Along with the new venues, historic sites such as Horse Guards Parade, Greenwich Park and Royal Artillery Barracks welcomed Olympic events. The most notable change to the Olympic program was the official inclusion of women’s boxing for the first time. The park also included a wildlife habitat, public space and riverside gardens, markets and cafes. team.In 2012 London became the first city to host the Olympic Games three times, following 19.Ī 2.5 km tract of previously industrial land in East London was transformed into the Olympic Park which featured eight competition venues as well as the Olympic Village which was the home for 17,000 athletes and team officials. The star of the gymnastics events was Gabrielle Douglas of the United States, who won the women’s individual all-around gold and was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. The other major swimming story of the London Games was 16-year-old Ye Shiwen of China, who won the women’s 200-metre individual medley (IM) and shattered the world record while winning the 400-metre IM event. Along with Phelps, American swimmers took home a great number of those golds, notably teenage sensation Missy Franklin (who won four golds, including both the 100-metre and 200-metre individual backstroke) and Phelps’s friendly rival Ryan Lochte (winner of two golds and five total medals). won an Olympics-high 46 golds, which was the country’s best performance in a non-boycotted Olympics since the poorly organized 1904 Games, where more than five-sixths of the competitors were Americans. Phelps became the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history by capturing six medals (including four golds) to bring his lifetime total to 22. By taking gold in both the 100-metre and 200-metre events, Bolt became the first man to win track’s two most prestigious sprints in consecutive Olympiads. Like the Beijing Olympics, the London Games were dominated by two of the greatest Olympians of all time: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and American swimmer Michael Phelps. The London Games were also the first Olympiad wherein each participating country had at least one female athlete competing. The most-notable addition to the London program was women’s boxing, which made its Olympic debut in three weight classes (51 kg, 60 kg, and 75 kg ). The London Games featured more than 10,500 athletes who participated in 302 events in 36 sports. The record for the total number of participating national Olympic committees-204-that had been established at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was equaled in London. © Open University ( A Britannica Publishing Partner) See all videos for this article Learn about Nicola Adams of Great Britain, who won the first Olympic gold medal in women's boxing in the 51-kg (112-pound) class, at the 2012 Games in London.
The elaborate spectacle (devised by film director Danny Boyle) depicted the cultural and social history of Britain and drew raves from attendees and television viewers, who were treated to an unexpected comic turn by Queen Elizabeth II. The London Games’ opening ceremonies proved to be one of the festival’s highlights. The government was forced to send in military personnel and local police as a stopgap measure, but the Games proceeded with no major security issues, and the episode proved to be an embarrassment rather than a crisis. Safety concerns dogged the London Olympics in the weeks before the opening ceremonies, for the private firm that had been contracted to provide the Games’ security notified the British government that it could not provide as many guards as it had promised (falling short by some 3,500). The city was chosen as the 2012 host in a close 2005 International Olympic Committee (IOC) election, beating runner-up Paris (the heavy favourite, which also was attempting to become the first three-time host) by four votes. In 2012 London became the first city to host the modern Games three times, having previously been the site of the 19 Olympic Games.
The London Games were the 27th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games. London 2012 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in London that took place July 27–August 12, 2012.