2012 Summer Olympics

Games of the XXX Olympiad Host city Motto London, United Kingdom Inspire a Generation 204 10,500 (estimated)

Nations participating Athletes participating Events

302 in 26 sports 27 July 12 August Queen Elizabeth II

Opening ceremony Closing ceremony Officially opened by

Athlete's Oath Sarah Stevenson Judge's Oath Coach's Oath Mik Basi Eric Farrell

Olympic Torch Callum Airlie Jordan Duckitt Desiree Henry Katie Kirk Cameron MacRitchie Aidan Reynolds Adelle Tracey Austin Playfoot (relight)[1] Stadium Olympic Stadium

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad,[2] also known informally as London 2012, began in London, United Kingdom on 27 July and will continue until 12 August 2012.

The first event, the group stages in women's football, began two days earlier, on 25 July.[3][4] More than 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.[5] 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.[6] London is the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times,[7][8] having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.[9][10] Construction in preparation for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, particularly themed towards sustainability.[11] The main focus is a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London.[12] The Games also make use of venues which were already in place before the bid.

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. These cities were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.[14] Since the United Kingdom hosted the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, three bids had been made for a British city to host the Summer Olympics Birmingham for the 1992 Games and Manchester for the 1996 and 2000 Games. Preliminary planning for a possible London bid for the 2012 Olympics began in 1997.[15] The United Kingdom had successfully hosted the 1996 UEFA European Football Championships and the 2002 Commonwealth Games which regenerated a large part of east Manchester - both events satisfied the IOC that the United Kingdom as a whole could host large sporting events and generated impetus for the country to have a Golden Decade of sport.[16] Then-Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said his primary motivation for initiating and lobbying for the city's bid was to develop the East End of London, neglected for over thirty years.[17] On 18 May 2004, the IOC, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.[18] All five cities 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 one of the key members of the Paris bid team would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.[19] On 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. Although these reports did not contain any scores or rankings, the evaluation report for Paris was considered the most positive, followed closely by London, which had narrowed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004 regarding Paris. New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluation reports.[20]

Throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite to win the nomination, particularly as this was its third bid in recent history. Originally London was seen as lagging Paris by a considerable margin; however, the situation began to improve with the appointment of Lord Coe as new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a London and Paris tie in the 2012 bid.[22] In the final run-up to the 117th IOC Session, London and Paris appeared to be increasingly in a neck-and-neck race. On 1 July 2005, Jacques Rogge, when asked who the winner would be, told the assembled press: "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".[23] 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 cities left in contention 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, defeating Paris's 50.[24] The celebrations in London were short-lived, being overshadowed by bombings on London's transport system less than 24 hours after the announcement.[25]2012 Summer Olympics bidding results City London Paris Madrid New York City Moscow NOC Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 United Kingdom France Spain United States Russia 22 21 20 19 15 27 25 32 16 39 33 31 Round 4 54 50

Development and preparation

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was created to oversee the staging of the Games after the success of the bid, and held their first board meeting on 3 October 2005.[26] The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, is in charge of implementing and staging the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is in charge of the construction of the venues and infrastructure.[26] The latter was established in April 2006.[27] The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is the lead government body for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. It focuses on oversight of the Games, cross-programme programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy before and after the Games that will benefit London and the UK. The organisation is also responsible for the supervision of the 9.3 billion of public sector funding.[28]

In August 2011, security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London[29] due to the 2011 England riots, with a few countries expressing fear over the safety of the Games,[30] in spite of the International Olympic Committee's assurance that the riots will not affect the Games.[31] The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2012 Games completed their tenth and final visit to London in March 2012. They concluded that "London is ready to host the world this summer".[32]

Venues
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the Isle of Portland in Dorset will host the sailing events The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will use a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be resized or relocated.[33] The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition there are a few venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy some 125 miles (200 km) southwest of London, which will host the sailing events. The football tournament will be staged at several grounds around the UK.[34] Work began on the Park in December 2006, when a sports hall in Eton Manor was pulled down.[35] The athletes' village in Portland was completed in September 2011.[36] In November 2004 the 200-hectare (500-acre) Olympic Park plans were revealed.[37] The plans for the site were approved in September 2004 by Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.[38] The redevelopment of the area to build the Olympic Park required compulsory purchase orders of property. The London Development Agency was in dispute with London and Continental Railways about the orders in November 2005. By May 2006, 86% of the land had been bought as businesses fought eviction.[39] Residents who opposed the eviction tried to find way to stop it by setting up campaigns, but they had to leave as 94% of land was bought and the other 6% bought as a 9 billion regeneration project started.[40] There were some issues with the original venues not being challenging enough or being financially unviable. Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were initially considered to be too easy, so they were eventually scheduled on new locations.[41][42] The Olympic marathon course, which was set to finish in the Olympic stadium, was moved to The Mall, since closing Tower Bridge was deemed to cause traffic problems in central London.[43] North Greenwich Arena 2 was scrapped in a cost-cutting exercise, Wembley Arena being used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events instead.[44][45][46][47]

Test events were held throughout 2011 and 2012, either through an existing championship such as 2012 Wimbledon Championships or as a specially created event held under the banner of London Prepares.[48]

Public transport
The Olympic Javelin service runs between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, via Stratford London's public transport was an element of the bid which was scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation; however, they felt that if the improvements were delivered in time for the Games then London would cope.[49] Transport for London (TfL) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2012, including the expansion of the London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line,[50] and the introduction of a new "Javelin" highspeed rail service.[51] According to Network Rail, an additional 4,000 train services will run during the Games and train operators will put on longer trains during the day.[52] During the Games, Stratford International station will not be served by any international services,[53] westbound trains will not stop at Hackney Wick railway station,[54] and the Pudding Mill Lane DLR station will close entirely during the Games.[55] During the Games, some lanes on some roads in London will be dedicated to athletes, officials and VIPs.[56][57] TfL has also built a 25 million cable car across the River Thames, the Emirates Air Line, to link 2012 Olympics venues.[58] It was inaugurated in June 2012 and crosses the Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour, cutting journey times between the O2 arena and the ExCel exhibition centre and providing a crossing every 30 seconds.[59] The plan was to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event,[60] and 93% of them within 30 minutes of their event.[61] The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour.[62] In addition, the LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport.[61] Two park-and-ride sites off the M25 with a combined capacity of 12,000 cars, were 25 minutes away from the Olympic Park. Another park-and-ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with a capacity for 9,000 cars where spectators could board a 10-minute shuttle bus.[61] To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park-and-ride schemes were set up.[63] Concerns have been expressed at the logistics of spectators travelling to the events outside London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland did not have direct motorway connections, and local roads are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer.[64] However, a 77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011.[65][66] Some 16 million was put aside for the rest of the improvements.[67] TfL have published information to encourage cycling as a mode of transport during the Games.[68] Cyclists, like motorists, are not permitted to ride in the designated Olympic Lanes on London streets.

Some designated cycle paths such as the Lea Valley towpath are closed to the public during the Olympics.[69]

Financing
The costs of mounting the Games are separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure, and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games are privately funded, the venues and Park costs are met largely by public money. The original budget for the Games was 2.4 billion, but this was increased almost fourfold to about 9.3 billion ($14.46 billion) in 2007.[70] The revised figures were announced to the House of Commons on 15 March 2007 by Tessa Jowell. Along with East End regeneration costs, the breakdown was: Building the venues and infrastructure 5.3 billion Elite sport and Paralympic funding 400 million. Security and policing 600 million Regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley 1.7 billion Contingency fund 2.7 billion VAT 800 million.

Volunteers
Unpaid volunteers known as Games Makers will perform a variety of tasks before and during the Games.[71] A target of 70,000 volunteers was set as early as 2004.[72] When recruitment took place in 2010, over 240,000 applications were received.[73] Sebastian Coe said in February 2012, "Our Games Makers will contribute a total of around eight million volunteer hours during the Games and the Games simply wouldn't happen without them".[74] The volunteers wear Olympic style clothing which includes purple and red shirts, jackets and fleeces. They also have to wear beige socks and trousers with beigebrown shoes. Volunteers also wear photo accreditation badges which are also worn by officials, athletes, family members and media which gain them access to specific venues and buildings around the site.

Ticketing
Organisers estimated that some 8 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games,[75] and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games.[75][76] LOCOG aimed to raise 375400 million in ticket sales. There were also free events such as marathon, triathlon and road cycling,[77] although, for the first time in Olympic history, the sailing events were ticketed.[78] Eventually, more than 7,000,000

tickets were sold.[79] Following IOC rules, people applied for tickets from the NOC of their country of residence. European Union residents were able to apply for tickets in any EU country.[80] In Great Britain, ticket prices range from 20 for many events to 2,012 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. Free tickets were given to military personnel,[81] as well as to survivors and families of those who died during 7 July 2005 London bombings.[82] Initially, people were able to apply for tickets via a website from 15 March until 26 April 2011. There was a huge demand for tickets, with a demand of over three times the number of tickets available. The process was widely criticised as more than 50% of the sessions went to a random ballot,[83] and over half the people who applied got no tickets.[84] 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.[85] About 1.7 million tickets available for football and 600,000 for other sports (including archery, hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball). Although technical difficulties were encountered, ten sports had sold out by 8 am of the first day.[86]

Countdown
During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, the Olympic Flag was formally handed over from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This was followed by a section highlighting London,[87] One month later, the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside the London City Hall.[88] A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was unveiled, 500 days before the Games.[89] The clock broke down the following day.[90] The countdown to the start of the Olympics began with a ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece.[91]

Security
The security operation is led by the police, with 10,000 officers available, supported by 13,500 members of the armed forces. Naval and air assets, including ships situated in the Thames, Eurofighter jets and surface-to-air missiles, will be deployed as part of the security operation. The cost of security has also increased from 282 million to 553 million. This will be the biggest security operation Britain has faced for decades. The figure of 13,500 armed forces personnel is more than Britain currently has deployed in Afghanistan.[92] The Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines carried out 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 Lynx Navy helicopter.[93] The Ministry of Defence distributed leaflets to residents of the Lexington building in Bow, announcing that a missile system was to be stationed on top of the water tower.[94][95] This caused concern to some residents.[94][95] The Ministry said it probably would use Starstreak missiles and that site evaluations had taken place, but that no final decision had taken place.[94][95] It emerged in July 2012 that G4S, the firm responsible for supplying security staff for the Olympics, had been unable to recruit enough, so the shortfall would have to be made up by 3,500 UK military servicepeople. There were also media reports that G4S had failed to respond to people applying for jobs

as security staff, that recruits were inadequately trained, that some were teenagers, and some of whom were not conversant enough in English.

Medals
Approximately 4,700[96] Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.[97] They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics).[98] Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S.[99] Each medal weighs 375400 g (13.214.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.34 in) and is 7 mm (0.27 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim.[100] 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".[101] The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2 July 2012 for storage.[100] 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.[102] The value of the materials in the gold medal is about $644, the silver about $330, and the bronze about $4.71 on the current market.[103]

Torch relay
The Olympics torch relay ran from 19 May to 27 July 2012, before the Games. Plans for the relay were developed in 201011, with the torch-bearer selection process announced on 18 May 2011.[104] The Olympic flame arrived on flight BA2012 on 18 May 2012 from Greece.[105] The relay lasted 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations and six island visits, and involved about 8,000 people carrying the torch a distance of about 8,000 miles (12,800 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall.[106] The torch had one day outside of the United Kingdom when it visited Dublin on 6 June.[107] The relay was focusing on National Heritage Sites, locations and venues with sporting significance, key sporting events, schools registered with the Get Set School Network, green spaces and biodiversity, Live Sites (city locations with large screens), festivals and other events.[108]

Environmental policy
The Olympic Park was planned to incorporate 45 hectares of wildlife habitat, with a total of 525 bird boxes, and 150 bat boxes. Local waterways and riverbanks were enhanced as part of the process.[109] Renewable energy also features at the Olympics. It was originally planned to provide 20% of the energy for the Olympic Park and Village from renewable technologies; however, this may now be as little as 9%.[110] Proposals to meet the original target included large-scale on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames. These plans were scrapped for safety reasons.[111] The focus has since moved to installing solar panels on some buildings, and providing the opportunity to

recover energy from waste. Food packaging at the Olympics is made from compostable materials like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics where it cannot be re-used or recycled. This includes fast food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons. After they have been used, many of these materials will be suitable for anaerobic digestion (AD), allowing them to be made into renewable energy.[112]

Cultural Olympiad
The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympic Games and for governing the Olympic Movement, states 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 comprises many programmes, with over 500 events spread over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, and culminating in the London 2012 Festival.[114][115]

Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July and called "Isles of Wonder".[116] 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.[117] The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[118] It was the second Games the Queen had opened personally, the first being the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Philip opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne on her behalf. The Games held in Australia and Canada in 1988, 2000 and 2010 were opened by their countries' 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,[119] as was a gentle mockery of the event in the shape of Rowan Atkinson playing Chariots of Fire. Sir Paul McCartney performed the song "Hey Jude" at the end of the ceremony.[120][121] According to reports, the gala opening ceremony was watched by 27 million UK viewers.[122]

Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place on 12 August 2012. The ceremony is planned to include 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.[123]

Sports

The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines: For the first time, women's boxing is included in the programme, with 36 athletes competing in three different weight classes. There is a special dispensation to allow the various shooting events to go ahead, which would otherwise be illegal under UK gun law.[333][334] In Tennis, mixed doubles returns to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924.[335] London's bid featured 28 sports, in line with other recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games two days after it selected London as the host city. The IOC reinforced its decision to drop both sports during the 2006 Winter Olympics, after they lost votes for reconsideration, and were last scheduled for Games at the 2008 Olympics.[336] Following the decision to drop the two sports, the IOC held a vote on whether or not to replace them. The sports considered were karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens. Karate and squash were the two final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.[336] Although formal demonstration sports were eliminated following the 1992 Summer Olympics,[337] special tournaments for non-Olympic sports can be run during the Games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[338] There were attempts to run Twenty20 cricket,[338] and netball[339] tournaments parallel with the 2012 Games, but neither campaign was successful.

World recordsDate

Event Athlete Nation Record description

Ref Scored a world record

27 July 2012 Archery Men's individual of 699 in the ranking round [341] 27 July 2012 Kim Bub-Min Oh Jin-Hyek 28 July 2012 Hamish Bond South Korea

Im Dong-Hyun South Korea

Archery Men's team Im Dong-Hyun

Scored a world record of 2087 in the ranking round Eric Murray

[341]

Rowing Men's coxless pair New Zealand

Set a world record time of 6:08.50 in the heats [342] Ye Shiwen China Set a

28 July 2012 Swimming Women's 400 metre individual medley world record time of 4:28.43 in the final [343] 29 July 2012 Weightlifting Women's 53 kg Zulfiya Chinshanlo record at clean and jerk of 131 kg [344] 29 July 2012 Swimming Women's 100 metre butterfly world record time of 55.98 [345]

Kazakhstan

Set a world

Dana Vollmer

United States Set a

29 July 2012 Swimming Men's 100 metre breaststroke Set a world record time of 58.46 [346] 30 July 2012 Weightlifting Men's 62 kg total of 327 kg [347] Kim Un-Guk

Cameron van der Burgh South Africa

North Korea

Set a world record at

1 August 2012 Swimming Men's 200 metre breaststroke world record time of 2:07.28 [348] 1 August 2012 Weightlifting Men's 77 kg 175 kg Set world record at total of 379 kg [349] L Xiaojun

Dniel Gyurta

Hungary

Set a

China Set world record at snatch of

1 August 2012 Swimming Women's 200 metre breaststroke Rebecca Soni world record time of 2:20.00 in the semi-final. [348] 2 August 2012 Cycling Women's team sprint Victoria Pendleton Jessica Varnish Great Britain

United States Set a

Set a world record time of 32.526 in the qualification.

2 August 2012 Cycling Women's team sprint Gong Jinjie Guo Shuang China Set a world record time of 32.447 in the qualification. [350]

Set a world record time of 32.422 in the first round. 2 August 2012 Cycling Men's team pursuit Geraint Thomas Steven Burke Peter Kennaugh Great Britain

Ed Clancy

Set a world record time of 3:52.499 in the qualification.

Set a world record time of 3:51.659 in the final. [351] 2 August 2012 Cycling Men's team sprint Chris Hoy Jason Kenny Great Britain Set a world record time of 42.747 in the first round. Philip Hindes

Set a world record time of 42.600 in the final. [352] 2 August 2012 Swimming Women's 200 metre breaststroke Rebecca Soni world record time of 2:19.59 in the final. [353] 3 August 2012 Cycling Women's team pursuit Danielle King United States Set a

Laura Trott Joanna Rowsell Great Britain Set a world record time of 3:15.669 in the qualification. BelarusSet a world

3 August 2012 Shooting Men's 50 metre rifle prone Sergei Martynov record result of 705.5 in the final. 3 August 2012 Swimming Women's 200 metre backstroke world record time of 2:04.06 in the final. 4 August 2012 Shooting Women's trap the qualification. Scored a world record of 99 in the final. 4 August 2012 Cycling Women's team pursuit Laura Trott Joanna Rowsell Great Britain Danielle King Jessica Rossi

Missy Franklin United States Set a

Italy

Scored a world record of 75 in

Set a world record time of 3:14.682 in the first round.

Set a world record time of 3:14.051 in the final. 4 August 2012 Swimming Men's 1500 metre freestyle record time of 14:31.02 in the final. [354] Sun Yang China Set a world

4 August 2012 Swimming Women's 4 100 metre medley relay Rebecca Soni Dana Vollmer

Missy Franklin

Allison Schmitt United States Set a world record time of 3:52.05 in the final. 4 August 2012 Weightlifting Men's 94 kg jerk of 233 kg. Set a world record total of 418 kg. [355] Russia Set a world record at Ilya Ilin Kazakhstan Set a world record at clean and

5 August 2012 Weightlifting Women's +75 kg Tatiana Kashirina snatch of 151 kg. 5 August 2012 Weightlifting Women's +75 kg Zhou Lulu kg.

China Set a world record total of 333

Broadcasting

The host broadcaster is Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), an agency of the IOC. It is using its own cameras, and crews subcontracted from other Olympic broadcasters, to cover the events. The base video and audio has then been sold to other broadcasters, who add their own commentary and presentation. The official recording format of the 2012 Olympic Games uses Panasonic's digital technologies, with the official video being produced and distributed from the International Broadcast Centre in 1080/50i HighDefinition (HD) format. Panasonic announced that DVCPRO HD would be the official recording format. Olympic Broadcasting Services London (OBSL), the host broadcaster, will use P2 HD series equipment to support the broadcast of the competition.[356] In accordance with the IOC's wish to provide over-the-air television coverage to as broad a worldwide audience as possible, London 2012 is being broadcast by a number of national and regional broadcasters. In the host nation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) carries the Olympics, while Channel 4 will broadcast the Paralympics. The BBC aims to broadcast by various channels all 5,000 hours of the Olympic Games.[357] In addition to extended hours on BBC Three so that it can show Olympic events in the daytime (which has involved temporarily closing BBC Parliament's Freeview channel, no fewer than 24 additional BBC Olympics channels are available via cable, satellite and the internet in the UK. The United States television rights, currently owned by NBC, account for over half the rights revenue for the IOC.[book 1] Thousands of Americans, however, have chosen to access the BBC's omnibus coverage using proxy servers, or VPNs.[358] The operations of broadcasters granted rights to the Games are hosted in the dedicated International Broadcast Centre, inside the security cordon of the Olympic Park. YouTube will live stream the Games in 64 territories in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where no official broadcaster was chosen.[359] This content will also be viewable on YouTube's mobile and Xbox Live applications, as well as apps on iPhone, iPad and many Android-based mobile devices, giving the public unprecedented media access to the Olympics.[360]

Marketing
"Survival", a single released by the English band Muse, will be the official song of the Olympics.[361] In August 2009, the Royal Mail commissoned artists and illustrators to create 30 stamps which were released in batches of 10 during 2009 to 2011.[362] On 22 July 2011, the last of the 30 stamps were released.[363] Two 5 coins have been made to mark London 2012 Olympics designed by Saiman Miah.[364] As with other Olympics since 1952, the Royal Mint will strike a set of commemorative onekilogram gold and silver coins.[365]

Mascots
The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010.[373] Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton.[373] They are named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of

the current Olympic Games, and Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner to the Paralympic Games were first held.[373] The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept to the mascots, and an animation was produced;[374] Two stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow and Adventures On A Rainbow.[375]

Chariots of Fire
The 1981 Best Picture Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, which depicts Britain's athletics successes in the 1924 Olympics, is also a recurring theme in promotions for the 2012 London Olympics.[376] As an official part of the London 2012 Festival celebrations, a new digitally re-mastered version of Chariots of Fire was screened in over 100 cinemas throughout the UK, which was released on 13 July 2012.[377] A 2012 stage adaptation of the same title also coincides with the Olympics, opening 9 May at London's Hampstead Theatre and transferring to the West End on 23 June.[378] The film's theme tune was also performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle, during the Opening Ceremony of the games; the performance was accompanied by a comedic skit by Rowan Atkinson which included the opening beach-running footage from the film.[379] The film's theme tune is also played during each victory ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.[380]

Sponsors
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the IOC (IOC) have agreed to sponsorship deals with several companies (see table). The sponsors are assigned one of four categories; worldwide, tier one, tier two and tier three.[381] The worldwide partners are: Acer, Atos, Coca-Cola, Dow, General Electric, McDonald's, Omega SA, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Visa.[381] The companies have cumulatively provided 1.4bn of funding, allocated evenly between the IOC and LOCOG.[382]

Doping
It was announced prior to the Summer Games that half of all competitors are to be tested for drugs, with 150 scientists set to take 6,000 samples between the start of the Games and the end of the Paralympic Games.[384] In addition, every competitor who wins a medal will also be tested. The Olympic anti-doping laboratory will test up to 400 samples every day for more than 240 prohibited substances.[384] Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku became the first athlete to be tested positive.[385] Gymnast Luiza Galiulina[386] and runner Tameka Williams were also suspended.[387]

Lord Coe, the head of the London 2012 bid

The Countdown Clock in Trafalgar Square The medals of the 2012 Summer Olympics: silver (left), gold (centre) and bronze (right) unveiled at Trafalgar Square in London

The Olympic Mascots, Mandeville (left) and Wenlock (right)