The Olympic Games

Since the 2005 bid

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games 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.^[1] 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.^[1] In April 2006 the Olympic Delivery Authority board was established.^[2]

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. The GOE reports through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Sports and the 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.^[3]

In August 2011, some security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London,^[4] due to the 2011 England riots, with a few countries expressing fear over the safety of the Games,^[5] in spite of the International Olympic Committee's assurance that the riots will not affect the Games.^[6]

The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2012 Games completed their ninth visit to London in October 2011. They concluded that London has been making excellent progress and that the 2012 games would leave a lasting legacy. The commission will make their final visit to London in March 2012.^[7] London was awarded the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in November 2011. ^[8]

Countdown

Countdown clock in Trafalgar Square

A digital clock, located in Trafalgar Square, commenced a countdown to the opening ceremony on 14 March 2011. However, less than 24 hours after it was switched on, it suffered a technical failure, and stopped—displaying "500 (days) 7 (hours) 06 (minutes) 56 (seconds)." It was quickly repaired.^[9]

Hospitality

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) appointed Prestige Ticketing Limited to operate the London 2012 Prestige Ticketing programme.^[10] The Prestige Ticketing on-site hospitality packages includes top-category tickets, fine dining and entertainment.^[11] These hospitality tickets were on sale until 15 March 2011.^[12]

Scheduling issues

Some representatives of countries which are majority Muslim have complained that the 2012 Olympic Games will take place during the month of Ramadan, which in 2012 occurs from 20 July to 19 August. During Ramadan, Muslims are to fast from sunrise to sunset, which may put Muslim athletes at a disadvanatage during the Games. Some Muslims have called for the Olympics to be rescheduled outside this period.^[13]

Logo

There have been two London 2012 logos: one for the bidding process created by Kino Design and a second as the brand for the Games themselves. The former is a ribbon with blue, yellow, black, green, and red stripes winding through the text "LONDON 2012," making the shape of the River Thames in East London. The latter, designed by Wolff Olins, was unveiled on 4 June 2007 and cost £400,000.^[14] This new logo is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero.^[15]

The Paralympics logo (far left) and the different official colour combinations for the Wolff Olins main logo design

This will be the first time that the same essential logo is to be used for both the Olympic and Paralympic games.^[16]

The standard colours are green, magenta, orange and blue; however the logo has incorporated a variety of colours, including the Union Flag to promote the handover ceremony.^[17] The flexibility of the logo has also enabled sponsors to incorporate their corporate colours into a personalised version, such as Lloyds TSB,^[18] British Airways,^[19] and Adidas.^[20]

London 2012 has stated that the new logo is aimed at reaching young people. Sebastian Coe stated that it builds upon everything that the organising committee has said "about reaching out and engaging young people, which is where our challenge is over the next five years." One observer, a managing director of an advertising agency, noted that the logo bore a strong resemblance to the logo for the 1974–1982 children's television programme Tiswas, commenting that appealing to young people is difficult, and that they will see right through attempts to patronise them.^[21]

Early public reaction to the logo, as measured by a poll on the BBC website, was largely negative: more than 80% of votes gave the logo the lowest possible rating.^[22] Several newspapers have run their own logo competitions, displaying alternative submissions from their readers. The Sun displayed a design by a macaque monkey.^[23] It was suggested that the logo resembles the cartoon character Lisa Simpson performing fellatio^[24] and others have complained that it looks like a distorted Swastika.^[25] In February 2011, Iran complained that the logo appeared to spell out the word "Zion" and threatened to boycott the Olympics.^[26] Iran submitted its complaint to the International Olympic Committee, describing the logo as "racist", asking that it be withdrawn and the designers be "confronted". The IOC "quietly" rejected the demands, and Iran announced it would not boycott the Games.^[27]

A segment of animated footage released at the same time as the logo was reported to trigger seizures in a small number of people with photosensitive epilepsy. The charity Epilepsy Action received telephone calls from people who had had seizures after watching the sequence on TV. In response, a short segment was removed from the London 2012 website.^[28] Ken Livingstone, then London Mayor, said that the company who designed the film should not be paid for what he called a "catastrophic mistake."^[29]

A blogger at the BBC said that "London 2012's new logo has got the country talking [although] not in the manner the organisers would have hoped."^[30] One employee at a design firm described it as "well thought out" and anticipated it would "become a source of pride for London and the Games."^[31]

In October 2008, it was reported that clothing branded with the logo accounted for 20% of sales at Adidas' flagship Oxford Street store, despite occupying just 5% of floor space.^[32]

Mascots

Wenlock and Mandeville

The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010;^[33] this marks the second time (after Vancouver) that both Olympic and Paralympic mascots were unveiled at the same time. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton.^[33] They are named Wenlock, after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Mandeville, after Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner to the Paralympic Games were first held.^[33] The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept to the mascots, and an animation was produced;^[34] it is intended that this will form part of an ongoing series concerning the mascots in the run-up to the Games in 2012.^[33] Two stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow, the story of how Wenlock and Mandeville came to be, and Adventures On A Rainbow, which features the children from Out Of A Rainbow meeting the mascots and trying out many different Olympic and Paralympic sports.^[35]

Handover ceremony

The handover ceremony marked the moment when the previous games in Beijing in 2008 handed over the Olympic Flag to the new host city of London.^[36] Mayor of London Boris Johnson received the flag from Mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong, on behalf of London. The next section was entitled "From London, 'With a whole Lotta love."The handover ceremony featured the urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet and Candoco, a disabled dance group, all dressed as typical London commuters waiting for a bus by a zebra crossing. Whilst Olympic Champions Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and BMX World Champion Shanaze Reade; however due to Reade's broken wrist from her event Jamie Staff replaced her;^[37] cycled around the stadium. A double-decker bus drove around the stadium to music composed by Philip Sheppard eventually stopping and transforming into a privet hedge featuring famous London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis then performed the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love and David Beckham kicked a football into the crowd of athletes accompanied by violinist Elspeth Hanson and cellist Kwesi Edman.^[38][39]

For the London 2012 Games, 'Take Up The Challenge' is the leading contender to be the music that will inspire a new generation of athletes. The anthem was composed by Rob Cremona, an Anglo-Maltese trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist from Woking in Surrey. Meanwhile, the handover has been celebrated in a UK-wide series of events. The BBC broadcast "The Visa London 2012 Party" on BBC One and Radio 2, the free concert on The Mall in central London had 40,000 tickets available.^[40] In nations and regions around the UK there were live screens that showed the activities from Beijing, the Closing Ceremony and then the concert itself. Local communities around the UK also hosted their own events.

Year to go

First glimpse of the medals in Trafalgar Square.

On 27 July 2011, London celebrated the one year to the start of the games with a special event in Trafalgar Square. There were other events around the city such as Lord Coe and Colin Jackson cast their feet in clay at St Pancras Station, whilst the Aquatics Centre opened, with Tom Daly marking the event with a dive from the 10 metre platform. While in Trafalgar Square Jacques Rogge invited the world to London.^[41] Prime Minister David Cameron promised that London's games would be the greatest, whilst Boris Johnson comically called for a snap Olympics. The Royal Mail announced that it would produce special stamps celebrating every gold medal won by a British athlete.^[42]

Medals

In December 2010, it was announced that the Royal Mint would produce the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.^[43] The Royal Mint expected to produce around 4,700 medals for the games.^[44] The medals are 7mm thick and weigh between 375-400g. They are designed by David Watkins. Each medal will have the sport and the discipline engraved on the rim. Like the last few Olympic medal designs the front will once again have Greek goddess of victory, Nike, stepping from Parthenon. The reverse side has the Games logo, and a ribbon depicting the River Thames with a grid symbolising pulling together and radiating energy.^[42][45] The medals will have a purple ribbon attached to them which symbolises Royalty and protocol. The Princess Royal unveiled the design of the Olympic medals. In a poll by the Telegraph just 66% of the people who voted liked the design. Designer David Watkins said "I knew it was a take it and love it design. If not – sorry. There was no plan B."^[46]

Test events

Many test events will be held throughout 2011 and 2012, either through an existing championship such as Wimbledon or as a specially created event held under the banner of London Prepares. Some events are closed to the public, others are ticketed. Basketball and BMX were the first events to be tested within the Olympic Park.^[47]

References