History of olimpics

History of the Olympics in London

A time-line of events leading up the London 2012 Olympic Games

1908

Summer Olympics held in London

The Games of the IV Olympiad) were the third to be hosted outside of Athens and were scheduled to take place in Rome, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 7 April 1906 required the Italian Government to redirect funds away from the Olympics. The events took place between 27 April 1908 and 31 October 1908, with 22 nations participating in 110 events. The British team easily topped the unofficial medal count, finishing with three times as many medals as the second-place United States.

1944

1944 Summer Olympics Cancelled

The Summer Olympics of 1944 were to be held in London having been awarded in 1939. However, they were cancelled due to World War II. In lieu of the Olympics, a small celebratory sporting competition was held in Lausanne, at IOC HQ.

1948

The 1948 Summer Olympics

The 1948 Games were the first to be held after World War II, with the 1944 Summer Olympics having been cancelled due to the war. 59 nations (Germany and Japan had not been invited) competed in 136 events between 29 July 1948 and 14 August 1948. due to security reasons. British athletes finished 12th in the unofficial medal count with only 23 medals.

2000

The UK Bids

In December 2000 a report from the British Olympic Association was shown to Government ministers. They had been working on the bid since 1997.

2005

The London 2012 Olympic bid was announced as the winner of the bidding process on 6 July 2005.
2008

2008 Summer Olympics

To be held in Beijing, China between August 8, 2008 and August 24, 2008. Concerns have been raised that many events will be compromised by problems with pollution and air quality.

2012

2012 Summer Olympics

The Games will take place between 27 July 2012 and 12 August 2012.

2012 Summer Paralympic Games

The fourteenth Paralympics and will take place between 29 August 2012 and 9 September 2012 at the Summer Olympics venues in London.