Former hockey greats among those honored by the unique project

To celebrate the Games, the names of 361 tube station stops have been changed to the names of Olympic athletes. Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled the special Olympic Legends Underground Map featuring icons such as four-time gold medallist Jesse Owens as station stops on the map.

The Underground Olympic Legends Map is a unique interpretation of the Underground map in which each underground line is dedicated to a Summer Olympic sporting discipline or disciplines from basketball to athletics and, of course, hockey.  The map not only celebrates multiple gold medal winning athletes but also features other extraordinary athletes who may not have won an Olympic gold medal but are recognised for their abilities or in some cases, famous defeats. 

Hockey players included in the project are Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius, Stephan Veen, Rechelle Hawkes, and Carsten Fischer, on the orange line. To view an enlarged version of the map, click here.

American swimming star Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian of all-time with 14 gold medals, has received the ultimate honour of being the main London 2012 Olympic stop of Stratford.

Nearby Stratford International Station, on the Docklands Light Railway, has been named Cassius Clay after the American boxer who won gold at the Rome 1960 Olympics before changing his name to Muhammad Ali and becoming the greatest heavyweight of all time.

The Underground Olympic Legends Map was designed by Alex Trickett and David Brooks,  who say on their design:   

"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.

"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."

With files from Inside the Games and Transport for London

Source: FIH