London 2012 Olympic podium designs revealed

The podium designs for the London 2012 Olympics have been unveiled.

Flower bearer costume
Podium design

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games approached students at The Royal College of Art in October 2011 with a brief to design the Victory ceremonies, podiums and ceremonial costumes for the victory ceremonies.

Make-up design is by Caroline Barnes and Max Factor and floral displays are by Jane Packer.

Through a series of workshops, a team of five RCA students were engaged for the podium design: Gaetano Ling; Hong-Yeul Eom; Luc Fusaro; Heegun Koo; and Yan Lu.  

Flower bearer costume
Flower bearer costume

Ling is an RCA graduate of MA +MSc Innovation Design Engineering and specialises in materials, robotics and technology.

His team worked with London 2012 staff and college tutors to finalise the design, which he says is an interpretation of the Wolff Olins-designed Games logo.

London 2012 will also be the first time that the same podium design has been used for both the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Flower bearer costume
Flower bearer costume

‘We needed to look at the inclusive theme of the Games and include ramps’ says Ling.

‘We drew lines from the London 2012 logo and made a dynamic extension from that to create something more 3D which would look good from any angle,’ he adds.

The colour purple was chosen ‘as we needed something which would fit all venues. We could have gone with white but it would have tarnished easily,’ says Ling.

There will be 40 podium units, which will support 4,400 medal winners over the course of the Games.

Sports Chic make-up design by Max Factor for athlete and presenter escorts
Sports Chic make-up design by Caroline Barnes and Max Factor, for athlete and presenter escorts

Costumes for the Games will be worn by 100 female volunteer athlete and presenter escorts and 200 male flower and medal bearers.

The set of uniforms has been inspired by Greek mythology and British heritage, according to LOCOG, which says, ‘The inspiration for this design included the architecture of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues combined with aspects of British tailoring and sportwear.’

Hide Comments (11)Show Comments (11)
Comments
  • Dan November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Woohoo! Go G, Hong, Luc, Egan and Yan!

  • Katie November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    At the beginning of the 21st century, I would have liked to have seen designs a little more forward-thinking and unisex that didn’t promote sexist gender stereotypes by accentuating the falsely-constructed ‘differences’ labelled ‘masculine’and ‘feminine’. Instead, I’m left wondering if the 1930s style escort uniforms are more evocative of the Berlin 1936 Olympics than the London 2012 ones – c’mon, I know the progress towards gender equality is disappointingly slow, but surely we’ve moved on since then, erm…haven’t we? Perhaps it’s just the plastic Ken & Barbie doll looking quality to them, but I’d even go so far to say that the uniforms almost have a cult-like air about them which feels strangely unnerving. Had I not already been informed courtesy of the above article that they were for the London 2012 Olympic Games I’m afraid I might well have laboured under the misapprehension that they’d been designed for a Moonie convention, or something!

  • Patricia November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    What a mess these uniforms are! They look like sacks tied up in the middle. If this is the best that Britain can design I hang my head in shame. The handing over ceremony in Beijing was an embarrassment in itself – ( mine and many other people’s opinion) Let us hope that the opening ceremony does not focus so much on ” youth “- but on what has made this country, its history and its sportsmen great.

  • sorry November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    what happen to England..
    main stadium is so typical..
    mascot is so weird..
    those color, shape of uniform looks so ugly..

  • Tim Burley November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Sorry, picture must have got mixed up. I’m sure the guy on the right is wearing a uniform from one of the Star Trek TV series

  • Su Thomson November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Sorry, not keen on the angular mauve suit for the guys – impractical sleeves and odd neckline just looks weird. Dresses are pretty ho-humdrum too.
    Why do we do this!? Can’t we just select someone at the top of their game to design something sophisticated and stylish instead of throwing it open to the world and his wife like a kids colouring competition in a supermarket

  • Elizabeth C November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Don’t like the uniforms, most unflattering, especially the wierd sash, and I agree that the men’s outfit looks like leftover Startrek,
    As for the foreign names who designed them… what happened to all things British?

  • elvira November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    What dothe colours of the sashes represent?

  • Bekki Le P November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Meh, the uniforms look like they’d suit an airline, but who cares?
    I just wanted to say that while your earlier reader right comments that the Handing Over ceremony was naff, the Opening Ceremony was incredible, a wonderful celebration of Britain and beautifully multi-cultural; my husband and I were properly hats-off proud to be British while we watching it – and that’s not something we get to say often! Although owing to the amazing performance of our athletes we feel that way often right now.

  • free speech November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    @ Elizabeth C

    what makes you think the designers aren’t British…? because their names aren’t George, Susan or William?

    I think the judges looked for talent/design rather then the colour of their skin.

  • Irina November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    well, they didn’t find that either, did they? the uniforms still look ugly.

  • Post a comment

Latest articles