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| 2012 London Summer Olympic Logos http://vector4u.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/london-2012-logo.jpg |
The selection process for the 2012 Olympics started in 2003 when London announced they were bidding for the 2012 Olympics. In 2005, they won the vote to become the host of the Olympics. Then, in 2008, the Olympic Flag went to London from Beijing. Then, from 2011 to a few months ago, test events called London Prepares were held to prepare London for the Games.
Now, it is time for London to be on the Worlds Biggest Stage. It has been 9 years in the making with ups and downs, highs and lows. London will shine with the light on them. Here is the Olympics Preview of sports and a look at some of Olympics uniqueness.
Basketball
The United States basketball team, for both men and women, are the favorites for both tournaments. The women's team hasn't loss an Olympic game since 1992, making them the large favorite to win. The men's team has some challengers that believe they can beat them. These teams include 2008 runner-ups Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and France. Russia also has a chance, led by former NBA Forward Andrei Kirilenko, but I don't believe they will be much of a threat to the US team.
The US will most likely face Spain in the final. Spain has what the US doesn't, big men. They have the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, and Serge Ibaka coming off the bench. Their backcourt features Raptors' Jose Calderon and former NBA player and currently on Barcelona's basketball team Juan Carlos Navarro. Also in the backcourt is former NBA player Sergio Rodriguez. Rudy Fernandez, who just left the Denver Nuggets to play for Real Madrid, is also on the team. Ricky Rubio, who is out with a torn ACL, is going to missed a point guard to be a back-up or even a starter.
Brazil also has good big men. The Wizards' Nene, Cavilers' Anderson Varejao, and Spurs' Tiago Splitter. Leandro Barbosa of the Pacers is going to be a key player in the backcourt for them. Argentina is going to be led by the Spurs' Manu Ginobili, Bucks' Carlos Delfino, and Suns' Luis Scola. Guard Pablo Prigioni, who recently signed with the Knicks, will be a key to success for the team. France is not just Tony Parker. They have Nicolas Batum at small forward, Boris Diaw, Kevin Seraphin, and Ronny Turiaf as the big men. These teams look to be very good.
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| The US Team Pumped Up http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/051QbRFcAA2H1/x391.jpg |
Football (Soccer)
The Olympic Football Tournaments for the men and women are different, but somewhat the same. For the men's tournament, each team has a minimum of 15 players that must be born before January 1st, 1989 and can have 3 overaged players play on the team. For the women's team, they can send the national team. The US women look to their 3rd consecutive Gold Medal and 4th in the last 5 Olympics (This is the 5th Women's Soccer Tournament in the Olympics history). Japan is looking to win the Olympics after winning the Women's World Cup. The Men's tournament has many good team's looking to win, like Brazil, Spain, and Great Britain.
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| Alexandre Pato (Wearing 17, not 9, for the Olympics) and Neymar http://static.foxsports.com/content/fsc/img/2011/07/13/copa_dynamic_duo_pi_ rf_071311_20110713225149122_660_320.JPG |
Spain has won the last 2 European Championships and the last FIFA World Cup. Adding an Olympic Gold Medal would be very. 2 goal-scorers in the 2012 Euro Final are on the team, defender Jordi Alba, who recently was moved to Barcelona, and striker Juan Mata of Chelsea. In net, for the team is Manchester United's David De Gea. The 21 year old started 29 games in the English Premier League and 39 games in all of the competitions Man U competed.
Athletics
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| Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt http://theverbalexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ usain_bolt_and_yohan_blake-450x350.jpg |
Going from the shorter track events to the longer events, Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele has 1 the last 2 Gold Medal in the 10,000 meters and won Gold in Beijing and Silver in Athens in the 5,000 meters. He has the World Record (26:17.53) and Olympic Record (27:01.17) for the 10,000 meters and the World Record (12:37.35) and Olympic Record (12:57.82) for the 5,000 meters. Bekele is looking to become the 1st person ever to win 3 straight Gold Medal in the 10,000 meters
The Men's Decathlon has 10 events that are going to be held over 2 days. On the 1st day, 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters. On day 2, 110 meters hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500 meters. Ashton Eaton is the current World Record holder, breaking the previous record this year with 9039 points. In the Women's Heptathlon, the 7 events will be also be held over 2 days. The events include 100 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and the 200 meters, which will be held on day 1. The long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meters will be held on day 2. Jackie Joyner-Kersee has both the Olympic and World Record with 7291 points from the 1988 Olympics. Defending gold medalist, Natalyia Dobrynska of Ukraine, is back to defend her title.
Swimming
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| Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4ff6ea98ecad04075500002c-400-/ ryan-lochte-michael-phelps.jpg |
The US women are going to be led by 17 year old Missy Franklin. Franklin is going to be swimming in 7 events, 100 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle, 100 meter backstroke, 200 meter backstroke, 4x100 meter medley relay, 4x100 meter freestyle relay, and 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Franklin has never been in an Olympics, but she is expected to do really well. If the women want to do really well in swimming, they need to follow the lead of Franklin.
The longest swimming competition is the marathon, which is 10km and is held in open water. There are no heats, just a finals in which 25 competitors compete. This is only the 2nd time the marathon is going to be held at an Olympics. It was 1st held in Beijing, where Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands won with a time of 1:51:51.6. He has retired from swimming. For the women, Russia's Lara Ilchenko won with a time of 1:59:27.7 at the '08 Olympics. She is not going to defend her title.
Gymnastics
At the 2008 Olympics, China was the top team in gymnastics. The men's team dominated by winning 7 of the 8 artistic gymnastics gold medals . The women's team won 2 of the 6 gold medals for artistic gymnastics. For the trampoline events, China won the gold for both men and women. The US has a chance to do some damage this year in London.
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| The US Women's Gymnastics Team http://usagym.org/images/post_images/4704.jpg |
The Men's gymnastics team will be led by Danell Leyva and John Orozco. Leyva is a world champ on the parallel bars, making him the favorite for that event. Orozco won gold in the All-Around at the US National Championships. The US team won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships, as they will try to improve on that in London. The 2011 World Champion on the All-Around portion was Japan's Kohei Uchimura, who is gold medal threat in that event and a few others.
Water Polo
Water Polo for both men and women started at the beginning of a century. Men's water polo began in 1900 in Paris, women water polo was fist held at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The United States were the runner-up in both the men and the women's competition. The United States have never won a Gold Medal in Water Polo.
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| Hungary in 2008 Receiving Their Gold Medals http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2008/08/24/olympics- waterpolo-392-cp-080824.jpg |
The women are the favorites to win the women's tournament. They have medaled in every Olympics, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. They came in 1st in 2009 and 6th in 2011 in the World Championships. They won the World Cup in 2010. At the 2011 Pan American Game, they came in 1st place. In the FINA World League, they came in 1st place in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. They are looking for the lead. Heather Petri and Brenda Villa are looking to win their 1st gold medal and 4th medal overall.
Badminton
Badminton has 5 events, men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Badminton was 1st held in Barcelona at the 1992 Summer Olympics. All of the events, except for mixed doubles, were 1st played in 1992, mixed doubles were 1st held in 1996. This year looks to be a very good year for badminton.
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| Wang Yihan http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/thumbnailfull/ wang-yi-han-2009-9-26-3-40-14.jpg |
For women singles, the top 3 seeds are from China. They are Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, and Li Xuerui. Wang Yihan won the 2011 World Championship in London. Wang Xin has won a silver and bronze medal at the World Championship. The 4th seed is India's Saina Nehwal, winner of the 2010 Commonwealth Games women's singles. She went to the Quarterfinals in the 2008 Summer Olympics and in the last 3 World Championships. She has a good chance of making a run to the finals.
For men's doubles, China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng are the number 1 seed. They were the runner-up's in the 2008 Olympics. They have 4 Gold Medals from the World Championships for doubles. The women's doubles favorite are Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang from China. Yang won a Gold Medal in Beijing with Du Jing for doubles. The Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang won the 2011 World Championship. Mixed Doubles 1 seed and 2011 World Champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei are looking to win their 1st Gold Medal.
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| Olympic Stadium http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2012/7/17/ 1342539659977/London-2012-Olympic-Stadi-008.jpg |
The Olympic Stadium is a new stadium made for the Olympics. It is in Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It has an 80,000 seat capacity, but only 25,000 of the capacity is permanent. A temporary upper tier hold 55,000 people. The permanent lower tier hold the other 25,000 spectators. The temporary and permanent mix of a stadium has never been attempted before for an Olympic Stadium. It is going to the host Athletics, the Opening Ceremony, and the Closing Ceremony. The Stadium is surrounded by water on 3 of it's side.
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| Wenlock and Mandeville http://www.channelguidemagblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ London_2012_Mascots.jpg |
The mascot for the 2012 Olympics is Wenlock. His partner and 2012 Paralympics mascot is Mandeville. Wenlock is named after the town of Much Wenlock which held and still holds the Wenlock Olympian Society, a forebear of the modern Olympics. Mandeville is named after the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, which was where the Paralympics were created. The two are drops of steel from mills in Britain. To tribute London taxi's, each has a taxi light on their forehead and have their initial in it. The mascots also have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts.
