�It is getting nearer and nearer – for organisers, after years of preparations, the Olympic Games loom like the finish line for a marathon runner.

Key dates have been outlined for the six months leading up to the Games.

Work on the Olympic Park is now more than 90 per cent complete.

From Friday, people were able to buy tickets once again as the resale programme opened and Monday marked 200 days until the opening ceremony.

February and March sees the test events continue in earnest, with preparation including world cups in cycling and diving.

On March 30, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) co-ordination commission will make its final visit to London, one day before the National Lottery Olympic Park Run.

In April, there will be just 100 days to go until the Games.

Torch Relay

On May 19, the Olympic Torch Relay will start at Land’s End, reaching Scotland by June 8.

The London 2012 Festival will start on June 21 and four days later schools up and down the country will celebrate World Sport Day.

The Olympic Flame will arrive in London on the evening of July 20, and the Games will officially start on July 27.

Chairman of the organising committee, Lord Sebastian Coe, said: “A huge amount has been achieved over the past 12 months with iconic new venues completed and test events bringing world-class sport to the Olympic Park for the first time.

“We still have much to do but there is growing excitement as we count down to the Games next summer.”

Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, John Armitt, said the end of 2011 was its busiest period since the plans for the Games were set in motion.

“It is thanks to the expertise of the construction industry that this has been achieved, transforming a run-down area into the setting for the world’s greatest sporting event,” he said.