The Olympic Park as viewed from the sky, showing the giant crayon art installations on the river next to the Aquatics Centre
We’re just under halfway through the London 2012 Olympic Games, can you believe it? So, here’s your pocket guide for all things Olympic, from all of us at The Daily Shift.
A Little Bit of History
The Olympic Torch Relay, on the River Thames, under the giant Olympic Rings
• According to historical records, the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC
• These took place in Olympia, an area in West Greece
• They were abolished, after almost twelve centuries of play, by Emperor Theodosius, in 393 AD
• The International Olympic Committee, founded in 1894, organises the modern Winter and Summer Olympics
• 1896 was the first year that the modern Olympics took place, in Athens, Greece
• The London 2012 Summer Olympic Games are the 30th Summer Olympic Games to be held
• London has hosted the Olympics twice before – in 1908, and 1948 respectively
Fanning the Flame
Olympic Gold Medalist, Torchbearer Matthew Pinsent, lights the cauldron with the Olympic Flame
• 8000 Olympic torchbearers carried the Olympic Flame
• During this time, the Olympic Flame visited all 33 Boroughs in London
• It travelled 8000 miles, to over 1000 different areas in the United Kingdom
• On average, 110 torchbearers carried the Olympic Flame each day, with it travelling an average of 110 miles per day
• On its United Kingdom journey, it will have come within ten miles of contact of 95% of the UK population
• The Olympic Torch relay took place over 70 days
London 2012
The Olympic Torch, with the Olympic Rings in the background
• Even though the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place last Friday – 27 July 2012, the games actually began two days earlier
• Women’s football was the inaugural sport to be played at this year’s games, beginning the competition on Wednesday 25 July
• The men’s football followed, beginning on Thursday 26 July
• 10,490 Olympians will be taking part in the Games
• The London 2012 Olympics will feature 26 sports, divided up into 39 disciplines
• 302 medal events will be taking place over the course of the games
• These will take place in 34 different venues
• There are 8.8 million tickets in total available for the London 2012 Olympic Games
• There are 19 competition days in full – starting from Wednesday 25 July, the games come to a finale on Sunday 12 August 2012
• Every London ticket comes with a travel card valid for tube zones 1 – 9, on the day the Olympic ticket is valid for
• Over 200 Olympic sessions have a ‘Pay Your Age’ policy in place-those aged sixteen or under at the outset of the Games pay their age amount for tickets-i.e. a 14-year-old will pay £14, a 16-year-old paying £16
• The Pay Your Age scheme ensures discounts for senior citizens also, with ticket prices capped at £16 for senior citizens
Let The Games Begin
The London 2012 Olympic medals
• 1 million pieces of sports equipment have been stockpiled for London 2012, including:
• 6000 archery target faces
• 2,700 footballs
• 2,200 dozen tennis balls
• 600 basketballs
• 541 life jackets
• 510 adjustable hurdles, for use in athletics
• 356 pairs of boxing gloves
• 120 head protectors, for use in taekwondo
• 99 training dolls for judo and wrestling
• 53 sets of pool lane ropes
• 22 tape measures for boccia
• 12 pairs of handball goalposts
The Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium, floodlit at night
• Will be used for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• Took three years to build
• Is made of 10,000 tonnes of steel
• Is 53 metres high
• Has paid host to 241,000 visitors since 2007
The Aquatics Centre
The swanky Aquatics Centre
• Will use 10 million litres of water
• Has 180,000 tiles laid through three pools — two 50 metre swimming pools, one 25 metre diving pool
• Four skeletons were excavated from the prehistoric settlement found on the site
Living It Up
The entrance to the athletes’ Globe recreation area
• There have been 2,818 apartments built in the Olympic Village, compromising of a grand total of 250,000 square metres of living space
• These apartments house: 16,000 beds
• 28,000 branded duvets
• 22,000 pillows
• 1,200 blankets
An apartment at the Olympic Village
• 9,000 wardrobes
• 11,000 sofas
• That works out, per apartment, as: 5.6 beds, 9.9 duvets, 7.8 pillows, 0.4(!) of a blanket, 3.1 wardrobes and 3.9 sofas
• So, while the athletes have loads of sofa space to lounge it up, they might find themselves fighting over the blankets!
• Although, seeing as there are 150,000 condoms available to the Olympians, giving each participant 14, they might be pretty hot under the collar already. Looks like somebody will be getting The Daily Shift anyway!
Food For Thought
The main dining hall in the Athletes’ Village
• 14 million meals will be served at the Olympic Games, 45,000 of these at the Olympic Village
• Food and catering for London 2012 will comprise of:
• 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables
• 232 tonnes of potatoes
• 100 tonnes of meat
• 82 tonnes of seafood
• 31 tonnes of poultry
• 21 tonnes of cheese
• 19 tonnes of eggs
• 75,000 litres of milk
• 25,000 loaves of bread
• All tea, coffee, sugar and bananas are to be of the Fairtrade variety
• 9.8% of food at the Olympic Park will be served by
McDonald’s (healthy choices ahoy! But, you do get a free, limited edition London 2012 Coca-Cola glass and wristband with every large meal or premium salad, so…)
Working It Out
Work being done on the Velodrome site, before completion
• The games will be employing about 200,000 people–approximately 35% of these are volunteers, with contractors making up about 50% of the number
• 70,000 Games Markers will volunteer for a grand total of 8 million hours
• Uniforms for Games Markers, staff officials, and contractors will be comprised of:
• 765.92 miles of fabric
• 359.37 miles of thread
• 1,069,034 single zips
• 730,610 individual buttons
• 2,000 newts have been relocated from the Olympic Park to the Waterworks nature reserve
• There are 2,012 official London 2012 pin designs
• 44 companies have signed up as sponsors in the United Kingdom
• £1 billion worth of merchandise is aimed to be sold before the end of 2012
For Future Reference
The Olympic Rings, Coventry
• The 2014 Winter Olympic Games are due to be held in Sochi, Russia
• The next Summer Olympic Games, in 2016 will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
So, let the games begin, eh, carry on!
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @aprilbarry101
This was originally published on August 6, 2012, and can be seen, in edited form, here.
If you would like to see all my work on TheDailyShift.com, please click here.
Lead image: Wikimedia Commons
Additional images: London 2012/Getty
April Barry 