[15][16][17] The Games received considerable praise for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm commended particularly highly.

[22][23] These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Belgian Jacques Rogge, who was succeeded by German Thomas Bach the next year.

[24] On 18 May 2004, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, the IOC reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.

[27] Its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) on 19 May 2004.

[37] In August 2011, security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London, following the 2011 England riots.

Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were initially considered to be too easy, so they were eventually scheduled on new locations.

[63] TfL also built a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, called the Emirates Air Line, to link 2012 Olympics venues.

In particular, the sailing events at Portland had no direct motorway connections, and local roads are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer.

[77] TfL created a promotional campaign and website, Get Ahead of the Games, to help provide information related to transport during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Up to 35% more bags than normal were expected on 13 August, which was predicted to be the busiest day in the airport's history, according to Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow.

[84] The volunteers wore clothing that included purple and red polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, grey socks and grey-and-white trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre.

Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges that were also worn by officials, athletes, family members and media, which gained them access to specific venues and buildings around the site.

[103] The Ministry of Defence distributed leaflets to residents of the Lexington building in Bow, announcing that a missile system was to be stationed on top of the water tower.

On 18 May 2012 the Olympic flame arrived at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall from Greece[116] on flight BA2012, operated by a British Airways Airbus A319 named "Firefly".

The relay lasted 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations and six island visits, and involved some 8,000 people carrying the torch about 8,000 mi (12,875 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall.

These torchbearers were Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds, and Adelle Tracey.

[122] Proposals to meet the original target included large-scale on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames, but these plans were scrapped for safety reasons.

[123] The focus subsequently moved to installing solar panels on some buildings, and providing the opportunity to recover energy from waste.

Where it could not be reused or recycled, food packaging for use at the Olympics—including fast-food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons—was made from compostable materials like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics.

We therefore challenged the PVC supply chain to have certain environmental performance criteria in place, including a take back and recycle scheme.

[129]The Cultural Olympiad comprised many programmes, with more than 500 events spread over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, and culminating in the London 2012 Festival.

The ceremony featured a short comic film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself.

[167] The IOC wanted television coverage to reach as broad a worldwide audience as possible, and several national and regional broadcasters covered London 2012.

Best Olympic Sports Production was awarded to the sailing, produced by Christopher Lincoln, Gary Milkis, and Ursula Romero.

It was chosen to highlight the organisers' commitment to inspire the world, including younger generations, to get involved in sporting events through the Games' legacy.

The main logo, designed by Wolff Olins and published on 4 June 2007, is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero.

[183] Public reaction to the main logo in a June 2007 BBC poll was negative; more than 80% of votes gave it the lowest possible rating.

[196] A digitally re-mastered version of Chariots of Fire was released on 13 July 2012 and screened in over 100 UK cinemas as part of the celebrations,[197] and a 2012 stage adaptation ran in London theatres from 9 May 2012 to 5 January 2013.

[198] The film's theme tune was performed during the opening ceremony by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle.

[88] During the Games, eight competitors in the badminton women's doubles were disqualified for "not using best efforts", when they tried to lose matches in the group stage to obtain more favourable fixtures in the knockout rounds.