2012 Summer Olympics in London

By Nicole Hillstead on July 16, 2012

11 DAYS AND COUNTING!

Photo courtesy of Flickr by edwc

The 2012 Summer Olympics are just around the corner, and London is prepped and ready for the 10,500 Olympic athletes and 4,200 Paralympic athletes. They’re calling the main Olympic site Olympic Park. Located in East London, this park is home to all of the main venues; Olympic Stadium, Aquatic Centre, Velodrome, BMX Circuit, as well as basketball and hockey arenas.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr by frankstiener

As London adapts their city for the 15,000 athletes and estimated 9million spectators, athletes around the world are competing for their spot on their country’s team. Here in the US we’ve seen track and field athletes compete in Eugene, Oregon, swimmers breaking personal records in Omaha, Nebraska, and gymnasts tumble their way to the big games in San Jose, California. But did you know that there is much much more than that? There have been over 46 different competing sports in the Olympics throughout the years and for the 2012 games there is an expected 26 sports including the more obscure sailing, croquet, cricket, Judo, jeu de paume, tug of war, and many more.

The Olympic Games have also expanded in the number of athletic events played within each of these sports. The Olympics originated as a 42 event celebration with only a couple hundred athletes, it is now a 300+ event celebration including over 10,000 athletes from 200+ nations.

My question then is where are all of these athletes going to stay once in London? Asked and answered I learned that there is an area inside Olympic Park called Olympic Village where London has prepared residential apartments and living quarters for around 17,000 athletes, coaches, and officials. The village also includes medical buildings, restaurants, shopping centers, and media buildings. The Village was built inside the actual Olympic Park to give the athletes the best once in a lifetime experience they could possibly get.

These 11 days couldn’t go any faster for me as I am a big fan of the Olympics myself; with a world that seems to be constantly at each other’s throats, threatening each other with guns, drugs, and atomic bombs the Olympics is one of those amazing moments when we all come together as a people to enjoy one another and celebrate one another’s accomplishments.