The Olympic Games 2012, London

2012 Summer Olympics

Host city: London, England, United Kingdom
Nations participating: 139 (qualified), 204 (estimated)
Athletes participating: 10,500 (estimated)
Events: 302 in 26 sports
Opening ceremony: 27 July
Closing ceremony: 12 August
Stadium: Olympic Stadium

A London 2012 Olympics banner at The Monument in London

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris after four rounds of voting. The successful bid was headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe.

The Olympics prompted a redevelopment of many of the areas of London in which the games are to be held – particularly themed towards sustainability. While the budgetary considerations have generated some criticism, the Games will make use of many venues which were already in place before the bid, including Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena, Wimbledon All England Club, Lord's Cricket Ground, The O2 Arena, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, and the Excel Centre.

Broadcasting

The International Broadcast Centre in June 2011

The London 2012 Olympic Games will be the tenth Olympic Games (counting both Summer and Winter Games) where Panasonic's digital technologies will be used as the official recording format, dating since the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. The official international video will be produced and distributed from the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in London Olympic Park, in 1080/50i High-Definition (HD) format. Panasonic announced that DVCPRO HD will be the official recording format for capturing the Games. Olympic Broadcasting Services London (OBSL), the Host Broadcaster, will use P2 HD series equipment to support the broadcast of the competition. The cameras that will be used are the AG-HPX250, the company’s first P2 HD handheld camcorder with AVC-Intra recording and two new AVCCAM HD handheld camcorders, the AG-AC160 and AG-AC130, with Full HD imagers and a new, wider 21X HD zoom lens.

Continuing the IOC's commitment to providing over-the-air television coverage to as broad a worldwide audience as possible, London 2012 is scheduled to be broadcast by a number of regional broadcasters. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the home broadcaster for the Olympics and Channel 4 the home broadcaster for the Paralympics. The BBC aims to broadcast by various channels all 5,000 hours of the Olympic Games. Much of the actual broadcasting is originated by the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). The United States television rights currently owned by NBC account for over half the rights revenue for the IOC. Many television broadcasters granted rights to the games have bureaux and studios in London, but since at least the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, rights-holder operations are hosted in the dedicated International Broadcast Centre (IBC). London's IBC is planned to be inside the security cordon of the Olympic Park.

Social media will be important for the Games. Online technology is being developed for the London 2012 Olympics and YouTube will stream highlights of the Games to countries all over the world as part of an IOC deal.

Olympic flag

On 26 September 2008 the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside City Hall formally mark London becoming host city for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Beijing Gold medalist Christine Ohuruogu raised the Olympic flag, whilst Paralympic Champions, Helene Raynsford and Chris Holmes raised the Paralympic flag.

Eco-policy

The Olympic Park will 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 will also feature 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. However, 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 will be made from compostable materials – like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics – where it cannot be re-used or re-cycled. This will include 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.

Tourism and the 2012 Games

Kate Hoey MP at the launch of Blue Badge 2012 Guided Walks

The 2012 Games park near Stratford is attracting new tourists to the area. The upgraded Greenway cycle and walking path provides an ideal viewing point for the park while the site remains closed to the public.

There are daily public walking tours running alongside the 2012 site led by qualified Blue Badge tourist guides. The guided walks – which leave from Bromley-by-Bow tube station at 11 am – are attended by over 1000 people each month. They are run by guides who are specifically trained to talk about the 2012 Games and the history and traditions of the local area.

In 2010, Blue Badge Guides led 220 visits from colleges and schools to the 2012 Games site and nearby Olympic venues. During summer they guided over 1000 new visitors and tourists a day around East London’s 2012 sites.

In 2011, a new initiative to bring tourists and visitors into the area will involve a public waterbus ‘hop-on hop-off’ route, from Limehouse Basin to waterways near the Olympic Park.

Cultural Olympiad

The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympic Games and the governing the Olympic Movement states that

"The OCOG shall organise a programme of cultural events which must cover at least the entire period during which the Olympic Village is open."

London's Cultural Olympiad includes 500 events spread over four years and culminating in the London 2012 Festival. The cost of the events is around £40 million and funding has been provided by Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor.

Those announced as being involved in the festival, which will run from 21 June to 9 September 2012, include Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett, director Mike Leigh, musician Damon Albarn and artists including David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Rachel Whiteread.

Marketing

Stamps

In August 2009 the Royal Mail commissoned artists and illustrators to create 30 stamps which were released in batches of 10 during 2009 to 2011. The 30 stamps symbolise that the Games take place during the 30th Olympiad. Each stamp featured an Olympic or Paralympic sport and in addition had the London 2012 logo on each stamp. The Royal Mail had initially approched photographers to be included as well but this was abandoned as the photos would have to be of dead people as the only living person allowed to feature on stamps in the United Kingdom is the Queen. Stamps with an Olympic theme go back to the very first games in Athens 1890; when the organisers commissoned the sale of stamps in order to balance the books and construct the last four venues. When London first held the Games in 1908 no stamps were commissoned. On that occasion and for the 1912 are the only time when stamps were not issued. When London last held the Games in 1948, just four stamps were issued. On 22 July 2011 the last of the 30 stamps were released.

Merchandise

On 21 July 2009 the LOCOG announced that Hornby Plc had won the license to develop and market a range associated with the Games. The license allowed the company to sell products across its Corgi, Hornby, Scalextric and Airfix brands. Airfix will have kits for all of the main venues, including a 1:500 scale Olympic Stadium. The centre piece of the Scalextric collection will be a cycling Velodrome set. The collection was launched by British cyclist Lizzie Armitstead in Hamleys toy store in June 2011, Hornby staggared the release of the collection with the Scalextric velodrome released in September. In March 2011 the LOCOG commissioned and published a series of traning guides. The merchandise was sold online and in five shops known as "The London 2012 Shop," in Heathrow Airport, Stansted Airport, St Pancras International Station, Paddington Station and in John Lewis on Oxford Street. In addition Addidas sold its London 2012 range in its flagship store on Oxford Street and selective Next stores sold their 2012 range. Sainsburys as Official sponsors of the Paralympics also sold merchandise within their stores.

The Olympic Games