The Opening Ceremony
July 27 will see the launch of the 30th Olympic Games in London. This is the part where the host nation gets to showcase the best of what’s British with a bang and we’re all wondering if Great Britain will outdo China’s awe-inspiring spectacle four years ago. Artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, entitled Isles of Wonder, is movie director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting). ‘Our Isles of Wonder salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an opening ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people,’ he said.
The creative performances in both the opening and closing ceremonies will include a total cast of 15,000 (and some farm animals – seriously) and will be watched by an estimated audience of four billion people. So mark it in your diary.
The football
One match that’s not to be missed is UAE v Great Britain, which takes place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday July 29 at 10.45pm (7.45pm UK time). Despite Team GB causing a stir by not picking Games ambassador David Beckham, some of the best players in Europe including Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs will be going up against our local heroes. You know this one is going to make some noise on the streets of Abu Dhabi, so if you don’t want to be scratching your head over what sounds like the French Revolution down Hamdan Street, don’t miss it.
The 100m finals (men and women)
August 4 and 5 will see the women’s and men’s 100m finals. These are the serious competitions, the head-to-heads that people remember and which often go down in history as those golden moments.
Think Jesse Owen’s four times gold medal haul at the Nazi-dominated 1936 Berlin Games (one each for the 100m and 200m). And then there was Derartu Tulu in 1992, who went down in history as the first ever black African woman to win Olympic gold in one of the most thrilling races of all time (Okay, admittedly, that was the 10,000m race, but it was a race). Tickets for the 100m finals have proved to be some of the most sought after for the games, with the men’s 100m final day (which is likely to feature a certain Usain Bolt) being among the three when ticket costs hit the Dhs4,000+ mark. Watch closely, or you might miss the winning moment.
The Paralympics
As exciting as the Olympics will be, we’re even more thrilled about the Paralympics. While Mr Bolt and pals excite, these are the athletes who really inspire.
For the full schedule for the 2012 London Olympic Games and to keep up to date with results visit www.london2012.com
The 2012 Olympics: The facts
• A whopping 8.8 million tickets were made available for the events.
• There is a total of 26 sports to watch in London this summer and 39 disciplines. There are 20 sports in the Paralympics and 21 disciplines.
• It would take 357 football pitches to fill the new Olympic Park.
• An incredible 8,000 torch bearers will carry the flame across the UK for the historic event.
• All events at the games will be officiated by 7,500 officials.
• Not everyone will be watching. Some 2,000 newts were relocated for the Olympic venues.
• There are 302 Olympic medal events and 500 Paralympic events.
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