TOUR DE FORCE

摘要

With only a year to go until the start of the 2012 Olympics all eyes are now on London's newly completed venues. If there was a Olympic title for best venue the Hopkins-designed velodrome must be among the favourites for gold. It has already been placed on the shortlist for the Stirling Prize and New London Architecture hailed it the best new building in the capital earlier this month. While the gleaming 2012 velodrome has been rightly lauded, another Olympic velodrome on the other side of London has been allowed to rot after years of neglect. Herne Hill's outdoor velodrome was built in 1892 and hosted the track events at the 1948 Olympics. It's been popular ever since thanks to devoted volunteers but years of wrangling between the council and landlowner Dulwich Estates, has left Herne Hill in a perilous state, with condemned grandstands and a crumbling track.