London 2012 celebrates 2 years to go

Volunteers_London

Today marks exactly 2 years to go until the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and organisers are calling on the UK public to start planning their Games to ensure they don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime event. Whether it is signing up for tickets, becoming a ‘London 2012 Games Maker’ volunteer or a ‘London Ambassador’, now is the time to start thinking about how to make the most of the summer of 2012.

Today also marked the opening of the London 2012 Volunteer Programme, seeking to recruit up to 70,000 volunteers or ‘London 2012 Games Makers’.Pre-identified people wanting to become a London 2012 Games Maker, can now apply for specialist positions such as doctors, anti-doping personnel and scoreboard operators from today.

Those interested in the more numerous general volunteering positions can go to www.london2012.com/volunteering and find everything they need to help them decide if they have what it takes to be a London 2012 Games Maker. Applications for the more numerous generalist roles which include ticket checking, uniform distributors and staffing helpdesks and information points, will open on 15 September 2010. The programme’s Presenting Partner is McDonald’s.

From today people can also sign up to be a London Ambassador, to help guide the millions of visitors who will travel to London for the Games get around and enjoy a truly memorable stay in the capital. The scheme, devised by the Mayor of London, aims to recruit 8,000 London Ambassadors who will be located at key points across the city - including transport hubs, outside Games venues, and at popular visitor spots. They will be the welcoming face of the capital, providing much needed information on what to see and do, where to stay and how to get there.

Tickets for London 2012 go on sale in the spring of 2011, but people can register their interest now. Over 1.4 million people have already registered their details on www.tickets.london2012.com and they will be in the best position to apply for tickets when the ballot process opens next year.

Further details on pricing and other initiatives will be announced this autumn.
London 2012 also opened its flagship shop today at St Pancras International in London, which will sell a wide range of London 2012 merchandise – including for the first time London 2012’s mascots Wenlock and Mandeville related merchandise.

With London 2012’s education programme ‘Get Set’ now reaching over 14,000 schools throughout the country, Cultural Olympiad projects up and running – culminating in the London 2012 Festival, a twelve week festival in the summer of 2012 itself – plus over 1,000 ‘Open Weekend’ events held last weekend, there are London 2012 projects and initiatives happening all over the country giving the UK public plenty of scope to plan how to get involved.

To celebrate today’s milestone, athletes and young people will join Organising Committee Chairman Sebastian Coe, Olympic Delivery Authority Chair John Armitt, Olympics Minister Rt Hon Hugh Robertson MP and Mayor of London Boris Johnson on the train from St Pancras International to Stratford International before taking a tour of the Olympic Park and for the first time, step inside venues to witness first-hand the progress being made in construction, which is on time and on budget. They will also walk across the main spectator bridge which will be the front door to the Olympic Park in 2012, joined by 70 Visa Team 2012 athletes.
Omega will be providing starting blocks for Michael Johnson to use in the Olympic Stadium
Panasonic will be placing a giant screen in Trafalgar Square, London to celebrate the day
BA pilots will be announcing to passengers arriving in London that today marks exactly 2 Years to Go until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games

BT has launched the next stage of the ‘Road to London 2012’ exhibition in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery

The flagship John Lewis store on Oxford Street will feature a window display with London 2012 merchandise

UPS has delivered the stock of Wenlock and Mandeville cuddly toys to the London 2012 shop
Eurostar arrivals in London on 27 July will announce to passengers that today marks exactly 2 Years to Go until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games

Mondo has provided the first track for the Olympic Stadium on which Michael Johnson and others will run. The track will become one of the training tracks in the run up to London 2012
Royal Mail has issued the latest set of London 2012 stamps featuring 10 Olympic and Paralympic sports including hockey, goalball, football, taekwondo and BMX cycling
The Royal Mint has issued a commemorative ‘2 Years To Go’ coin.