London 2012 was the successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, held in London with most events taking place in Stratford in the borough of Newham. The British Olympic Association had been working on the bid since 1997, and presented its report to government ministers in December 2000.
Following three consecutive unsuccessful UK bids to host summer Olympic Games (Birmingham for 1992 and Manchester for 1996 and 2000), the decision was made to bid with London, given the clear indication that it was the only UK city that had a chance of being selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when put up against other world cities in a competitive bidding process. On 6 July 2005 at its 117th Session in Singapore, the IOC awarded London the right to host the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The city beat the favourite Paris 54 to 50 on the fourth and final ballot. London was the first city to host the Games three times.
At the time of the bid, the budget projection was around £2 billion, but it was later estimated that the true cost would be around £9 billion. It ended up costing £8.8 billion. The project involved a major regeneration of the Stratford area of London, as well as improvements to surrounding services and associated venues. Public transport, an aspect of the proposal which scored poorly for the bid, saw numerous improvements, including to the London Underground and the new "Olympic Javelin" service.
The celebrations of the bid's success were partly silenced the day after the announcement when the 7 July 2005 London bombings killed 52 people and injured hundreds more. There was no confirmed link between the IOC decision and the attack, which also coincided with the G8 Summit in Scotland.
Following the success of the bid, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was established to oversee the ongoing development of the games. Some alterations were made after the bid was accepted, including the decision by the IOC to eliminate some sporting events, and a new layout for the Olympic Zone, both resulting in some relatively minor changes to the Olympic venues.
Sporting venues The 2012 Olympics were planned to use a mixture of newly built venues, existing facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, the intention was that there would be no white elephants after the games. Some of the new facilities would be reused in their Olympic form, while others would be reduced in size and several would be relocated elsewhere in the UK. The plans would contribute to the regeneration of Stratford in east London, which would be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.
However, this required the compulsory purchase of some businesses and this caused controversy, with some of the business owners claiming that the compensation offered was inadequate. The purchased buildings were demolished to make way for Olympic venues and infrastructure improvements.
The majority of venues were divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. Also some venues (such as those for sailing) were outside the boundaries of Greater London.
The IOC noted that future negotiations were necessary to ensure the use of the Old Trafford and Villa Park football stadiums. The need for compulsory purchase orders was also highlighted as a possible problem for the Olympic Park, but IOC did not expect this to cause any "undue delay to construction schedules".
At the time of the bid, 60% of the venues and facilities were in place. The remaining venues were proposed to be completed between 2007 and the start of the games. At time of the bid the following were the tentative completion dates for some of the remaining venues: Channel Tunnel/Stratford rail link (2007); Aquatics Centre and London Velopark (2008); East London line extension (2010); Olympic Stadium and Heathrow Terminal 5 final completion (2011).
Olympic Zone The Olympic Zone encompasses all of the facilities within the 500-acre (2 km2) Olympic Park in Stratford. This park was developed on existing waste and industrial land, at grid reference , just seven minutes by Olympic Javelin train from central London. The park contains: The Olympic Stadium, hosting the track and field athletics events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The Aquatics Centre, hosting diving, swimming and synchronised swimming. The Water Polo Arena, hosting water polo – the first Olympic venue dedicated to hosting the sport. The London Velopark, including a 6,000-seat indoor velodrome for track cycling and a 6,000-seat outdoor BMX racing track. The Riverbank Arena, with 15,000 and 5,000-seat arenas, hosting hockey. Four indoor arenas (Olympic Park Arenas 1–4), hosting basketball (2), fencing (4), volleyball (1), handball (3), and the fencing and shooting disciplines of the modern pentathlon (2). The London Olympic Village, with accommodation for all athletes and accredited officials (some 17,320 beds in total). After the games, the village was planned to become a district of the Stratford City development, a multi-billion-pound development project on the former railway goods yard to the east of the Olympic Park. The Olympic Press and Broadcast Centres. A tennis training centre.
River Zone
The River Zone featured five main venues in the Thames Gateway area straddling the River Thames: The ExCeL Exhibition Centre, for boxing, fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling. The Millennium Dome and Greenwich Arena, for badminton, basketball, and gymnastics. Greenwich Park, for equestrianism. The Royal Artillery Barracks, for shooting.
Central Zone The Central Zone was formed out of all the remaining venues within Greater London. They are quite widely spread across central and west London: The new Wembley Stadium for the football finals. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon for tennis. Lord's Cricket Ground for archery. Regent's Park for road bicycle racing. Baseball and softball were also due to be hosted in Regent's Park before it was announced in July 2005 that they would be dropped as Olympic events for the London games. Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball. Hyde Park for the triathlon.
Outside Greater London Three of the venues were just outside Greater London: Weald Country Park, Essex for mountain biking Broxbourne, Hertfordshire for canoe/kayak slalom Dorney Lake, in Buckinghamshire, for rowing and canoe/kayak flatwater.
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, in Portland Harbour, Dorset, on the south coast of England, would be used for the sailing events. It is around 120 miles (192 km) from central London.
The earlier stages of the football competition were played at football stadia around the country including: Hampden Park in Glasgow Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Old Trafford in Manchester St James' Park in Newcastle Ricoh Arena in Coventry Windsor Park in Belfast
Olympic Village The Olympic Village was located in Lower Lea Valley in east London. The area was then underdeveloped, and thus a well-suited place to construct the village. Because the Olympic Village is located within the Olympic Park, about 75 percent of athletes would be within 15 minutes of their venues; this compact design, according to double Olympic decathlon gold medallist Daley Thompson, would "make [the experience] so much more inspirating [sic] and real". When the games are over, the Village will be converted into new homes and facilities for the local community.
Australian construction company Lend Lease Corp Ltd was chosen to build the Olympic Village. The project cost £5.3 billion (A$13.2 billion) and was constructed in two phases. The first phase, which involves the development of 4,200 residential buildings and other accommodations for the village, began in 2008. When the 2012 Olympics are over, the second phase will involve the refurbishment of the Olympic village and construction on another of space to complete the regeneration of Stratford City.
The Olympic Village's accommodations are the most spacious in Olympic history. Each athlete and official is guaranteed their own bed – over 17,000 beds in total. Each apartment was billed to include Internet access and wireless networking and other state-of-the-art technology.
Transport and infrastructure
Public transport, an aspect of the bid which scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation, was planned to see numerous improvements, including the expansion of the London Underground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the temporary "Olympic Javelin" service. The games were won without a commitment to deliver Crossrail by 2012. This was the largest transport project proposed for London, and it was widely assumed in the early stages of the bidding process that the games could not be won without a guarantee that it would be completed before the games.
The bid envisaged that 80% of athletes would be within 20 minutes of their events and 97% would be within 30 minutes of their events. It was estimated that 80% of spectators would arrive by rail. Together, all the planned heavy rail, light rail, and underground services (excluding Crossrail) were expected to deliver around 240 trains every hour.
Additionally, there were to be two major park and ride sites off the M25 within 25 minutes of the Olympic Park capable of holding 12,000 cars. For the most part, predictions showed that on event days, 78% of spectators were likely to travel from within London and only 22% from the rest of the UK and Europe. Organisers hoped to use low- or no-emission vehicles to transport Olympic athletes and officials.
Budget As of the time of the bid, projections for the cost of the 2012 Olympics were low. The bid team believed that London could end the Games with a surplus of more than £100 million. The organising committee laid out the following figures: £560 million for new venues, including £250 million for the Olympic Stadium. £650 million for the Olympic village. £1.5 billion to run the Games. £200 million on security.
The revenue for the games was also projected: £1.5 billion from a special Olympic National Lottery game. £625 million from a council tax surcharge of £20 per year for London households. £560 million from IOC television and marketing deals. £450 million from sponsorship and official suppliers. £300 million from ticket sales. £250 million from the London Development Agency. £60 million from licensing.
While this projection seemed reasonable, many were adamant about the actual costs. In early 2007, it was suggested that the actual cost of the games could exceed £9.35 billion (US$18.03 billion), well over the bid projection. For comparison, the 2004 games in Athens cost around £7 billion (US$13.5 billion) and estimates for the 2008 games in Beijing run between £10 billion and £20 billion (US$19 billion and US$39 billion).
Ticketing Approximately 8.0 million tickets were proposed to be available for the Olympics, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympics. and the London Organising Committee planned on selling a total of 6.5 million (an 81% sellout) Olympic tickets, and a 63% sellout for Paralympic tickets. Olympic tickets went on sale on 15 March 2011London 2012 Tickets To go on Sale March 15 , worldnewsinsight.com and remained on sale until the start of the event, depending on availability. With the purchase of a ticket, each person was entitled to free transportation on London's public transport system for that day. Paralympic tickets went on sale on 9 September 2011.Six weeks to apply for London 2012 tickets from March, moneycontrol.com, 16 January 2011