In late August, London's brand new Olympic Basketball Arena hosted a six-team tournament as part of its London Prepares series, designed specifically to test its Olympic venues before the actual Games. Participating nations included Great Britain, France, China, Croatia, Serbia, and Australia. Initial feedback was positive.
Tony Parker, the starting point guard of the San Antonio Spurs and French National team, stated, "I can see the excitement on people's faces...London is going to be a great host city." Joakim Noah, also a native of France, reiterated Parker's comments, specifically complementing the atmosphere and quality of the arena.
Pre-events like these are important for LOCOG because it serves as a test run for evaluating all the little details that go into hosting a successful event. Everything from the treatment of players, lodging, how fans move around the venues, and the actual timing and execution of the sporting event can now be evaluated and analyzed in order to determine what can be improved upon and what initial designs succeeded. Furthermore, London has made an effort to reach out to its own citizens to support the Games as volunteers, and Joanna Sutherland, the London 2012 Competition Manager for Basketball, specifically thanked and praised the efforts of the volunteers in the pre-event and cited the tournament as a pre-cursor for continued success in the future.
http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics?articlenewsgroup=-1&articleid=137805
