A site to see: The Aquatics Centre

Architect: British-Iraqi “starchitect” Zaha Hadid accused the Olympic organisers of being “rude”, after they failed to invite her to a single event at the pool. “When you’ve designed a building like this you want to see how it’s used,” Hadid complained.

Nickname: “The Great Wave”.

Bare facts: The curvaceously shaped venue contains two 50m swimming pools, a 25m diving pool and can seat a staggering 17,500 spectators.

The inside track: The wave-like roof was one of the most complex engineering challenges of the Games. In a single lift, the entire 3,000-tonne structure had to be raised 1.3m so it could be placed on the two concrete structures that support it. The span of the wave-like roof is 160m — longer than Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Diving: July 29-Aug 11

Swimming: July 28-Aug 4

Synchronised swimming: Aug 5-Aug 10

Modern pentathlon: Aug 11-Aug 12

The future: The building’s two temporary “wings” will be removed, reducing the seating capacity to 2,500. The venue will be used by the local community as well as elite swimmers and is expected to replace Crystal Palace’s National Sports Centre as London’s best facility for aquatic sports. It will be run by Greenwich Leisure for the next decade and is expected to welcome 800,000 visitors a year.