More than 40,000 people are to be given the opportunity to be at the Olympic Stadium in London for its first major event, an occasion that is set to be marked by an evening of entertainment and which will give one person to be chosen from the crowd the chance to officially declare it open.

London 2012 have announced that tickets are on sale for the unique event on May 5, called "2012 Hours to Go: An Evening of Athletics and Entertainment", which will follow on from the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Visa Outdoor Athletics Championships taking place in the Stadium on the same day.

As members of the public arrive at the Stadium at 7.00pm, they will watch the final hour of the Championships' evening session where competitors will join the ranks of previous BUCS champions including Perri Shakes-Drayton, Dai Greene and Hannah England (pictured below running in Olympic Stadium with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe).

The evening session will also include a series of UK Athletics Invitational events featuring some of Britain's best athletes who will be aiming for a place in Team GB this summer.

After the athletics has finished, a celebrity host will be joined by famous faces including Olympians and Paralympians for a series of stunts, games, challenges and prizes. The 40,000 strong-audience will be narrowed down to one lucky winner who will be brought into the middle of the Stadium to officially open the venue.

Information on the host, celebrities, schedule and prizes for the evening will be released in the coming weeks. The Stadium will be used for the first time the day before when the opening day of the BUCS Championships will begin. 

"We are now in the home straight and having staged 31 successful test events we are in a good position as we head towards the Games themselves," said Debbie Jevans, the London 2012 director of sport. "As with all our test events we will be testing a range of our operations including field of play and also our workforce," she cocluded.