Ellington (pictured), who eventually earned himself around £30,000 ($49,000/€37,000) worth of support from the King of Shaves group, was among other London 2012 hopefuls Holly Bleasdale, Perri Shakes-Drayton, Jack Green, Robbie Grabarz, Katherine Endacott, Larry Achike and William Sharman named today to take part in the Olympic dry run on May 4-7.

UK Athletics has named more than 140 track and field athletes who will be testing the facilities in Stratford alongside the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Visa Outdoor Athletics Championships.

The occasion will be the first time the stadium will be open to the general public for an athletics competition and ticket sold out at the start of April.

Track athletes and those competing in the vertical jumps will contest standalone UK Athletics events, while horizontal jumpers and throws athletes will participate in the BUCS competition fields.

UK Athletics' head coach Charles Van Commenee said: "Preparing our athletes for what to expect when they walk into the Olympic Stadium at Games time is almost impossible.

"The noise of an Olympic Stadium when a home favourite walks out just cannot be replicated.

"This test event will form an important part of some athletes' preparation.

"At this event they will get the chance to familiarise themselves with the Olympic Stadium and we can remove a number of unknown factors for them.

"We are looking forward to our first experience in the magnificent Olympic Stadium."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
January 2012: British sprinter secures London 2012 sponsorship after eBay hoax