London Weekend

Athletics
Athletics is one of the 26 sports in the London 2012 Olympic Games programme featuring running, jumping, throwing and combined events.

Did you know?
At the London 1948 Games, the USA’s Guinn Smith became the last pole vaulter to win a gold medal using a bamboo pole.
America’s Ray Ewry won 10 gold medals between 1900 and 1908 in the Standing Long Jump, High Jump and Triple Jump. As a child, Ray was confined to a wheelchair due to polio. He exercised his legs until he could walk, and then strengthened them through jumping.
The Marathon race commemorates the run of a Greek soldier, Pheidippides, who had to deliver a message from a battlefield near the town of Marathon to Athens in 490BC. Legend has it that he collapsed and died after running 171 miles in just two days.
The Marathon distance was changed from 24 miles to 26.2 miles at the London 1908 Olympic Games, so that the race could finish in front of the Royal family’s viewing box.
Key facts

Venue: Olympic Stadium
Dates: Friday 3 August – Sunday 12 August
Gold medals up for grabs: 47
Athletes: 2,000 (1200 men, 800 women)

Athletics: A short history of the sport

Athletics includes many different events, but all are based on the principle of simple physical competition.

The sport is the perfect expression of the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger. It requires athletes to run faster, throw further, jump higher and longer than everyone else.

And people have taken part in such contests since the start of recorded history. The first official Athletics competitions took place at the ancient Olympic Games, and the sport developed through public fairs and festivals around the world.

For more information on the history of the sport visit the IOC website.
How to play – and win

In all, 46 events are held on the track or in the field. They involve running, walking, throwing or jumping.
Running

Running and Walking races are held over distances ranging from 100m to 50km. Apart from the Marathon and Race Walk events, which take place on the road, Running events are held in the stadium, on a 400m oval track.

Most of the racing is done on the flat, but Hurdles and Steeplechase competitions require athletes to jump over barriers on the way to the finish line.

To succeed it takes speed, strength and stamina – as well as a good race strategy.

Jumping
In High Jump, you have to get over a bar that is raised each time you succeed. You get three attempts at every height, and the winner is the one who clears the bar at the greatest height.

Pole Vault follows the same rules, but athletes use a long pole to help launch themselves into the air.

In Long Jump, athletes sprint down a runway before jumping as far as they can into a sand pit.

Triple Jump looks very similar, but you have to complete a hop and skip before you make your jump. All these events require a combination of speed and smooth technique.
Throwing

The throwing disciplines are Shot Put, Javelin, Discus and Hammer. Competitors get six attempts to throw the object as far as they can into a field. Speed, strength and technique are needed.
Combined events

In Decathlon competitions for men and Heptathlon competitions for women, athletes take part in a range of different Running, Jumping and Throwing events – 10 for men, seven for women.

They win points according to the times they run and the distances they throw and jump. Competition takes place over two days; the winner is the one with the highest total of points at the end.
Athletics at the Games

Athletics and the Olympic Games go together hand in hand. Ever since the first ancient Games were held in 776BC – with events such as the 192.27 metre race – Athletics has been a part of the programme.

When the first modern Games took place in Athens 1896, there were 10 events – all for men.

It was not until Amsterdam 1928 that women first took part. Five women’s events were held: the 100 metres, 800 metres, 4×100-metre Relay, High Jump and Discus.

Athletes’ performances have got better with every Games, thanks, in part, to developments in sports science and technology.

Jargon Buster

* Anchor: The last runner in a relay race.
* Heat: An early race of an event, with the top finishers going forward to the finals or semi-finals of the competition.
Sprint: A race of 400m or less.
* Fosbury flop: A style of high-jumping – named after its inventor, American Dick Fosbury – where the athlete clears the bar facing upwards, and lands with his/her back on the mat.
* Hurdles: A running race in which athletes have to leap over set obstacles on the track.
* Track: Running events within the stadium.
* Field: Jumping and Throwing events.
* Road: Marathon and Walking races that take place outside the stadium.

Football
Football will be taking place at grounds all around the UK at the London 2012 Games.

Did you know?
Hungary has won three Football gold medals – more than any other country.
The only time a gold-medal match has been decided on penalties was in Sydney 2000, when Cameroon won.
The only time a replay was needed to decide a Football final at the Games was in Amsterdam 1928. Uruguay beat Argentina 2-1 in the decider.
Despite its successes in the FIFA World Cup, Brazil has never won an Olympic gold medal in Football.
Great Britain won the first Olympic Football gold medal at the London 1908 Olympic Games.
Key facts

Venues: Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford, Millennium Stadium, St James’ Park, Hampden Park and City of Coventry Stadium

Dates: Wednesday 25 July – Saturday 11 August
Events: 58 matches
Gold medals up for grabs: 2
Athletes: 504

Football: A history of the sport

Football is one of the most widely played and oldest games in existence. The ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans played something very similar to Football long before the English Kings in the 1300s and 1400s tried to outlaw what they described as a violent sport.

In modern terms, Football began when the Football Association of England was founded in 1863. The game was spread throughout the world by English sailors who used to play it wherever they went.
Football at the Games

Men’s Football was a demonstration event at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896.

It became a full medal sport from London 1908. At Barcelona 1992, professional players were allowed to take part in the Games for the first time. The rules were changed to make it an Under-23 event, with three players over this age allowed in every team.

Women’s Football has no age limits and appeared at the Games for the first time in Atlanta 1996.
How to play – and win

Football is played on an outdoor grass pitch by two teams of 11 players.

The aim of the game is to score a goal by putting the ball in the other team’s net. The team that scores the most goals wins.

Only the goalkeepers on each team are allowed to touch the ball with their hands. The other players use their feet, head and body to move it around the pitch.

Matches are played over 90 minutes – two 45-minute halves.
Jargon buster

* Foul: Any illegal interference with a player on the other team, such as kicking, pushing, shoving, tripping and dangerous or aggressive play.
* Own goal: A goal scored for the other team when a player accidentally puts the ball into his or her team’s goal.
* Striker: An attacking player whose main job is to try to score goals.

Aquatics – Swimming
Swimming is one of the four disciplines of the Olympic sport Aquatics

Underwater Swimming featured at the Paris 1900 Games. Competitors earned points for the length of time and distance they were underwater.
The ‘crawl’ technique used in Freestyle Swimming was developed by a British Swimming instructor called J. Arthur Trudgeon. He based it on a native American style of Swimming that he had discovered during a trip to South America in the 1870s.
Johnny Weissmuller, the first man to swim 100 metres in under a minute, was just as famous out of the pool. He helped save the lives of 11 people when a boat capsized on Lake Michigan, and also played the role of Tarzan in films.
The first official tie in Olympic Swimming history came in Los Angeles 1984, when American teammates Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer proved inseparable in the 100m Freestyle event.
The swimming pool for the London 1908 Olympic Games was built inside the athletics track.
A total of 1,350 athletes will compete to win 46 gold medals across the four disciplines of Aquatics at the 2012 Games.

Key facts

Venue: Aquatics Centre
Dates: Saturday 28 July – Sunday 12 August
Gold medals up for grabs: 34
Athletes: 850

A short history

Prehistoric man learnt to swim in order to cross rivers and lakes – we know this because cave paintings from the Stone Age depicting swimmers have been found in Egypt. Swimming was also referred to in Greek mythology.

The first organised swimming races did not take place until the 19th century, when the National Swimming Society of Great Britain was created.

There were still no official rules or standards when Aquatics featured in the programme for the first modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896, Paris 1900 and St Louis 1904.

The Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) was formed during the London 1908 Olympic Games competition to act as a governing body for the sport.

For more information on the history of the sport visit the IOC website.

History of Swimming at the Games

Swimming has featured in every edition of the Games since 1896. Early Olympic events were conducted in freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. Backstroke was added as of 1904.

At the first three modern Olympic Games, Swimming took place in open water – in seas, rivers and lakes. A pool was used for the first time at the London 1908 Games, where the rules were finally standardised.

In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered they could go much faster by bringing both arms overhead together. This was soon banned in the breaststroke, but became the butterfly stroke, which is now the fourth stroke used in competitive swimming.

The newest Aquatics event in the Games is the 10km Marathon Swimming competition which took place for the first time in Beijing in 2008.

How to play

Traditional Swimming races take place over distances ranging from 50m to 1500m. Unless it is a Freestyle event, competitors have to use a particular swimming stroke: Breaststroke, Butterfly or Backstroke. There are also Medley events which combine all four strokes.

Olympic races take place in a 50m long pool divided into 10 lanes, with only the middle eight lanes used by swimmers. The swimmer who touches the pool wall first at the end of the race is the winner. The Olympic programme includes both individual and team men’s and women’s events.

The Marathon Swimming races are swum outside in areas of open water such as the sea, a lake or a river, and competitors usually swim circuits around buoys positioned in the water.

Jargon buster

Medley: A combination event in which a swimmer or relay team swims separate legs of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Negative split: A race strategy in which a competitor swims the second half of a race faster than the first half.
Tumble turn: An underwater roll at the end of a lap that allows a swimmer to push off from the end of the pool with his feet.
Turn judge: An official at each end of the lane responsible for ensuring a swimmer turns correctly and, in the longer races, for displaying lap cards to inform a swimmer how many laps remain.

Diving is one of four disciplines of the Olympic sport of Aquatics.

Did you know?
The Olympic sport of Aquatics includes four disciplines: Synchronised Swimming, Swimming, Water Polo and Diving.
One of the most dramatic Olympic Diving incidents took place at Seoul 1988. It involved the USA’s Greg Louganis, who fell, unconscious, into the pool after hitting his head on the 3m springboard at the start of a qualifying dive. Amazingly, he recovered to win the gold medal in the final.
Pools must be at least five metres deep
In the 19th century gymnasts performed over water in an exercise called ‘fancy diving’. This led to modern-day diving.
A total of 1,350 athletes will compete to win 46 gold medals across the four disciplines of Aquatics at the 2012 Games.

Key facts
Venue: Aquatics Centre
Dates: Saturday 28 July – Sunday 12 August
Athletes: 136
Gold medals up for grabs: 8

Diving – A short history

Diving developed from gymnastics. It started in Sweden and Germany in the 18th century, when gymnasts started performing tumbling routines into the water.
In the late 19th century a group of Swedish divers visited Great Britain. They put on diving displays that proved hugely popular and led to the formation of the first diving organisation, the Amateur Diving Association, in 1901.

For more information on the history of the sport visit the IOC website.

Diving at the Games

Diving was first contested at the  St Louis 1904 Games. Its appearance on the Olympic programme in both springboard and platform events has been continuous since 1908.

Synchronised Platform Diving and Synchronised Springboard Diving were added for the Sydney 2000 Games.
How to play

Competitors perform a series of dives from either a springboard or a fixed platform, at a height of either three or 10 metres.

Judges award points up to 10 depending upon their elegance and skill. Points are adjusted for the degree of difficulty, based on the number and types of manoeuvres attempted, such as somersaults, pikes, tucks and twists.

In the Synchronised Diving events, pairs of athletes dive in tandem and receive an additional mark for their level of ‘synchronisation’.
Jargon buster

Arm stand dive: A dive that begins from a handstand position, used only in platform diving.

Platform: Fixed diving board least six metres long and two metres wide, with a non-slip surface. For Synchronised Diving the platform must be three metres wide.

Pike: A Diving position where the body is bent at the hips with the legs straight.

Rip: The ideal entry that creates little splash, named for its ripping sound as the diver enters the water.

Springboard: A flexible diving board that can be adjusted to create more or less spring. It must be at least 4.8 metres long and a half-metre wide, with a non-slip surface.
Get involved

To get started in diving, head down to your local pool. If you want to know more about clubs, facilities and coaching schemes in your area, contact your national federation.