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The Games of the XXX Olympiad – commonly known as London 2012 – were held in London between 25 July and 12 August 2012, with the 14th Paralympic Games running between 29 August and 9 September.

Following a successful bid led by former Olympic champion Sebastion Coe and then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone in 2005, London became the first city to be selected to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously hosted in 1908 and 1948.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), chaired by Lord Coe, was created to oversee the staging of the events, and the Olympic Delivery Authority was charged with constructing the venues and infrastructure. A new Olympic Park was constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford in East London, with the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velodrome and BMX Circuit, as well as the hockey, handball and basketball arenas and the Olympic Village within walking distance. Other events were held at existing venues in London (Wembley Stadium for football, the All-England Club in Wimbledon for tennis, Lord’s Cricket Ground for archery and Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball) and elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

The opening ceremony, combined the formal ceremonies of speeches, the parade of athletes, and lighting the Olympic torch with an artistic spectacle directed by British film director Danny Boyle and involving thousands of volunteers. 70,000 of these "Games-Makers" volunteered to help the Olympics.

The Olympics contained 302 events across 26 sports, during which 32 world records were broken. 503 events were held across 20 sports at the Paralympics. Britain came third in the medal table of both the Olympics and Paralympic Games, with 29 Olympic gold and 35 Paralympic gold medals and 185 medals overall. 7,000,000 tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2,700,000 for the Paralympic Games.

In addition to the less tangible sporting and cultural legacies, the most obvious lasting physical effect of 2012 was on the redeveloped area of East London, with the Olympic park, sporting arenas and the tallest public artwork in Britain – the 115 metres high Orbit.

The Museum of London collected items relating to London 2012 before, after and during the events, starting by recording the firms and business in Stratford to be displaced by the construction of the main Olympic Park, recording oral histories from people on the Clays Lane Estate and artworks by artists living near the Olympic Park. During and after the events the Museum collected souvenirs and ephemera, a selection of outfits, including the ‘Games-makers’ uniform, Team GB’s track kit, costumes and the yellow jersey worn by cyclist Bradley Wiggins at the opening ceremony.

Preparations for the events were recorded through a large number of photographs, and the sporting events were recorded in a large series of drawings by Nicholas Garland at the prompting of the then Major of London Boris Johnson. LOCOG donated a number of items to the collection, including a set of posters, an Olympic Torch and, most spectacularly, the London 2012 Cauldron, designed by Thomas Heatherwick.  

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Further information

  • 2012