2012 Summer Olympic games

Londons Past and present olympic Games

London has had the honor of hosting the modern Summer
Olympic Games three times since they began in 1896.
The city hosted for the first time in 1908even though it
wasnt supposed to. Rome was chosen to host the Games, London hosted the Summer
but in 1906 a volcano in Italy called Mount Vesuvius Olympic Games for the second
erupted. Italy had to focus on recovering from the disaster. time in 1948. They were the first
The country no longer had the time or money to prepare Games after World War II.
for the Games.
The 1948 Games had the first
Despite the short notice, Londons first Olympic Games covered swimming pool in the
hosted 2,008 athletes from 22 countries; 37 were women Olympic Games.
and 1,971 were men. (The 1904 Games in St. Louis,
Missouri, had only 651 athletes from 12 countries.) For
the first time, a stadium was adapted for the Games. Also,
the swimming events were held in a pool and not in open
water.
The 1908 London Games had many of the same sports that
the 2012 Summer Games will have. These include archery,
gymnastics, cycling, and wrestling. However, they also
had a number of sports that are no longer in the Games.
These include jeu de paume (zhoo de pome)a French
game similar to tennisand tug-of-war.
The marathon was changed for the 1908 Olympic Games.
In earlier Games, the race had been 42 kilometers (26 mi).
The planners wanted to have the runners pass in front
of the royal box in the stadium. To do this, they had
to extend the distance to 42 kilometers and 195 meters
(26.2 mi). This is the official distance of the marathon
today.
Bigger and Better
Londons 2012 Olympic Games will be much larger than
those in 1908. Unlike London in 1908, the London of today
was given a lot of time to prepare for the Games, since the
city was chosen to be the host in 2005. The 2012 Games
will take place from July 27 to August 12. More than
10,500 Olympic and 4,200 Paralympic athletes from over
200 countries will compete. Up to 180,000 people per day
will watch in 9 new venues. Thirteen existing venues in
London and 10 outside the city will also hold events.
Preparing for the Olympic Games has not been cheap.
In fact, the 2012 Games may cost well over 9 billion
($14 billion)! But for organizers and spectators, the
gathering of these athletes is worth the cost.

Great Britains George Larner during the 1908

3500-meter race walk event
Learning AZ All rights reserved. Photo Credits: Press Association/AP Images www.readinga-z.com
Londons Past Games 2012 Summer Olympic games

The lighting of the Olympic Flame to open the 1948 Summer Egypts Ibrahim Shams won the Mens Lightweight Weightlifting gold
Games in London medal during the 1948 Summer Games in London.

At the 1908 Summer Games in London, the only tennis players were from Great Britain. They included Dorothea Lambert-Chambers (left)
and Dora Boothby (right).
Learning AZ All rights reserved. Photo Credits: top left: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis; top right: AP Images; bottom: Press Association/AP Images www.readinga-z.com