Merilin Paas Pärnu Coeducational Gymnasium G3B 2012 Summer Olympics Merilin Paas Pärnu Coeducational Gymnasium G3B

How it all began... London’s first Olympics London has had a very long history as an Olympics City, marking down the years 1908, 1944, 1948 and 2012 which is yet to come. In 1908 the Olympic Games were to be held in Rome but the unexpected eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 forced the Italian Government to move the funds elsewhere. London was chosen as a new city for the event. The Summer Olympics have been scheduled to be held in London three times: 1944, 1948 and 2012. However, in 1944 the Olympics were cancelled due World War II. London will become the only and the first city to have hosted the Olympic Games three times. BBC at the 1948 Olympics The 2012 Olympics Image to be created in 2012

As London has already hosted the Olympics twice before, it’s no wonder that it became one of the candidates for hosting the 2012 Olympics. As of 2009, the last time London hosted the Olympics was 61 years ago. The original candidates for hosting the 2012 Olympics were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. After some evaluation the number of cities was cut down to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris. London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes, defeating Paris's 50. In fact, at first Paris was thought to win the bidding. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London from 27 July to 12 August 2012.

London celebrates! When reporting London's win, British media covered the expectant crowds in both France and England, and contrasted the jubilant reaction in London to the reaction of the crowd in Paris, where many people had gathered in hope that Paris would win. The crowd in London celebrating the win A Frenchwoman’s reaction to London’s win and Jacques Chirac trying to make a happy face

The costs for staging the Games (£2 billion) are funded from the private sector by a combination of sponsorship, merchandising, ticketing and broadcast rights. According to Games organisers, the funding for this budget broadly breaks down as: 63% from Central Government; 23% from National Lottery 13% from the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency The 2012 Olympic and Paraolympic Games will use a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities. Some of the locations are famous places, such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Horse Guards Parade Hyde Park

2012 Summer Olympics venues Most of the venues are located in the city of London but some of the events require to be located elsewhere. Most of London's proposed Olympic venues already exist, reducing the cost and complexity of staging the London Games Among the existing world-class venues to be used are The World Heritage Site of Greenwich, Regent's Park, Wimbledon, Lord's Cricket Ground, etc. The venues will be divided in four zones: The Olympic Zone, the River Zone, the Central Zone and the venues outside Greater London. Wembley Stadium will be a venue for football The O2 will be a venue for gymnastics and basketball

Some venues Lord’s Cricket Grounds, a venue for archery Portland harbour at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy will host the sailing events The London Olympic Stadium Wimbledon, a venue for tennis

The Olympic Village The village will have 17,320 beds and provide each athlete with 16m² floor space. There will be 3,300 apartments. Each apartment will have a TV, internet access, and a private courtyard. The dining hall will cater for 5,500 athletes at a time. During the games 80% of athletes will be within 20 minutes of their events and 97% will be within 30 minutes of their events.

Scandals? In December 2005 it was alleged by a senior International Olympic Committee official Alex Gilady that London had won the right to host the Olympics only because of a voting error. A London 2012 spokesman dismissed this, saying that it had only been the opinion of an individual. "At the end of the day, it was a secret ballot. This is the opinion of one individual. The result is what matters and we are not going to be drawn into speculation." There have been complaints from some representatives of Muslim countries. The Olympics are scheduled to be held in the month of Ramadan which puts the Muslim athelets at a disadvantage as during Ramadan Muslims must fast from sunrise to sunset.