63336 Gets into the Olympic spirit

16 January 2012

After what seems like an interminable wait, 2012 is finally here, and for those of us who are not worried about the world ending on 21 Dec 2012 —but that's another story— then the big event this year for many in the UK will be the London 2012 Olympics.

There have been plenty of doubts and criticisms: the mascots are a little strange, but then Olympic mascots are usually weird — just look at Athena and Phevos from the 2004 Athens Olympics or the frankly rubbish Izzy from Atlanta 1996. The logo has been publicly derided, with comments ranging from it looking like a squiggle, a couple engaging in adult activities or the word "Zion". But at least people are talking about it, which is something the organisers will be pleased about, even if the logo did cost £400,000.

Then of course there's the ticket debacle, which is still on–going after the ticket re–sale website crashed, just as the original site did. But this does mean there are still thousands of sports fans who desperately want to experience the greatest sporting event in the world.

To start off the countdown to 27 July 2012, check out some of the facts and figures about the upcoming quadrennial event:

The Games of the XXX Olympiad (London 2012 in layman's terms) will host around 10,500 athletes from 204 territories competing for medals in 302 events over 26 sports.

4 billion people are expected to watch the opening ceremony, which takes place on 27 July.

It has been estimated that the Olympics will generate an incredible £10 billion for the British economy and provide support for 2.8 million construction jobs.

The Olympic stadium has cost £486 million and will hold 80,000 spectators.

210 miles of power cables were needed for the Olympic stadium.

It will also be the 14th (XIV) Summer Paralympics in London, involving an anticipated 166 nations in 503 events over 21 sports.

Revenue from Olympic and Paralympic Games tourists alone is expected to top £2 billion.

This is the 3rd time London has hosted the Summer Olympics: the others were 1908 (IV) and 1948 (XIV). This means London is the first city to hold the modern version of the Olympics on 3 occasions.

Nearly 2 million people applied for Olympic tickets during the first round of ticket sales.

London beat out competition from great world cities such as Paris, Madrid, New York City and Moscow to host the 2012 Olympics. In the 4th and final round of voting, London beat Paris by just 4 votes.

There will be people saying that they are bored with the Olympics already and there will no doubt be more scandal and criticism in the media in the coming months. But when the time comes for the Games to start it would be extremely difficult not to cheer on people such as Mark Cavendish, Jessica Ennis and David Weir as they try to win gold medals for the expectant home fans.

On your marks…

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