The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, were held in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012, followed by the 2012 Paralympic Games from 29 August to 9 September.

London became the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times; London also hosted the 1908 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics.

The bidding process 
By the bid submission deadline of 15 July 2003, nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Olympics. These cities were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro.

On 18 May 2004 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris.

The IOC inspection team visited the five candidate cities during February and March 2005.

On 6 June 2005, the International Olympic Committee released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. Although these reports did not contain any scores or rankings, the evaluation report for Paris was seen as the most positive, followed closely by London.

During the process, many thought Paris was most likely to win the nomination, largely because this was its third bid in recent years. In late August 2004, reports came out predicting a London and Paris tie in the 2012 bid.

On 6 July 2005, London was announced as the winner of the bid at the Raffles City Convention Centre in Singapore.

The Games
Athletes from 204 National Olympic Countries took part. In addition, four individual athletes competed under the Olympic flag—one from South Sudan and three from the region of the former Netherlands Antilles

Participating nations
Listed below are NOCs who have qualified at least one athlete. As of 7 June 2011, 101 nations have qualified at least one athlete.
 

  Algeria
  Andorra
  Argentina
  Australia
  Austria
  Bahamas
  Belarus
  Belgium
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Brazil
  Bulgaria
  Canada
  Cayman Islands
  Chile
  China
  Colombia
  DR Congo
  Côte d'Ivoire
  Croatia
  Cuba
  Cyprus
  Czech Republic
  Denmark
  Dominican Republic
  Ecuador
  Egypt
  Eritrea
  Ethiopia
  Estonia
  Finland
  France
  Georgia
  Germany
  Ghana

  Great Britain (Host)
  Greece
  Grenada
  Guatemala
  Haiti
  Hong Kong 
  Hungary
  India
  Iran
  Ireland
  Israel
  Italy
  Jamaica
  Japan
  Kazakhstan
  Kenya
  North Korea
  South Korea
  Kuwait
  Latvia
  Libya
  Lithuania 
  Luxembourg
  Malta
  Mexico
  Moldova
  Mongolia
  Morocco
  Namibia
  Netherlands
  New Zealand
  Nigeria
  Norway
  Pakistan 

  Panama
  Peru
  Poland
  Portugal
  Puerto Rico
  Qatar
  Romania
  Russia
  Saint Kitts and Nevis
  San Marino
  Saudi Arabia
  Serbia
  Singapore
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  South Africa
  Sri Lanka 
  Spain
  Sudan
  Sweden 
  Switzerland
  Chinese Taipei
  Tajikistan
  Tanzania
  Thailand
  Trinidad and Tobago
  Turkey
  Uganda
  Ukraine
  United States
  Uruguay 
  Uzbekistan
  Vietnam 
  Zambia
  Zimbabwe

Medal table

Sports
The 2012 Summer Olympics event has 26 sports. 
The International Olympic Committee executive board met on 13 August 2009 and approved the addition of women's boxing. The International Boxing Federation proposed that 40 athletes compete in five different weight classes.

 Aquatics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 Sprint (12)
 Slalom (4)
 
 BMX (2)
 Mountain biking (2)
 Road (4)
 Track (10)
 
 Dressage (2)
 Eventing (2)
 Jumping (2)

 
 
 
 
 Artistic (14)
 Rhythmic (2)
 Trampoline (2)
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Volleyball (2)
 Beach volleyball (2)
 
 
 Freestyle (11)
 Greco-Roman (7)

Motto 
The official motto for the 2012 Summer Olympics is "Inspire a generation". It was chosen to highlight the organiser's commitment to inspire the world to get involved in sporting events through the olympic games' legacy.

Mascots 
The official mascots for the Olympics and Paralympic Games were revealed in May 2010. They were called Wenlock and Mandeville.

Sponsors 
The 2012 Olympics had many sponsors. Some of the most popular ones are McDonald's, Acer, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Adidas, and Panasonic.

References

Other websites 
 Official London 2012 Website
 London Olympics  All news and info about the Games

2012 Summer Olympics