By 15 July 2003, the deadline for cities to submit their interest in hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, nine cities had done so. New York, Paris, Moscow, Madrid, Leipzig, Havana, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro and London. Over a series of eliminations, only Paris and London were chosen to be on the final shortlist. Paris were the favourites to win the bid, with the 2012 bid being its third in recent times. On 6 July 2005, it was announced the London would host the summer games in 2012.
There has been some controversy over London being the winning city. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, was accused of holding late night meetings with some of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which may have affected the voting process.
Developments Having Won the Olympic Bid
Once London was announced to be the host city, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was created and held their first meeting on 7 October 2005. The committee, which is headed by the former Olympic champion Lord Sebastian Coe, is in charge of organising and staging the games.
The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), is in charge of coordinating the games with an oversight to make sure the games will benefit London and the United Kingdom, both in the run up to, and after the games in 2012.
Venues for the 2012 Olympic Games
The 2012 summer games will take place at a number of venues in different locations. The Olympic Zone will be a 500 acre site which is being developed on existing waste and derelict land in East London.
- The 80,000 main stadium which will host the track and field events is to have a capacity of 80,000.
- The Aquatic Centre will hold 17,500 spectators and is being built in the main "Olympic Zone".
- The London Velopark, where the indoor cycling events and BMX will take place and has a seating capacity of 6000.
- The Olympic Hockey Centre, will hold 20,000.
- There is also the handball and basketball arenas.
Offsite, Dorney Lake which was used for the 2006 Rowing World Championships will be used for the rowing and canoeing events. Weymouth will host the sailing events and Hadleigh Country Park in Essex will be used for the mountain biking events.
The Olympic Village will contain 17,320 beds, 3,300 apartments and a dining hall which can seat 5,500 athletes in each sitting.
Transport for the Event
On the IOC's evaluation of London, public transport scored poorly, so a lot of energy is being channelled to improving the transport facilities for both athletes and spectators for the games. A number of "tube" (the London metro) lines will be expanded and improved and there will be the introduction of the "Olympic Javelin". The Javelin will be a high-speed rail service which will run from the St. Pancras International Station to the Stratford International station which will be situated within the main Olympic park.
Low or No-emission vehicles will be used to transport athletes and officials around and 97% of athletes will be within 30 minutes travel of their event.
Financing the 2012 Olympic Games
On 15 March 2007, it was announced that the budget for the games was to be £5.3 billion to cover the cost of building the venues and infrastructure of the games. At the same time it was announced that £1.7 billion would be used to cover the redevelopment of the area surrounding the Olympic village. There have been additions to this figure including £600 million for security and policing costs.
A number of major firms have expressed their support for the games and become partners. These include the bank Lloyds TSB, BT, British Airways and Adidas.
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