All the whingers would have complained no matter what design was put forward. - Chris, Perth, Australia

See, I never understand this comment, it just doesn't make any sense. All us 'whingers' hoped for a beautiful stadium. The previous suggested designs looked pretty hopeful to achieve that. Somewhere along the lines, the design changed and we're left with this round of sheer nothingness. We're not impressed because we'd like to see a better design. Which doesn't support your premise then does it? We want a great design. This isn't great. It's not about whinging for the sake of whinging, it's about great design for the £496m Olympic Stadium.

Helen E., London, UK

So we've got a gassometer/bowl of trifle as a venue, a logo that looks like it's been drawn by a Asbo-ed 10 year old offender, accusations of favouritism in the choice of architects selected by Design for London, and we're already over budget.

Very classy, very clever. Well done.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

This looks nothing like the form we were previously told (and that appear even on this website in the stadium images section).

This design is a catastrophe. Peter Cook and HOK? But Peter Cook is a paid consultant to HOK in addition to his other work - so how on earth did the ODA expect to get a combination of thoughts from these two parties when they are commercially linked anyway?

What has Peter Cook actually ever built by the way?

The design is vacuous. It's boring, it doesn't inspire, it doesn't respect the enormity of the occasion that will take place here, or the legacy afterwards. A stadium that will only be used for a couple of months can be designed as a truly temporary structure for a fraction of the £496 million. Then use a proper amount to build a proper stadium later, if the legacy of a stadium *in this location* is so important.

The ODA have shamed Britain by this stadium, and so has HOK. All concerned should be sacked.

Tom Franklin, London, UK

I think it pairs nicely with the Olympic logo. They are both dreadfull

David Hughes, Worthing, England

Exactly right why not build a permanent stadium that one of the London football clubs could use - I believe West Ham already offered to take over the Olympic stadium and were refused? Answer because the football clubs would demand value for money unlike the pathetic Lord Coe led Olympic bunch of wallies. And if London doesn't need this stadium then maybe London didn't need the Olympics either and they should have gone to Birmingham or Manchester. The whole idea of the LONDON Olympics was to get the rest of the country to pay for the redevelopment of east London and line the pockets of the developers

George, Glasgow, UK

Very dissapointing and an embarrassment to the uk. There is no joy or to that matter architectual vigour in this design. This was a chance to show the world what London can do. And look what we have been given??

Unfortunately this politically correct design is a creation of pehaps the 'worry what people would think about it syndrome' that blights our nation everytime something large and architectual hits the horizon and public money is mentioned.

christian h, London,

Got to laugh at some of the comments, some people have no logic whatsoever.

Remember Telstra stadium in Sydney? Indeed, remember how dull and uninteresting all the architecture was for those games? Sydney still managed the best Olympics ever. France was going to use the decidedly ugly Stade de France for its main stadium, luckily they never had the chance . And, I for one, find the birds nest in Beijing a bit of a monstrosity.

Look how beautiful the Olympic Park is going to look, think of its legacy. We've known for sometime that the main stadium wasn't going to be an iconic structure, and we've known the reasons for this.

All the whingers would have complained no matter what design was put forward.

Chris, Perth, Australia

In a city of 12 million, where the largest cricket grounds by international standards accomadate tiny crowds, an oval shaped stadium holding 80,000 people is going to be built then torn down. Why not after the Olympics turn it into a ground where everyone and not just a middle aged male elite can go and watch the English cricket team play. But that will never happen will it? It wouldn’t be cricket.

barney, Melbourne, australia

A monument to dullness. What happened to Peter Cooks input? - this should have been extraordinary.

Huwt, sydney, australia

Awful! It looks like a Refresher sweet with the middle sucked out. I was waiting for something beautiful and iconic, something that really would serve the purpose of 2012 and be a legacy, and we've got a BORING round thing with every level that comes off stripping it of any remotest level of interest.

HOK - It doesn't matter how many coloured sparkly bits you add to the animation or graphics, it doesn't make a boring circular stadium with absolutely no outstanding features interesting. And claiming it's all clever even though it doesn't look great doesn't wash either. A real let down and so predictable - oh, let's build a stadium, oh let's choose HOK. Yawn.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

Why not copy the already tried and tested plans used for the Cardiff Millenium Stadium. It would be a lot cheaper than this proposal.

Nicholas Newman, Oxfordprospect.co.uk, England

I am a supporter of the lead architect and HoK Sport. However the selected stadium design is simply not inspiring and does not integrate well with other buildings such as the aquatic arena by Zaha Hadid. The ODA is to blame for selecting the wrong design proposal. The only thing this stadium design fits with is the Olympic logo.

W Smith, London, UK / Surrey

I first thought that it looked like a very wide gasometer, now knowing that it will "deflate" after the olympics the Gasometer description is even more appropriate.

ludwig, london,

Congratulations!!!

Half a billion pounds to watch a bunch of lycra clad, chemically fuelled (allegedly) athletes run round a track, and several B list celebrities singing amongst fireworks at the start and the finish.

Well done Seb!
Well done Tessa!

All that hope and joy when we got the games, dashed irreversibly in another British overblown, overambitious, poor;y managed debacle- really makes you proud.

MGB, Carmarthen, Wales

When Picketts Lock stadium for the World Athletics Championship was cancelled Dick Caborn said at the time

"It would have cost almost a quarter of a billion pounds to stage it at Picketts Lock and we could not justify that,"

"It's an awful lot of tennis rackets, an awful lot of sports coaches and an awful lot of football pitches."

But by spending twice as much on the Olympic stadium apparently there is a huge legacy to sports and there will be no shortage of tennis rackets, coaches and football pitches.

Iain, London,

Why just build the steduim for 60000 seat and find one of the london football club to move into after the olympics, Reduce the number of the seat without getting any reduction of the cost feel and looks like that you throwing away money in a trash can. Can I hve some of this money? I will makr sure it going for a good use.

Robert, Huntington Beach,

Let's hope the rest of the world's watching eyes will mean this one will be completed on time, unlike the Wembley Stadium.

Ben Kelly, Derry,

It's ugly. Full stop.

JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO, Canada

A lack of imagination, and a distinct lack of vision, driven but budget capping, and attempts at legacy.
How is this a symbol of london? A capital city containing many of the world leading architects, and the delivery authority back a an americanised design with vast quantities of steel and a (cop out) fabric facade system printed with past olimpians ! (trite in the first instance and driven more by advertising potential?) Draw your own conclusions.

A real disappointment .

Oscar, London,

Why would any one spend £496 million to build an 80,000 seat stadium to turn it in to a 25,000 seat stadium after the Olympics? Why not just build a permanent 80,000 stadium for that type of money I am sure a football or a rugby team could use the stadium with that type of seating capacity. Why spend all that money just to demolish two thirds of it afterwards it just does not make sense to me.

Peter Lindsley, Biggleswade,, Bedfordshire

Here we go again!. If anyone thinks this ' gin Palace ' will come in on budget, I have some land east of Galveston I can sell you!!. It might be an idea to have a contest as to who comes up with the most original reason why this boondoggle does not come up tp spec. Why not use the Millenium Dome-remember?. Throw all the good money down an existing hole!.

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Tx