2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games
It's now less than a year until the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games reach the United Kingdom.
As 2012 fast approaches keep visiting the What's On section for more information about Olympic and Paralympic activities taking place in North Tyneside.
About the Games
London was selected as the host of 30th Olympic Games on 6 July 2005, beating off competition from Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. It's the third time the Olympics will have been hosted in London, the only city to achieve this feat in the modern era.
The Games are set to get underway on the 27 July 2012 and will last for a total of 60 days. The event will see 26 Olympic sports and 20 Paralympic sports taking place in a variety of locations across the capital and the rest of the UK. Almost 15,000 athletes from 205 countries will take part in both Games.
The focal point of the Games will be the brand new 80,000 seater Olympic Stadium which will be located in Stratford. It will cost over £400 million to build and it's scheduled to open in 2011. There are also plans to use a variety of other more historic venues in the city and also around the country, such as Wimbledon and Wembley for the tennis and football tournaments respectively. There are also plans to put the skills, inspiration and the infrastructure developed for the games to good use after the Games as part of the 2012 Legacy.
Paralympics 2012
The 2012 Paralympic Games get underway on 29 August 2012 and end on the 9 September 2012. For the first time the Olympics and Paralympics have been planned together from the very beginning. It is hoped that by thinking about the needs of both sets of athletes as well as spectators at each point in their plans, the organisers can create a better Olympic and Paralympic experience for everyone.
2012 Legacy
During the London bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Lord Coe made a pledge that should the United Kingdom secure the games they would be used to inspire two million people to take up sport and physical activity.
Sport North Tyneside already has many initiatives and a network of contacts in place to help residents across the borough to get involved in sport and physical activity. These initiatives include the Council's Widening Horizons 4 Sport programme, Sport Unlimited, StreetGames, Sport England, Diversionary Sport initiatives and Sports Inclusion programme.
InspireMark
London 2012 will be one of the most far-reaching events in the world and communities across the UK will be able to get involved thanks to the Inspire programme.
Sport North Tyneside has recently been granted the InspireMark on three of it's sports initiatives:
- Widening Horizons 4 Sport
- Sport Unlimited
- Free Swims
Links
Below you will find some useful and interesting links relating to the 2012 Games and Olympics:
London 2012 - The official website of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
Team GB - Keep up to date with the latest news from Team GB.
Paralympics GB - The official website of the British Paralympic Team.