The Olympic Games London 2012:

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad,also known informally as London 2012, is scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012. The first event, the group stages in women's football, began two days earlier on 25 July. Over 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating bids from Moscow, New York City, Madrid andParis. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Gamesthree times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

Construction in preparation for the Games has involved considerable redevelopment, particularly themed towards sustainability The main focus of this is a new 200 hectareOlympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford in the east of London. The Games also make use of many venues which were already in place before the bid.

History:

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

The Most Famous Athletes:

Mary Lou Retton.

Mary Lou Retton is probably the most famous Olympic athlete, and certainly a fan favorite. The American gymnast is the first woman outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title. She won five medals in the 1984 summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California--one gold, two silver, and two bronze.

Mark Spitz.

Mark Spitz is a retired American swimmer and Olympic icon. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. His long-standing record held for more than 35 years, until American Michael Phelps broke the record with eight gold medals in 2008. During his years of swimming, Spitz set more than thirty world records.

Bruce Jenner.

Bruce Jenner is a former track and field athlete. He is best known for winning a gold medal in the decathlon in the 1976 summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Following his Olympic success, Jenner became a celebrity actor featured in several movies and television series. He was also a successful race car driver in the 1980s.

Wilma Rudolph

Wilma Rudolph, an American track and field star, was considered “the fastest woman in the world” in the 1960s. She competed in the 1956 summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, winning a bronze medal. She became an international star in 1960, when she won three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete in the 1930s. She was known as a versatile female competitor. She won two gold and one silver medal in track and field events in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. She was also skilled at basketball, softball, diving, roller-skating, and bowling. By the late 1940s, Zaharias had become America’s first female golf celebrity.

Carl Lewis.

Carl Lewis is a former American track and field star. He impressed America and the world with ten Olympic medals, including nine gold. Lewis won his first four Olympic events in the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles, California. The 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea, gave him three medals, including his lone silver medal. In 1992, he won two more gold medals in Barcelona, Spain. He won his last Olympic event in 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dorothy Hamill.

Dorothy Hamill is a famous American figure skater. She won the 1976 Olympic figure skating competition at Innsbruck, Austria, and quickly became “America’s Sweetheart.“ Following the Olympics, Hamill turned professional as an Ice Capades headliner from 1977 to 1984.

Scott Hamilton.

Scott Hamilton is another famous figure skater and Olympic gold medalist. He won the gold medal in the 1984 men’s figure skating competition in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina). He also won many national and world championships. After turning professional, Hamilton starred in several ice shows.

Dan Jansen.

Dan Jansen is a former speed skater best known for the gold-medal win in his final Olympic race after several years of family tragedy and heartbreak. He won his speed-skating event in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Today, Jansen is a speed-skating commentator for the NBC television network. 

Eric Heiden

Eric Heiden is a former long-track speed skater and road cyclist. He won five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Heiden is the only athlete in speed-skating history to win all five events in a single Olympic Games, and the only person to win gold in all five events.