The O2, also known as North Greenwich Arena 1

The O2 was originally known as the Millennium Dome and was built for the millennium celebrations in 2000.

It endured some awful press and PR once the celebrations were over but this is all now firmly in the past – the Dome was transformed into a world-class sports and entertainment centre called the O2 Arena, and features numerous shops and more restaurants than many English towns.

It opened to the public in June 2007 and during the summer Olympics in London in 2012 will be known as North Greenwich Arena 1 and will host the artistic gymnastics, trampoline, basketball events, as well as the wheelchair basketball competition in the Paralympics.

It holds 20,000 people and is a great venue which sits on the point of the Greenwich peninsula – right on the meridian line at the centre of time and navigation – and just across the River Thames from the mouth of the River Lea, which flows through the Olympic Park.

The O2/ North Greenwich Arena 1 is right by North Greenwich Tube station, which is on the Jubilee line (the silver one) which links Stratford (where the Olympic Park is) and central London.