Olympics Athletics

The 2012 London Summer Olympics begins May 18 with the torch relay. The route travels through every region of the UK plus 6 islands providing opportunity for all of Great Britain’s citizenry to participate. Shows and concerts are scheduled along the route. The games begin on July 27 and continue through August 12. Twenty-six sports with 38 sub-divisions combine for a total of 302 exciting competitions.

Travelers in London during the Olympics will also enjoy Festival 2012, a celebration of art, music, and theater featuring artists from around the world. Over 1000 events are scheduled from June 21 through September 9, when the Paralympics ends. Edinburgh, Scotland is also hosting an art festival showcasing 20,000 international artists. The Edinburgh Art Festival runs from August 3 through August 27.

Beginning on May 18, the torch relay lasts 70 days with 66 evening celebrations planned. The ceremony starts at Land’s End in Cornwall and reaches to every region in the UK with 6 island visits included along the route. The torch will be carried 8000 miles, or 12,800 kilometers. The ending ceremony will be the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony of the games at Olympic Stadium on July 27.

Built new for the 2012 Olympics, Olympic Park in East London features gardens, markets, cafes, and bars. Olympic Stadium seats 80,000. It will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as all the athletic events. Also within the parks boundaries are the new cycling center, Velopark Stadium, a Hockey Centre, Aquatics centre, and the Handball and Basketball Arena.

In other areas of London, table tennis, judo, boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting will be held at the Excel Exhibition Centre. Equestrian events are at Greenwich Park. Gymnastics and basketball finals are at North Greenwich Arena. Gold medal events in soccer will be at Wembley Stadium. Archery events are at the Lord’s Cricket Grounds. The triathlon and ten swimming competitions are at Hyde Park. Earls Court will host volleyball competitions. Of course tennis matches will be held at Wimbledon.

Several soccer competitions will be at Old Trafford Soccer Stadium near Manchester. Also Wales and Scotland will host many of the soccer competitions leading up to the gold medal games which are in London at Wembley Stadium. Several track and field events will be at Hampden Park in Scotland. The canoe slalom competition will be held at the Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre, while other canoeing and rowing competitions will be at Dorney Lake. Sailing competitions are at Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour. Mountain bikers compete at Hadleigh Country Park in Essex.

Sports included in the summer Olympics are archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, football, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weight lifting, and wrestling. The sports program will be missing baseball and softball. Added features include women’s boxing, a mixed doubles tennis competition, and additional cycling events.

If you’re going to the London summer Olympics book well in advance. Public transportation is readily available. If you plan to follow the games on TV, NBC is the provider in the US. BBC in Great Britain will broadcast the entire games over several channels. And in Australia, Channel 9 is the station to watch. For the 1st time, the social media will be involved. Get RSS feeds. Check out Facebook, Twitter, and Widgets. Watch the games on the go from your mobile device.