2012 Summer Olympics

Host city: London, United Kingdom

Motto: Inspire a Generation

Nations participating: 204

Athletes participating: 10,820

Events: 302 in 26 sports

Opening ceremony: 27 July

Closing ceremony: 12 August

Officially opened by: Queen Elizabeth II

Athlete's Oath: Sarah Stevenson

Judge's Oath :Mik Basi

Coach's Oath: Eric Farrell

Olympic Torch:

Callum Airlie

Jordan Duckitt

Desiree Henry

Katie Kirk

Cameron MacRitchie

Aidan Reynolds

Adelle Tracey

Austin Playfoot (relight)

Stadium: Olympic Stadium

The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and commonly known as London 2012, was a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It took place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The first event, the group stage in women's football, began two days earlier, on 25 July.More than 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated.It started on Friday 27 July 2012 at 0:00.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and 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 was the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times,having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability.The main focus was a new 200-hectare (490-acre) Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London.The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid.Jessica Ennis was described by the BBC as the poster girl of the Olympics.

The Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly.The opening ceremony, directed by Danny Boyle, received widespread acclaim throughout the world with particular praise from the British public despite some criticism levelled internationally on social media sites.During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, winning his 22nd medal.Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games.Women's boxing was included for the first time; thus, the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors.

Bidding process

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 Summer Olympics: Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.[23] On 18 May 2004, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, the IOC reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.[24] All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February and March 2005. The Paris bid suffered two setbacks during the IOC inspection visit: a number of strikes and demonstrations coinciding with the visits, and a report that a key member of the bid team, Guy Drut, would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.

Lord Coe – the head of the London 2012 bid

Throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was seen at first as lagging Paris by a considerable margin. Its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004.In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris.

On 6 June 2005 the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive. London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, "I cannot predict it since I don't know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less."

On 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two contenders were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes to Paris's 50.The celebrations in London were short-lived, being overshadowed by bombings on London's transport system less than 24 hours after the announcement.

Medals

Approximately 4,700[103] Olympic and Paralympic medals were produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.[104] They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics).[105] 99% of the gold, silver and copper was donated by Rio Tinto from a mine in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S.The remaining 1% came from a Mongolian mine.Each medal weighs 375–400 g (13.2–14 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.3 in) and is 7 mm (0.28 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.[110] The value of the materials in the gold medal is about £410 (US $644), the silver about £210 (US $330), and the bronze about £3 (US $4.71) as of 30 July 2012.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July and called "Isles of Wonder".Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle was its artistic director, with the music directors being the electronic music duo Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of Underworld

The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[130] It was the second Games the Queen had opened personally, the first being the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. All successive Olympics held in Canada or Australia have been opened by their respective governors-general.

A short comic film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself was screened during the ceremony.

Live musical performers included Frank Turner, Mike Oldfield, London Symphony Orchestra (accompanied by Rowan Atkinson), Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys and Sir Paul McCartney, who performed the song "Hey Jude" at the end of the ceremony.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Games attracted a peak viewing audience of over 27 million viewers (around half of the population of the United Kingdom watched BBC1 live simultaneously).

Closing ceremony

Main articles: 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony and 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers

The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 12 August 2012. In addition to protocol, the ceremony featured a flashback fiesta to British music with The Who finishing out the performance. The ceremony also included 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.