Sports	Rowing Canoe Sprint Paralympic Rowing
Capacity	Up to 30,000

Located near Windsor and some 25 miles from London, Eton Dorney will host rowing and canoe sprint during the Olympics, with the venue's facilities being enhanced to ensure suitability for the Games.

The lake at Eton Dorney was created after school masters at Eton decided they wanted a still water course as an alternative to the Thames for activities.

The fast currents and varied width of the lake, as well as its ability to be used as an all year facility, enabled them to finally create Dorney Lake in 2006.

Planning for the venue, the idea for which was originally conceived in the 1960s, took place in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1996 a 10 year construction programme finally got underway.

Oxford Archaeology excavated the site during the lake's construction, and they discovered a host of material dating back to the last Ice Age some 12,000 years ago.

Finds date from then to the Roman conquests and beyond, including a series of bridges, a Roman farmstead, human and animal skeletons and tools.

£17 million was spent on the construction of the lake, and it has since become the venue of choice for a number of regattas.

Those which have made the move include the Marlow regatta, the Metropolitan regatta and the Wallingford regatta, all of which take place between May and June.

The site is now recognised as one of the world's finest, and its status was recognised when it was selected to host rowing at the Olympic Games.

The 2,200 metre eight lane rowing course is set in a 400 acre park, and it hosted the 2006 Rowing World Championships, making it an ideal venue for 2012.


A cut through between the competition and return lake and a bridge over this area have been constructed in preparation for 2012.

Also constructed for London 2012 was a new 50-metre span finish line over a widened entrance.

Athletes will stay at the Royal Holloway College, some 16km from the venue,

Athletes will be housed in the residential buildings at the Royal Holloway College, which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1886, and is 16km from the competition venue.