2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially called the Games of the XXX Olympiad and known as London 2012, were a big international sports event held in London, England, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. Some events took place in other parts of the United Kingdom. Over 10,000 athletes from 206 countries competed in many different sports.

London was chosen to host the Olympics in 2005, beating cities like Moscow, New York City, Madrid, and Paris. This was London's third time hosting the Summer Olympics. A large new area called Olympic Park was built for the Games, focusing on being good to the environment.

The United States won the most medals, followed by China and Great Britain. Famous swimmer Michael Phelps from the United States won his 22nd Olympic medal, making him the most decorated athlete ever. For the first time, women from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei competed in the Olympics, and women’s boxing was introduced. The opening ceremony, led by Danny Boyle, was very popular and praised by many.

Bidding process

Main article: Bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics

London was chosen to represent Great Britain in hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. Many cities around the world wanted to host the games, and by 2003, nine cities had submitted their bids to the International Olympic Committee. After careful review, the number of cities was reduced to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, and Paris.

In 2005, the final decision was made. After several rounds of voting, London was chosen over Paris to host the 2012 Olympics. This was a big moment for the city, though celebrations were mixed by events that followed soon after.

Development and preparations

Main article: 2012 Summer Olympic development

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was created to manage the Games, and held its first meeting on 3 October 2005. The committee, led by Lord Coe, was responsible for organizing the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), started in April 2006, handled building the venues and infrastructure.

The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was the main government group for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. It focused on overseeing the Games, managing programs, and planning for the London 2012 Olympic Legacy to benefit London and the United Kingdom. The group also managed the £9.3 billion of public money used for the Games.

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games used a mix of new venues, existing and historic places, and temporary setups, some in famous spots like Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. After the Games, some new venues were reused as they were, while others were changed in size or moved.

Most venues were in three zones in Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone, and the Central Zone. A few venues were outside Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy about 125 miles southwest of London, which hosted sailing events. The football tournament was held at several grounds across the UK. Work on the Park began in December 2006, when a sports hall in Eton Manor was torn down. The athletes' village in Portland was finished in September 2011.

In November 2004, plans for the 200-hectare (500-acre) Olympic Park were shown. The plans were approved in September 2004 by Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, and Waltham Forest. Building the Olympic Park required taking over property using compulsory purchase orders. The London Development Agency argued with London and Continental Railways about these orders in November 2005. By May 2006, 86% of the land had been bought as businesses fought being moved out. Residents who did not want to leave tried to stop it by starting campaigns, but they had to go as 94% of the land was bought and a £9 billion project to renew the area began.

There were issues with some of the original venues being not challenging enough or not making money. Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were first thought to be too easy, so they were later set in new places. The Olympic marathon course, which was planned to end in the Olympic stadium, was moved to The Mall because closing Tower Bridge would cause traffic problems in central London. North Greenwich Arena 2 was canceled to save money, and Wembley Arena was used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics instead.

Test events were held in 2011 and 2012, either through existing championships like the 2012 Wimbledon Championships or special events under the name London Prepares. Team GB House was the British Olympic Association's main office before and during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was designed by architects Gebler Tooth and was on the top floor of an office building in Westfield Stratford City. It included the team's office, a lounge for athletes' friends and family, a press center, and a VIP lounge.

Public transport

The IOC's first review thought that, if transport improvements were done in time for the Games, London could handle it. Transport for London (TfL) made many improvements for 2012, including expanding the London Overground's East London Line, updating the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and starting a new "Javelin" high-speed train service. According to Network Rail, an extra 4,000 train trips ran during the Games, and train operators used longer trains during the day. During the Games, Stratford International station had no international trains, westbound trains did not stop at Hackney Wick railway station, and Pudding Mill Lane DLR station closed completely during the Games.

TfL also built a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, called the Emirates Air Line, to connect 2012 Olympic venues. It opened in June 2012 and goes between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour, cutting travel times between The O2 and the ExCeL exhibition center and providing a crossing every 30 seconds.

The plan was for 80% of athletes to travel less than 20 minutes to their event and 93% of them within 30 minutes of their event. The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a total capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. Also, LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport. Two park-and-ride sites off the M25 with a total capacity of 12,000 cars were 25 minutes from the Olympic Park. Another park-and-ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with space for 9,000 cars where spectators could take a 10-minute shuttle train. To get to Eton Dorney, four park-and-ride schemes were set up. These Park and Ride services were run by First Games Transport.

TfL made a network of roads connecting venues, called the Olympic Route Network; roads linking all the Olympic venues in London. Many of these roads had special "Olympic lanes" marked with the Olympic rings—reserved for Olympic athletes, officials, and other VIPs during the Games. People driving in an Olympic lane could be fined £130. Also, London buses did not use roads with Olympic lanes on their routes. There were concerns about the logistics of spectators traveling to events outside London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland had no direct motorway links, and local roads are very busy with tourists in the summer. However, a £77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011. Some £16 million was set aside for other improvements.

TfL created a promotional campaign and website, Get Ahead of the Games, to give information about transport during the Olympics and Paralympics. Through the campaign, TfL also encouraged people to ride bikes. A temporary terminal was made at Heathrow Airport to be used by 10,100 leaving athletes after the Games. Up to 35% more bags than normal were expected on 13 August, which was thought to be the busiest day in the airport's history, according to Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow.

Cost and financing

A study from Oxford University found that the sports-related costs of London 2012 were US$15 billion, compared with $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics ever). London 2012 went over budget by 76% in real terms, measured from bid to completion. The cost per athlete was $1.4 million. This does not include wider costs for urban and transport infrastructure, which often match or exceed the sports-related costs.

The costs of staging the Games were separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure and renewing the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games were paid for privately, the venues and infrastructure were mostly paid for with public money.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the original budget for the Games was raised to about £9.3 billion (US$15.28 billion) in 2007. The new figures were told to the House of Commons on 15 March 2007 by Tessa Jowell. Along with East End renewal costs, the breakdown was:

• Building the venues and infrastructure – £5.3 billion
• Elite sport and Paralympic funding – £400 million
• Security and policing – £600 million
• Renewal of the Lower Lea Valley – £1.7 billion
• Contingency fund – £2.7 billion

Volunteers

Volunteers known as Games Makers did many tasks before and during the Games. A goal of 70,000 volunteers was set as early as 2004. When hiring began in 2010, over 240,000 applications were received. Sebastian Coe said in February 2012, "Our Games Makers will give about eight million volunteer hours during the Games and the Games simply wouldn't happen without them". The volunteers wore clothes that included purple and red polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, grey socks and grey-and-white trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre. Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges that were also worn by officials, athletes, family members and media, which let them enter specific venues and buildings around the site.

Ticketing

Organisers thought that about 8 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. LOCOG wanted to make £375–£400 million from ticket sales. There were also free events like marathons, triathlons and road cycling, although, for the first time in Olympic history, the sailing events required tickets. In the end, over 7,000,000 tickets were sold. Following IOC rules, people applied for tickets from the NOC of their country of residence. People living in the European Union could apply for tickets in any EU country.

In Great Britain, ticket prices ranged from £20 for many events to £2,012 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. Some free tickets were given to military personnel as part of the Tickets For Troops plan, as well as to survivors and families of those who died in the 7 July 2005 London bombings. At first, people could apply for tickets online from 15 March to 26 April 2011. There was huge demand for tickets, with demand more than three times the number of tickets available. On 11 May 2012 a round of nearly one million "second chance" tickets went on sale over a 10-day period between 23 June and 3 July 2011. About 1.7 million tickets were for football and 600,000 for other sports, including archery, field hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball. Ten sports sold out by 8 am on the first day.

Countdown

During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, the Olympic Flag was officially passed from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This was followed by a part showing London, One month later, the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside the London City Hall.

A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was shown, 500 days before the Games. It was a two-sided clock with the Paralympic countdown on the other side. The countdown to the start of the Olympics began with a ceremony for lighting the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece.

Security

Main article: Security for the 2012 Summer Olympics

See also: Controversies surrounding G4S

The police led the security operation (named Operation Olympics by the Ministry of Defence), with 10,000 officers available, helped by 13,500 members of the British Armed Forces. Naval and air forces were used as part of the security operation, including ships on the Thames, Typhoon fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles; it was the biggest security operation Britain had seen in decades. The cost of security went from £282 million to £553 million, and the number of armed forces personnel was more than the number sent to Afghanistan at the time. The Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines did security exercises in preparation for the Olympics on 19 January 2012, with 50 marine police officers in rigid inflatables and fast response boats, joined by up to 100 military personnel and a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter.

The Ministry of Defence gave leaflets to residents of the Lexington building in Bow, saying that a missile system would be placed on top of the water tower. This worried some residents. The Ministry said it might use Starstreak missiles and that site checks had been done, but that no final decision had been made.

Medals

About 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals were made by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics). 99% of the gold, silver and copper was given 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 (13.2–14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.3 in) and is 7 mm (0.28 in) thick, with the sport and discipline carved on the edge. The front, as is traditional, shows 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 back shows 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 moved to the Tower of London vaults on 2 July 2012 for safe keeping.

Each gold medal is 92.5 percent silver and 1.34 percent gold, with the rest copper. The silver medal is 92.5 percent silver, with the rest copper. The bronze medal is made up of 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc, and 0.5 per cent tin. The value of the materials in the gold medal was about £410 (US$644), the silver about £210 (US$330), and the bronze about £3 (US$4.71) as of 30 July 2012.

Torch relay

The Olympics torch relay ran from 19 May to 27 July 2012, before the Games. Plans for the relay were made in 2010–11, with the torch-bearer selection process announced on 18 May 2011. The torch was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.

On 18 May 2012 the Olympic flame arrived at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall from Greece on flight BA2012, operated by a British Airways Airbus A319 named "Firefly". The relay lasted 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations and six island visits, and involved some 8,000 people carrying the torch about 8,000 mi (12,875 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall. The torch had three days outside the United Kingdom when it visited the Isle of Man on 2 June, Dublin in Ireland, on 6 June, and both Guernsey and Jersey on 15 July.

The relay focused on National Heritage Sites, places with sports importance, key sports events, schools registered with the Get Set School Network, green spaces and biodiversity, Live Sites (city places with large screens), and festivals and other events. Dumfries and Galloway was the only Region in the whole of the United Kingdom that had the Olympic Torch pass through it twice. A group of young athletes, chosen by retired Olympic athletes, ran the torch around the stadium. These torchbearers were Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey. Together the torchbearers each lit a petal that spread the fire to the 204 petals of the cauldron, representing the countries that took part in the Games. The cauldron was designed by Thomas Heatherwick.

Environmental policy

The Olympic Park was planned to include 45 hectares of wildlife habitat, with a total of 525 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes. Local waterways and riverbanks were improved as part of the process. Renewable energy also played a part at the Olympics. It was originally planned to provide 20% of the energy for the Olympic Park and Village from renewable technologies; however, only 9% of it was reached. Ideas to meet the original target included large on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames, but these plans were dropped for safety reasons. The focus later moved to putting solar panels on some buildings, and providing the chance to recover energy from waste. Where it could not be reused or recycled, food packaging for use at the Olympics—including fast-food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons—was made from compostable materials like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics. After use, many of these materials could be used for anaerobic digestion (AD), allowing them to be turned into renewable energy.

After the Games, buildings like the Water Polo Arena were moved elsewhere. Building parts like roofing covers and membranes of different temporary venues were recycled through VinyLoop. This let organisers meet the standards of the Olympic Delivery Authority for environmental protection.

London 2012 started Olympic Games rules that included recycling PVC, which was used for temporary buildings such as the Basketball Arena and for the temporary parts of permanent venues such as the Olympic Stadium. In the Water Polo Arena, PVC roofing was made from recycled cushions to provide insulation. Through this recycling process, the Olympic Games PVC Policy was followed; the policy says:

Where London 2012 buys PVC for temporary use or where permanent use is not sure, London 2012 must make sure that there is a take-back plan that offers a closed-loop reuse system or mechanical recycling system for post-consumer waste.

According to Kirsten Henson, Materials Manager for the London 2012 Olympic Park: "The majority of temporary facilities made for the Olympic Games including the Aquatic centre temporary stands, basketball arena, Water Polo Arena, and the shooting facilities at the Royal Artillery Barracks, are basically big tents. Basically, PVC stretched over lightweight steel frame. This design makes them easy to set up, reduces the need for any big foundations and are, of course, reusable. We were challenged by the public about the use of PVC; but we thought it was the right material for certain functions. We therefore challenged the PVC supply chain to have certain environmental performance rules in place, including a take back and recycle plan."

Cultural Olympiad

Main article: 2012 Cultural Olympiad

The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for organizing the Olympic Games and for running the Olympic Movement, says that

LOCOG shall organise a programme of cultural events which must cover at least the entire period during which the Olympic Village is open.

The Cultural Olympiad included many programs, with more than 500 events over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, leading up to the London 2012 Festival.

Opening ceremony

Named "The Isles of Wonder", the opening ceremony began at 21:00 British Summer Time (UTC+1) on 27 July in the Olympic Stadium. The Academy Award–winning director Danny Boyle was artistic director and Rick Smith of Underworld was musical director. The opening ceremony was right away seen as a huge success, widely praised as a "masterpiece" and "a love letter to Britain". The main parts of the artistic display showed Britain's Industrial Revolution, National Health Service, literary heritage, popular music and culture, and were known for their lively storytelling and use of music.

The Games were officially started by Queen Elizabeth II, helped by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This was the second Olympic Games started personally by the Queen, the first being in (/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics) in Montreal, Canada. The ceremony had a short funny film with Daniel Craig as the secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself. There was also a musical comedy part with Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean playing along with the London Symphony Orchestra. These were often linked to Britain's sense of humour.

Live music performers included Frank Turner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Mike Oldfield, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys and Sir Paul McCartney who played "Hey Jude" as the last act. Shown live on BBC One, the ceremony had a top viewing audience of over 27 million in the UK.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held on 12 August. It had a flashback party to British music with the Who ending the performance. The ceremony also included handing over 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. In his closing talk, Jacques Rogge called the Games "happy and glorious".

The Games

Sports

The 2012 Summer Olympics had 26 different sports with 39 areas of competition and 302 events where medals were awarded.

For the first time, women’s boxing was part of the Olympics, with 36 women competing in three weight classes. Tennis included mixed doubles again after a long break since 1924.

Baseball and softball were not included in these games after being dropped by the IOC. Several other sports like karate, squash, golf, roller sports, and rugby sevens were considered to replace them, but none were chosen.

Calendar

The official schedule for the games was released on February 15, 2011. All times and dates used British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Records

Main article: World and Olympic records set at the 2012 Summer Olympics

These games saw 32 world records broken across eight sports. Swimming had the most records broken, with eight. China, Great Britain, and the United States each set five records.

Medal table

Further information: List of 2012 Summer Olympics medal winners

A total of 85 countries won medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with 54 of those countries winning at least one gold medal. Seven countries won their first ever Olympic medal: Bahrain, Botswana, Cyprus, Gabon, Grenada, Guatemala, and Montenegro. The United States finished first, winning 48 gold medals and a total of 104 medals. China came in second with 38 gold medals and 91 medals overall, and hosts Great Britain came in third place, winning 29 gold medals and 65 medals overall.

Podium sweeps

Broadcasting

Main article: List of 2012 Summer Olympics broadcasters

The main station for showing the 2012 Summer Olympics was Olympic Broadcasting Services, a part of the International Olympic Committee. They used their own cameras and teams to film the events and then sold the footage to other TV stations around the world. These stations added their own voices and graphics to the videos.

The official way to record the Olympics used special digital technology from Panasonic. The videos were made and shared from the International Broadcast Centre in very clear, high-definition quality. In the UK, the BBC showed the Olympics, and they tried to show all 5,000 hours of the Games. In the US, NBC had the rights to show the Olympics and this brought in a lot of money for the Olympic Committee. Some people were not happy with how NBC showed the events.

In some places, like parts of Asia and Africa, YouTube planned to show the Olympics online where there were no other TV stations to show it.

Marketing

The 2012 Summer Olympics had a special song called "Survival" by the band Muse. Artists made special stamps and coins to celebrate the event. The main motto was "Inspire a generation," meaning the games wanted to encourage people, especially young ones, to join in sports.

There were special logos for the games. One logo showed the number 2012 with the Olympic rings inside the zero. The games also had special colors: pink, blue, green, and orange, showing energy and excitement. The official mascots were two animated drops of steel named Wenlock and Mandeville, inspired by places important to the history of the Olympics and Paralympics. The movie Chariots of Fire, about athletes from the 1924 Olympics, was shown again in theaters and its music was part of the games' celebrations.

Controversies

Main article: Controversies at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Before the Games began, there were some disagreements about sponsors, athletes using social media, and a few political matters. Many people couldn’t get the seats they wanted for events, yet some popular events had empty seats early on. Some thought this happened because big sponsors didn’t use all their tickets.

During the Games, eight players in badminton women's doubles were removed because they didn’t try their best. They tried to lose early matches to get better positions later. Some decisions in boxing, gymnastics, and judo were changed after teams asked to review the results.

Drug testing and doping violations

Main article: Use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympic Games § 2012 London

Before the 2012 Summer Olympics, it was planned that half of all the athletes would be tested for substances that give an unfair advantage. Experts took many samples from the athletes during the event. Every winner was checked to make sure they played fairly.

Even though only a few rule breaks were found during the games, later tests using better science found more issues. Because of this, many athletes lost their medals or were not allowed to keep them. By mid-2024, around 44 medals were taken away, and about 130 athletes were disqualified, with many of these from Russia. The tests were done by a health company called GSK.

In popular culture

In the film (/wiki/2012_(film)), big earthquakes happen around the world during the same time as the Olympic games were happening. In another movie from 2024 called The Fire Inside, the games are shown and it tells the story of gold medalist Claressa "T-Rex" Shields.