The Olympics in 2012 Maria Huopolainen

London – Are You Ready ? As we all know in the year 2012 the Olympics will be held in London. Since the close victory in front of the “old opponent” London has been preparing himself for the biggest event in sport. This will be the third time London has hosted the games (two last times were in 1908 and 1948). Certainly it will be hard to overwhelm the games what took place in Beijing in 2008, but London definately has a golden opportunity to do so.

The Logo The emblem will come in four different colours: pink, blue, green and orange. The jagged emblem is based on the date 2012. Also, a logo for the Paralympics has been unveiled. "This is the vision at the very heart of our brand." Seb Coe.

Olympic Village The Olympic Village covers some 91 acres or 37 football pitches. In total there will be 62 buildings what include housing 17 000 athletes and officials for the Olympic Games and 6000 for the Paralympic Games. So the Village will be the legacy of the Games. The Olympic Delivery Authority is responsible for the construction of the venues and infrastructure to support the 2012 Games.

Sports The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines. The 2012 Paralympic Games programme has 20 sports and 21 disciplines. Women's boxing, which was not included in Beijing, is again being considered for inclusion. Internation Olympic Committee voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games. There was a discussion whether to replace one of the two sports with karate or squash but neither received enough votes.

Athletics Athletics includes many different events, but all are based on the principle of simple physical competition. The sport is the perfect expression of the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger. It requires athletes to run faster, throw further, jump higher and longer than everyone else.

Olympic Stadium The innovative Olympic Stadium design allows for an 80 000 seat Athletics stadium to be converted into a more easily maintained 25 000 seat venue after the Games. The Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. All Athletics events will take place in the Stadium as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Awaited Battles There will be definately a lot of tension in the stadiums because that’s what makes the Olympics so awaited event. Problably the most awaited sports will be track and field, swimming and of course because we are in England – football. It will be intense on the running track for sure. Lets see if Usain Bolt will break the world record if he doesn’t do it sooner. Micheal Phelps in the swimming pool will problably let the “youngsters” get their first medals. With so much time until the Games there will be a lot of young talents who all are ready to fight for that unique gold medal.

Football For British people it will definately be important to see a great performance from their football squad. With so bright stars like Beckham, Rooney, Owen, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard and so on in the team England is going to be tough opponent to any one. Men’s football became a full medal sport from London 1908. At Barcelona 1992, professional players were allowed to take part in the Games for the first time. The rules were changed to make it an Under-23 event, with three players over this age allowed in every team. Women’s Football has no age limits and appeared at the Games for the first time in Atlanta 1996.

Used Materials 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympics_2012 2. http://www.london2012.com