2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad,also known informally as London 2012, is scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012. The first event, the group stages in women's football, began two days earlier on 25 July.Over 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian 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 will become 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 has 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 many venues which were already in place before the bid
By 15 July 2003, the deadline for interested cities to submit bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Olympics. These cities were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

Since the United Kingdom hosted the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, three bids had been made for a British city to host the Summer Olympics – Birmingham for the 1992 Games and Manchester for the 1996 and 2000 Games. Preliminary planning for a possible London bid for the 2012 Olympics began in 1997.The United Kingdom had successfully hosted the UEFA Euro 1996 Championships and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, both of which satisfied the IOC that the United Kingdom as a whole could host large sporting events and generated impetus for the country to have a Golden Decade of sport – which included the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said his primary motivation for initiating and lobbying for the city's bid was to develop the East End of London, neglected for over thirty years. On 18 May 2004, the IOC, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.

2012 Summer Paralympics.
For more details, see section "Logo" below.
Host city     London, England, United Kingdom
Motto     Inspire a Generation
Nations participating     204
Athletes participating     10,500 (estimated)
Events     302 in 26 sports
Opening ceremony     27 July
Closing ceremony     12 August
Stadium     Olympic Stadium