The 2012 Summer Olympic Games
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, began in London, United Kingdom on 27 July and will continue until 12 August 2012. The first event, the group stages in women's football, began two days earlier on 25 July. Around 10,500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.
Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Lord Coe and the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating bids from Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris. London is the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.
Construction in preparation for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, particularly themed towards sustainability. The main focus of this is a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford in the east of London. The Games also make use of venues which were already in place before the bid.
Development and preparation
Main article: 2012 Summer Olympic development
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games
(LOCOG) was created to oversee the staging of the Games after the
success of the bid, and held their first board meeting on 3 October
2005. The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, is in charge of implementing and staging the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is in charge of the construction of the venues and infrastructure. The latter was established in April 2006.The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is the lead government body for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. It focuses on oversight of the Games, cross-programme programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy before and after the Games that will benefit London and the UK. The organisation is also responsible for the supervision of the £9.3 billion of public sector funding.
In August 2011, security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London due to the 2011 England riots, with a few countries expressing fear over the safety of the Games, in spite of the International Olympic Committee's assurance that the riots will not affect the Games.
The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2012 Games completed their tenth and final visit to London in March 2012. They concluded that "London is ready to host the world this summer".
Financing
The costs of mounting the Games are separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure, and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games are privately funded, the venues and Park costs are met largely by public money.The original budget for the Games was £2.4 billion, but this was increased almost fourfold to about £9.3 billion ($14.46 billion) in 2007. The revised figures were announced to the House of Commons on 15 March 2007 by Tessa Jowell. Along with East End regeneration costs, the breakdown was:
- building the venues and infrastructure — £5.3 billion
- Elite sport and Paralympic funding — £400 million.
- Security and policing — £600 million
- Regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley — £1.7 billion
- Contingency fund — £2.7 billion
- VAT — £800 million.
Ticketing
Organisers estimated that some 8 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. LOCOG aimed to raise £375–£400 million in ticket sales. There were also free events such as marathon, triathlon and road cycling, although, for the first time in Olympic history, the sailing events were ticketed. Eventually over 7 million tickets were sold in total. Following IOC rules, people applied for tickets from the NOC of their country of residence. European Union residents were able to apply for tickets in any EU country.In Great Britain, ticket prices range from £20 for many events to £2,012 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. Free tickets were given to military personnel, as well as to survivors and families of those who died during 7 July 2005 London bombings. Initially, people were able to apply for tickets via a website from 15 March until 26 April 2011. There was a huge demand for tickets, with a demand of over three times the number of tickets available. The process was widely criticised as more than 50% of the sessions went to a random ballot, and over half the people who applied got no tickets. On 11 May 2012 a round of nearly one million "second chance" tickets went on sale over a 10-day period between 23 June and 3 July 2011. About 1.7 million tickets available for football and 600,000 for other sports (including archery, hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball). Although technical difficulties were encountered, ten sports had sold out by 8 am of the first day.
Medals
Approximately 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics).Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S. Each medal weighs 375–400 g (13.2–14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.34 in) and is 7 mm (0.27 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with Parthenon in the background; the reverse features the Games logo, the River Thames and a series of lines representing "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together". The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2 July 2012 for storage.Each gold medal is made up of 92.5 percent silver and 1.34 percent gold, with the remainder copper. The silver medal (which represents second place) is made up of 92.5 percent silver, with the remainder copper. The bronze medal is made up of 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc and 0.5 percent tin. The value of the materials in the gold medal is about $644, the silver about $330, and the bronze about $4.71 on the current market.
Public transport
London's public transport was an element of the bid which was scored
poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation; however, they felt that if the
improvements were delivered in time for the Games then London would
cope. Transport for London (TfL) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2012, including the expansion of the London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the introduction of a new "Javelin" high-speed rail service.
According to Network Rail, an additional 4,000 train services will run
during the Games and train operators will put on longer trains during
the day. During the Games, Stratford International station will not be served by any international services, westbound trains will not stop at Hackney Wick railway station, and the Pudding Mill Lane DLR station will close entirely during the Games. During the Games, some lanes on some roads in London will be dedicated to athletes, officials and VIPs.
The plan was to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event, and 93% of them within 30 minutes of their event. The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. In addition, the LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport. Two park-and-ride sites off the M25 with a combined capacity of 12,000 cars, were 25 minutes away from the Olympic Park. Another park-and-ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with a capacity for 9,000 cars where spectators could board a 10-minute shuttle bus. To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park-and-ride schemes were set up.
Concerns have been expressed at the logistics of spectators travelling to the events outside London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland did not have direct motorway connections, and local roads are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer. However, a £77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011. Some £16 million was put aside for the rest of the improvements.
TfL have published information to encourage cycling as a mode of transport during the Games. Cyclists, like motorists, are not permitted to ride in the designated Olympic Lanes on London streets. Some designated cycle paths such as the Lea Valley towpath are closed to the public during the Olympics
Countdown
A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was unveiled, 500 days before the Games. The clock broke down the following day. The countdown to the start of the Olympics began with a ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece.
Environmental policy
The Olympic Park was planned incorporate 45 hectares of wildlife habitat, with a total of 525 bird boxes, and 150 bat boxes. Local waterways and riverbanks are to be enhanced as part of the process. Renewable energy also features at the Olympics. It was originally planned to provide 20% of the energy for the Olympic Park and Village from renewable technologies; however, this may now be as little as 9%. Proposals to meet the original target included large-scale on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames. These plans were scrapped for safety reasons. The focus has since moved to installing solar panels on some buildings, and providing the opportunity to recover energy from waste. Food packaging at the Olympics is made from compostable materials – like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics – where it cannot be re-used or recycled. This includes fast food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons. After they have been used, many of these materials will be suitable for anaerobic digestion (AD), allowing them to be made into renewable energy.Cultural Olympiad
Main article: 2012 Cultural Olympiad
The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympic Games and for governing the Olympic Movement, states that"LOCOG shall organise a programme of cultural events which must cover at least the entire period during which the Olympic Village is open."The Cultural Olympiad comprises many programmes, with over 500 events spread over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, and culminating in the London 2012 Festival.
Opening ceremony
Main article: 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July 2012 and was called "Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle
was the artistic director for the opening ceremony, and the music
directors were Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of the electronic music duo Underworld.The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was the second Games opened personally by the Queen; she opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Philip opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne on her behalf. The Games held in Australia and Canada in 1988, 2000 and 2010 were opened by their countries' respective Governors-General.
A short comic film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II as herself was screened during the ceremony. Sir Paul McCartney performed the song "Hey Jude" at the end of the ceremony. According to reports, the gala opening ceremony was watched by 27 million UK viewers.
Closing ceremony
Main article: 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics is scheduled
to take place on 12 August 2012. The ceremony is planned to include a
handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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