on the walking route between the stadium and the northern parklands.
- Prices
- Published only inside the operator's booking system; see below.
Getting inside the Copper Box
There are two straightforward ways in and neither is expensive by London standards.
Watch a match. London Lions play basketball here and London Pulse play netball, both through the season, and the arena also takes one-off fixtures in wheelchair basketball, volleyball, handball, badminton, gymnastics and boxing. A domestic basketball or netball ticket is a fraction of the price of Premier League football, the arena is small enough that every seat is close to the action, and you are sitting in an Olympic venue. Check the arena's what's on listings for your dates.
Use the gym. The building houses a full public gym with a cardio and weights floor, a dedicated group cycle studio, a class studio running yoga, body conditioning and Zumba, and a functional fitness room with boxing bags, battle ropes and TRX. Anyone can pay for a session; you do not need to be a member or a resident.
We could not print the Copper Box prices, and here is why. The operator shows gym and class prices only inside its own booking system, which does not load for us, so we are not guessing at a figure. Look them up when you book rather than trusting a number in a guidebook. The same is true of the swim price at the Aquatics Centre.
Photo: The wub · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
The venues still standing, and what each one costs to get into
| Venue | 2012 role | How you get in now |
|---|---|---|
| London Stadium | Ceremonies and athletics | Match ticket, concert ticket or a guided tour from £22 for an adult in advance |
| London Aquatics Centre | Swimming, diving, artistic swimming | A public swim, at leisure-centre prices |
| Copper Box Arena | Handball, fencing, goalball | A match ticket or a gym session |
| Lee Valley VeloPark | Track cycling and BMX | Free to walk in and watch; £46 to ride the track |
| Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre | Wheelchair tennis | Book a court or a pitch; public all year |
| ArcelorMittal Orbit | Landmark sculpture | Paid ticket for the viewing deck or the slide |
Two of those are worth a sentence on their own. The Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, at the top of the park, has two hockey pitches, four indoor tennis courts and six outdoor ones, all in public use throughout the year, with a clubhouse that has changing rooms and a bar. It stands on the old Eton Manor sports ground, which had football, rugby, tennis and running on it from 1920 until it closed in the 1960s, and was brought back into use for 2012.
And the VeloPark is the bargain: walking in, standing at the rail and watching a session from the café costs nothing. Our pages on the Lee Valley VeloPark, the London Aquatics Centre, the London Stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit have the booking detail for each.
The three that were taken apart
Not everything in the park was meant to last. Three venues were built as temporary structures and removed after the Games:
- The Basketball Arena, a white fabric-clad box in the north of the park.
- The Water Polo Arena, next to the Aquatics Centre.
- The Riverbank Arena, the blue pitch where the hockey was played.
Their sites are now parkland, housing or part of East Bank, and walking round today you would not know they had been there. What became of the materials is harder to pin down: the claim that these buildings were dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere is repeated much more often than it is sourced, and we could not confirm a destination for any of them from an official statement. Treat any specific story you read about that with caution.
The hockey did get a permanent successor: the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre at Eton Manor, which is where you would now go to play.
The buildings that changed their name and their job
Two of the largest structures from 2012 are still here but are no longer sports venues at all.
The Athletes' Village is now East Village, a residential neighbourhood of several thousand people between the park and Stratford International station, with bars, cafes and shops at street level. You can walk through it freely and it is the quickest route between the station and the north of the park.
The International Press and Broadcast Centre is now Here East, a technology and innovation campus on the canal on the west side of the park, with canalside bars and restaurants and a spa. It is the reason the towpath here is busy at lunchtime, and it sits on the edge of Hackney Wick and Fish Island.
Mandeville Place, and the Paralympic half of the story
The Paralympic Games are easy to lose in an account of 2012 and the park does not. Mandeville Place, an orchard in the park, is dedicated to the Paralympic legacy, and the Agitos, the Paralympic symbol, stands in the north of the park alongside the Olympic Rings. Wheelchair tennis was played at Eton Manor, goalball in the Copper Box, and the Copper Box still hosts wheelchair basketball.
If you are walking the park, our route through Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park passes all of these in order.
The 2012 venues outside the park
About half of the London Games happened somewhere else, using buildings and parks that already existed. Most of those are back to their old jobs, which is the quiet success of the 2012 plan.
- Lee Valley White Water Centre, at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, held the canoe slalom. It opened in 2011 and it is still open to the public for white water rafting from £58 a person, plus kayaking, paddleboarding and an inflatable obstacle course on the lake, with a cafe and bar overlooking the course. It is the most usable 2012 venue anywhere and it is part of the same Lee Valley Regional Park.
- Greenwich Park held the equestrian events and the modern pentathlon on temporary arenas, and was returned to being a park afterwards; see our guide to it.
- Horse Guards Parade held the beach volleyball on imported sand, and is back to being a parade ground; our page on Horse Guards and Whitehall covers the ceremony there now.
- Lord's held the archery and Wimbledon the tennis; both run tours and museums, covered in our pages on the Lord's tour and the Wimbledon museum and tour.
- The O2, then called the North Greenwich Arena, held gymnastics and basketball finals and is back to being an arena; see The O2 and London's big arenas.
- Hyde Park held the triathlon and the marathon swimming in the Serpentine, and is a park again; our guide to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens covers the lido there.
- Earls Court held the volleyball. The exhibition centre closed after the Games and the site is being redeveloped, as our page on Earl's Court and West Brompton explains.
Half a day, and the order to do it in
If your interest is the venues rather than the park, a sensible half-day from Stratford goes: Aquatics Centre foyer, the Orbit from below, a loop of the stadium on the riverside path, the Copper Box, then the VeloPark at the top, and out at Hackney Wick. That is about two hours of walking and costs nothing unless you book something.
To go inside one of them, pick by budget. Free: the VeloPark. Cheap: a swim, or a Copper Box gym session. Mid-range: a basketball or netball ticket. Expensive for what it is: the Orbit slide. And check the stadium calendar first, because on event days the roads round the stadium close about three hours before kick-off and Stratford station is unpleasant afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Can you go inside the Copper Box Arena?
Yes. It has a public gym with weights, cardio equipment, a cycle studio and fitness classes, and it stages basketball, netball and other sports you can buy a ticket for. London Lions and London Pulse are the resident clubs. Prices are published in the operator's booking system rather than on a printed price list.
Which 2012 Olympic venues are still standing?
Inside the park: the London Stadium, the London Aquatics Centre, the Copper Box Arena, Lee Valley VeloPark, the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and the ArcelorMittal Orbit. All six are open to the public in some form. Outside the park, most of the borrowed venues, from Lord's to The O2, are back to their normal use.
What happened to the Olympic Basketball Arena?
It was a temporary structure and it was removed after the Games, along with the Water Polo Arena and the Riverbank Arena where the hockey was played. Their sites are now parkland, housing or part of East Bank. Stories about the buildings being rebuilt in other countries circulate widely but we could not confirm any of them from an official source.
What is the cheapest way into an Olympic venue in London?
Free, at Lee Valley VeloPark: you can walk in, watch a track session from the café and pay nothing. After that, a public swim at the Aquatics Centre or a gym session at the Copper Box are the cheapest paid options, both charged at ordinary leisure-centre rates.
Can you still go white water rafting at the 2012 canoe venue?
Yes. Lee Valley White Water Centre at Waltham Cross, which held the canoe slalom, is open to the public, with rafting from £58 a person as well as kayaking, paddleboarding and an inflatable course on the lake. It is outside London in Hertfordshire, on Station Road, EN9 1AB.
Sources
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - Copper Box Arena (checked September 2026)
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre (checked September 2026)
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - Experience the legacy of London 2012 (Here East, East Village, Mandeville Place) (checked September 2026)
- Lee Valley Regional Park Authority - Lee Valley White Water Centre (checked September 2026)