When, in July 2005, the IOC president Jacques Rogge made the dramatic announcement that London had won the campaign to host the 2012 Olympics, it set off a dramatic programme of planning, building and organising that may well go on until 2013.
The task that lay ahead was in itself one of olympic proportions, the most dramatic of which was turning an area that had been an industrial wasteland into an Olympic Park. The project was complicated further by the banking crisis, funding issues and controversy over designs. To their credit, the organising committee have taken all of this in their stride and the project has been delivered on time and on budget. The organisation for the games is a complex web of not just building venues to host 26 sports but housing 14,700 athletes, accommodating 21,000 media wallahs and creating an enjoyable experience for 10.8 million spectators from across the world. To achieve all of this, a workforce of around 200,000 will be required by the time the Games begin.
In our special issue celebrating the Olympics, we look at the way galvanized steel has in its own inimitable way contributed towards the challenge of making the 2012 games the best there has been.
Image: London 2012