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sports in the spotlight

London 2012 Watch: Tube Map Honors Olympic Legends

Posted by Mark J. Miller on April 2, 2012 02:06 PM

If the Tube system in London confuses you already, you might want to skip heading to England for the Olympics this summer. Just to confuse you a little more, a new map has come out of the Underground with 361 station stops renamed for Olympic greats.

The map is being sold on Transport for London's website prior to the 2012 Summer Games. Each subway stop of the London Underground Olympics Legend map is "renamed" for athletes from different sport, so one is all swimming while another is all track and field. The map was designed by former BBC sports journalist Alex Trickett and sports historian David Brooks.

The duo chose an American athlete to represent the main Olympic venue's stop: swimmer Michael Phelps, whose 14 gold medals make him the most successful Olympian of all time. The station nearby is Cassius Clay, named for the famed boxer who fought in the 1960 Olympics of Rome and won gold before changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Longtime rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are next to each other, with Fed getting the bigger tube stop.

"We love sport, we love lists and we love London, so what better challenge than to select 361 of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen and to fit them on to our iconic tube map," said the pair in a joint statement. "There were heated debates and a few late changes of heart, but we are happy with the result: dozens of nations represented, all 2012 Olympic sports accounted for, and Ali and Phelps, two of the greatest Olympians of all time, guarding the Stratford gateways to the Games."

Disagree with any of their choices (or omissions)? Trickett is gamely responding on his Twitter feed.

Comments

sell house now United Kingdom says:

Quite clearly the London underground have thought how can we make some money from the Olympics? I'm sure some Olympic collectors will buy this, but other than that I think the sales will be poor.

April 3, 2012 10:20 AM #

Kathleen Kern United States says:

Would have suggested they super impose the names over the real station names so that it was a great souvenir and usable.

April 8, 2012 04:32 AM #

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