About London 2012

About London 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom (UK) will officially be the Games of the XXX Olympiad. will take place in London, England, United Kingdom, With a few events also taking place in Cardiff, Wales, UK.

The games will officially take place between 27th July 2012 to 12th August 2012.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic Athletic Champion, Lord Sebastian Coe, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th International Olympic Committe (IOC) Session in Singapore. London defeated Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris in the 2012 Olympic bid.

London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games for a third time having previously hosted Olympic games in 1908 &1948.

While budgetary considerations for the games have generated some criticism, they have also been welcomed by others as having prompted a redevelopment of many of the areas of London in which events are to be held.

The main focus of the games will be a new 200 hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site in the east of London at Straford. The Games will also make use of many existing venues from within the City.

Olympic organisers estimate that 8 million tickets will be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games.

It is estimated that 82% of available Olympic tickets and 63% of Paralympic tickets will be sold.

A total of around 4,700 medals will be dished out during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The medals have been produced for the games by the Royal Mint.

The medal used for London 2012 have been designed by David Watkins. Each medal weighs 375–400g and is 7mm thick. They will be engraved with the sport and disciplin on the rim.

Following recent tradition, the front of the medal features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from Parthenon. The reverse side features the logo for the games as well as the River Thames and a series of lines symbolising the energy of the athletes.

Athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate. The Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee, which had planned to continue functioning after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, had its membership withdrawn by the IOC Executive Committee at the IOC session of June 2011. However, Dutch Antillean athletes who qualify for the 2012 Olympics will be allowed to participate independently under the Olympic flag.

As of 14 May 2012, 182 countries have qualified at least one athlete.