The city of London will host the Olympic Games in 2012

Opening date is 27 July 2012 Closing date is 12 August 2012 London was chosen from 5 candidate

cities London will become the first city to

officially host the modern Olympic Games three times.

Olympic park is situated in east London The Park is located in the Lower Lea Valley After the Games the area will be

transformed into the largest urban park created in Europe

There are four main venues – the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velodrome and BMX Circuit

Plus the Hockey, Handball and Basketball arenas

The Olympic Stadium will be on an island site surrounded on three sides by waterways

The Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the London Olympic and Paralympics Games

All Athletics events will take place in the Stadium as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies

After the Games, the Stadium will be transformed into a 25,000 capacity venue that will host a variety of sporting, educational, cultural and community events

Located in the south east corner of the Olympic Park

It will include a 50m and 25m competition pools and a 50m warm-up training pool

The Aquatics Centre will host events including Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Diving, Water Polo finals and the aquatics discipline of the Modern Pentathlon

After the Games The Aquatics Centre will be transformed into a facility for both community and elite use

The VeloPark will be built in the north of the Olympic Park and is made up of a Velodrome and BMX Circuit

Velodrome will host the indoor Olympic and Paralympics Cycling events

After the Games, a Road Cycle circuit and Mountain Bike course will be added to the Velodrome and BMX Circuit to create a VeloPark for the local community, local clubs and elite athletes

The Torch Relay will bring the spirit of the Games to the whole of the UK in the months leading up to the Opening Ceremony

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games are always something to remember

Each Olympic and Paralympic team will be welcomed to London as they arrive at the Olympic Village

During these Team Welcome Ceremonies, they are greeted and their national flag is raised on arrival to join the other flags

Athletes will be awarded medals and honoured for their achievements during Victory Ceremonies across the Olympic Venues

There have been two London 2012 logos The logo is available in a number of colours This will be the first time that the same

essential logo is to be used for both the Olympic and Paralympics games

The logo is the first in Olympic history to be able to use a variety of colours: the standard colours are green, magenta, orange and blue

Sponsors can personalise logos in their corporate colours

Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines

Paralympics Games programme has 20 sports and 21 disciplines

Women's boxing, which was not included in Beijing, is again being considered for inclusion

Boxing is the only Summer Olympic sport that does not include events for women

Netball is being drafted as a possible demonstration sport at the 2012 games

The 1908 Summer Olympics were the fourth modern Olympic Games and the third to be hosted outside of Athens

In 1908, London stood as Host City in for Rome after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius

The Olympic Stadium was built especially for the Olympic Games

Athletes paraded under their national flags at a ceremony at the start of the Games

The Marathon was fixed at 42.195km New official Marathon distance from the 1924

Games onwards. 22 nations (2,008 athletes - 37 women, 1,971

men) competed in 110 different events between 27 April 1908 and 31 October 1908

The British team easily topped the unofficial medal count, finishing with three times as many medals as the second-place United States

The 1948 Summer Olympics were the first to be held after World War II

London again stepped in at the last minute to host the first Games after World War II

Olympic Games were first shown on home television Starting blocks were added for Sprint races Volunteer Programme was created to help run the

Games 59 nations (4,104 athletes - 390 women, 3,714 men)

competed in 136 different events between 29 July 1948 and 14 August 1948

Showing a collective unity after the war, Germany and Japan had not been invited due to security reasons

The British athletes did not have a high medal count, finishing 12th in the unofficial medal count with only 23 medals