Facts about the 2012 London Olympics
A team of 50 Jamaican athletes will be competing at the Games of the 30th Olympiad in London, where over 200 countries will be sending over 10,000 athletes to compete in 300 events.
While we wait for the excitement to begin after the July 27 opening, here’s a list of interesting facts about what the Olympics mean for London and its residents:
• 26 Olympic sports will be played.
• The London Olympics will generate an estimated £10billion in revenue for the British economy as a whole.
• There are 60-70 London 2012 sponsors.
• The London economy is projected to grow by $80 billion by 2015.
• The Games are projected to generate 12,000 new jobs in the Olympic Park.
• 31 competition venues will be utilised.
• 20,000 press/media will be in attendance.
• 10 kilometres of new roads will be built.
• 500,000 spectators per day will watch the Games live.
• Over 9,000 new homes will be built.
• Over nine million tickets went on sale.
• Organisers say 75 per cent of all tickets will cost less than £50 and offer free travel on London transport.
• A sell-out rate of 82 per cent for the Olympic Games and 63 per cent for the Paralympics is estimated.
• Tickets for the athletics will start at £15 each and there will be 20,000 £10 tickets for the Olympic Park to watch.
• The village will be converted into 3,600 apartments, most of them affordable housing.
• After the Games four arenas will be ‘deconstructed’ and relocated to other parts of the UK along with the swimming pools that are used for water polo and the 50m training pools.
• Charities will receive the sports equipment used in the Games for free.
• 80 per cent of athletes would be within 20 minutes of their events and 97 per cent of athletes within 30 minutes of their events.
• 93 per cent of training venues are to be within 30 minutes of the athletes’ village.
• 9,000 planned park and ride spaces are to be made available at Ebbsfleet International Railway Station in London, where spectators can board a 10-minute javelin service to the Olympic Park. This is the same station where continental spectators travelling by Eurostar will join the javelin to the Olympic Park.
• Incidentally in 1948 Jamaica won its first medal at the Olympics, also held in London. Jamaica earned its highest medal tally at the Beijing Olympics and is aiming to better that haul at the 2012 London Olympics.
