2012 Olympics Fever in London

On the morning of July 27, I decided that one of the things I wanted to see in London was the new Olympic Park being built for the 2012 Olympic Games. As I planned this expedition over breakfast, I looked up at BBC News, which informed me that this very day, July 27, 2011, was exactly one year before the start of the games. That evening, they was to be a huge celebration in Trafalgar Square broadcast live across the world, where the chairman of the International Olympic Committee would officially "pass the games on" to London. I got excited and promptly lugged myself across town to see the stadium, and then later in the evening, I went to Trafalgar Square for the big party. And now, pictures.

Here's Part 1. Olympic Park, where the new Olympic Stadium is and where most of the events will be held, is about 15 minutes from the center of the city. I went in the morning and walked around the area. It's a relatively quiet middle class area in eastern London, typically untouched by tourists in the past, but it's going to be packed with people in a year. It was actually quite eerie when I walked from the Underground stop to Olympic Park. It was almost deserted. Only when I got to the viewing deck were there tourists.

There was a Porsche dealership in the area. One picture and I'm already off-task.

Lots of Porsches.

 Olympic Stadium, the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics, bare and uncovered.

The viewing deck from which you can watch construction of Olympic Park.

The red garble in the middle is "Orbit," a sculpture designed by famous British artist Anish Kapoor. It's still under construction. Here's what it'll look like when it's complete. It's pretty nifty to have seen it in the middle of its ascent. The white V-shaped building on the right is the new Aquatic Center, which actually opened that day.

A messy artist broods.

There are children in here, and they'll get you. Grr.

Ghetto Blasting is a new Olympic event.

Mr. Biker, the Olympics start July 27, 2012, not 2011. But don't worry, that arrow shows you the small orange thing you can climb into to take you back home.

Another shot of the Olympic Stadium. Right now it's not surrounded by anything, but they're going to put some kind of covering just inside those white bars to make it look spiffy.

I think this was called the "warm-up" area for the athletes.

A final shot from the trains.

And then that evening, Part 2. I went to Trafalgar Square, where they typically stage celebrations. In 2005, when London was chosen over the other three competing cities, people watched from here. Folks also go here to protest this and set fire to that.

Setting up. A band called The Feeling played a couple of songs. Apparently they were big at some point.

Asian News Crew 1.

Asian News Crew 2, with a large pack of Brazilians cheering. Journalists from the 2008 Olympic country in the 2012 host country filming fans from the 2016 host country. I should charge you for photojournalism this good.

 Asian News Crew 3.

 Asian News Crew 4.

The stage from the side.

"Get it started already!" The BBC Worldwide broadcast started at 7pm and counted down to 7:30pm, the moment the Olympics were exactly one year away.

On the stage is the 2012 Olympic mascot, Wenlock. The host to the pre-show suggested that he looks kind of scary, but I for one think he's adorable. That being said, for an Olympic mascot, he does not have an ounce of grace or dexterity.

The program begins, the BBC anchors come out and start things off, and then boom, here's Prime Minister David Cameron. When he walked in there were loud trumpets playing very cheesy music, and somebody behind me grumbled very loudly, "Oh God." Also, he got booed.

There he is again.

This is the mayor of London, known affectionately as Boris. He got huge cheers, and he's an hilarious and charismatic speaker. "The streets will be ready. The trains will be ready. The taxis will be ready. The theaters will be ready. The buses will be ready. The hotels will be ready. The bicycles will be ready. The Olympic venues are already so ready that we might as well call a snap Olympics tomorrow and catch the rest of the world napping." And one of the reasons people love him is that the city is right on schedule and budget with the preparations.

Exactly one year away! After this, the head of the International Olympic Committee officially passed the Games on to Great Britain and invited all the athletes to London, and the heads of the Olympic committees from China, Brazil, South Korea, and Greece (all the known hosts plus the bankrupt one) all "agreed" Great Britain could have the Olympics. What if one of them said no?

The Princess Royal (the Queen's daughter) unveils the medals. Everyone o0o0ohs.

The Prime Minister hitting on the pretty BBC anchor.

An ESPN Brasil anchor memorizing his lines before he does a close-out shot. It's probably harder because it's in Portuguese.

Now I'm excited for the 2012 Olympics.