One Month to Go Until the London Olympics

LONDON, ENGLAND, June 27, 2012 (Press-News.org) With just 30 days to go until the 2012 London Olympics, the finishing touches are being put to the greatest sporting spectacle on Earth as London prepares to wow the world. After hosting the Summer Games in 1908 and 1948, London is ready to take centre stage for the third time in history - an unprecedented landmark for what is arguably the most cosmopolitan city on the planet.

But the next 30 days in London do not simply represent a month-long finger-twiddling vacuum to fill. Before the fabled Olympic flame is lit at Danny Boyle's "Green and Pleasant" British countryside-themed official opening ceremony on 27 July there is a thoroughly packed schedule of events taking place all over the capital. There is no calm before the Olympic storm: London is already buzzing.

Festivals galore light up London between now and the Olympic kickoff with Hyde Park, the Southbank, Somerset House, the City and Docklands all hosting major events. Yoko Ono, Edvard Munch and Andy Warhol are all the focus of mainstream art exhibitions, while the World Shakespeare Festival continues apace and London goes dance crazy.

On the sporting field, Andy Murray bids to become Britain's first Wimbledon winner since Fred Perry as the grass-court action continues at the famous All England Club, which from 30 July will host the Olympic tennis events too. Fore more information on all of the many cultural and sporting events taking place ahead of the London Olympics see LondonTown.com's recent London's Warm-Up article.

Thirty days marks the final milestone of a long and meandering journey towards the London Olympics. On 6th July it will be seven years to the day that London pipped Paris to host the 2012 Games amid claims from Lord Coe, chairman of LOCOG, that "this is our moment" after winning the hardest race of his illustrious career.

London is now ready and biting at the bit. The Olympic Park is complete and covered in green lawns and 2,000 trees; the 17,320 beds of the Olympic Village are awaiting some 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 205 nations worldwide; the Thames cable car opens this week well ahead of schedule; key nations have confirmed their National Hospitality Houses for the summer of sport; even the biggest McDonald's on the planet - overlooking the Olympic Park - is ready to serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell GBP3m of fast food during the Games.

For the 1908 London Olympics, the White City Stadium in West London cost a meagre GBP60,000 while the organising committee held a further budget of just GBP15,000. Compare that to the GBP597m Olympic Stadium in Stratford or the total GBP9.3 billion outlay amassed for the London Olympics 104 years on! But the Olympic Park in Stratford is something Londoners can be proud of. It will transform a previously derelict part of the city and leave a lasting legacy to the area's population - not to mention be the centrepiece of what could well be the best Summer Games in history.

For more information on the London Olympics - including special maps and graphics of the Olympic park and Olympic venues, the latest news and features about London 2012, detailed articles on all Olympic and Paralympic sporting and cultural events, and useful guides about Olympic travel and free events - please visit LondonTown.com's comprehensive London Olympics pages.

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