The 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London, United Kingdom (from 27th July to 12th august 2012).London will become the first city to host the Olympics three times, with previous games in 1908 and 1948. “This is our moment”, said London bid leader Sebastian Coe, a former Olympic middle-distance champion. “It’s massive, it’s huge!”
London’s Olympic project is centered on the massive urban renewal of a ruined area of East London, which will be turned into an Olympic Park.
Infrastructure : Public transport will see numerous improvements including the London Underground and the new Olympic “Javelin” train.
Budget : The budget projection is around £1.4 billion. The majority of the estimated costs will be met by a special lottery game. The rest of the £1.4 billion is to be met by a yearly £20 surcharge on the council tax of households in Greater London.
Sports involved : It has been confirmed that baseball and softball will not be part of the Olympic program of the 2012 Olympic program for the last time at the 2008 games in Beijing. They were the first sports to be dropped since polo in 1936. The candidates short-listed to replace them were rugby, karate, squash, golf or roller-skating but none of these sports was approved by the I.O.C. ; therefore, only 26 sports will take place at the 2012 games.
I.O.C. President Jacques Rogge encouraged the losers to bid again. But it’sunlikely that the games will go back to Europe in 2016.
Adapted from the internet : http://news.bbc.uk/sport; July 6th 2005
Vocabulary : Host : accueillir Bid Leader : Président du comité de candidature Bid (v) : faire acte de candidature Council tax of households : taxe d’habitation Dropped : (ici) abandonné I.O.C.: Comité international Olympique Unlikely : improbable