Organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games laid out the targets to be achieved by next summer as the countdown to the Opening Ceremony of the Games reached the three-year mark.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has already started work on all permanent venues at the Olympic Park site on time and on budget, while the sailing facilities at Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset have become the first Olympic venue to be completed. New targets to be achieved by summer 2010 outlined by the ODA include the completion of the Olympic Stadium structure and the start of work on the venue's field of play and the completion of the Aquatic Centre's exterior, while the organisation also expects to have started installing the timber track at the 2012 Velodrome.

Meanwhile, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) expects to launch the London 2012 volunteer programme and the initial details of the ticketing strategy for the Games by next summer, as well as the acquisition of more than one million pieces of sporting equipment. LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe said: "In exactly three years, London and the whole of the UK will be getting ready to stage the greatest event on earth and we will not disappoint.

"There is a tangible sense of excitement building and a genuine sense of belief that the Games in 2012 will not only be a source of intense national pride, but that the benefits will be felt for generations to come." The publication of the new targets came as Coe met with Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, London mayor Boris Johnson and ODA chair John Armitt, as well as Team GB ParalympicsGB athletes to witness first hand the progress that has already been made.

Johnson said: "Nobody visiting the Olympic Park can fail to be blown away by the extraordinary engineering achievement that greets you when you arrive in Stratford. A Herculean effort by everyone on the 2012 project, from the planners to the construction workers, means we are ahead of schedule and on budget." The first time trial of the Javelin rail service between London's St Pancras and Stratford International stations, which will be used to ferry 25,000 visitors each hour during the 2012 Games, has also been carried out.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the Evening Standard newspaper found that 64 per cent of Londoners were in favour of the capital hosting the 2012 Games, while half of those questions believe that the event will help boost public sports facilities in London. Image: ODA