London 2012 facts

• Londoners will contribute £625 million to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, six times the contribution of the largest commercial sponsor (1)
  
  
• the total workforce needed for the London Games, including paid workers, volunteers and contractors will be 200,000 (2)
  
  
• the 'Personal Best' employment programme linked to the staging of the Games will help around 20,000 disadvantaged Londoners into jobs, training and volunteering opportunities (3)
  
  
• 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the first Paralympic Games, when a 'wheelchair games' involving injured World War II soldiers was staged on the same day as the opening ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games (4)
  
  
• at least 150 disabled Londoners are set to become qualified sports coaches by 2012 following the launch of Coach-ability (5)
  
  
• London officially becomes the Olympic City on 24 August 2008, which marks the start of the Cultural Olympiad, a four year country-wide programme of cultural activity (6)
  
  
• an estimated global audience of more than 4 billion people are expected to watch the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games on 27 July 2012 (7)
  
  
• tourism benefits associated with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are forecast to be worth an additional £2.1 billion to the economy (8)
  
  
• the 2012 Games will be the third time London has hosted the summer Olympics (London was previously host city in 1908 and 1948). London is the only city in the world to have achieved this distinction. (9)
  

Sources

(1) London Councils 2012 Team
(2) ibid
(3) ibid
(4) ibid
(5) ibid
(6) ibid
(7) ibid
(8) ibid
(9) ibid