By Karena Tien
SYLP STUDENT
Karena Tien
The Summer Olympic Games have been around since the 1896 Games in Athens, Greece. Since then, the United States have won a total of 929 gold medals, while China has only won a total of 163 gold medals. Though China received the most gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics, the total amount is still far from the amount of medals received by the United States.
This year, the Summer Olympics was held in London. It was scheduled to run from July 27 to Aug. 12. London was selected to be the host city of the Olympics on July 6, 2005 at the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Session. During the IOC session, London was up against Moscow, New York City, Madrid, and Paris. This will also be the first time that the Olympics have been held in the same city three times. London hosted the 1908 and the 1948 Olympic Games.
The three venues that were renamed for the Olympic Games are the O2 Arena, also referred to as the North Greenwich Arena, the Sports Direct Arena or St James’ Park, and the Ricoh Arena, known as the City of Coventry Stadium.
In the past few months, London has upgraded and improved many of its services. They improved their transportation system to ensure that all of
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the athletes are at their events 20 to 30 minutes early. London has also increased their defense force with six missile sites to protect the athletes and others.
As of June 21, the athletes started competing for their respective spots in the Olympics. It started off with track and field events and ended with the finals for swimming. One of the top competitors for swimming was Michael Phelps. Phelps competed in seven events, and was three gold medals away from breaking a world record of having the most gold medals.
Another top swimmer and fan favorite is Missy Franklin. Missy Franklin is a 17-year-old and was one of the younger athletes to compete in four individual and two relay events. Many younger athletes took the stage and colored the Olympic events with their varied personalities and athletic skill. The 2012 Olympic Games was another event to remember.