As the city gears up to host the opening ceremony of London Olympics 2012 on Friday, we bring you everything that interests you about the Games.

London Olympics 2012 Specials

Olympics 2012 in numbers

* 11 million tickets allotted for Olympics and Paralympic events, of which 75% will be sold to spectators in Britain, while a few sponsors, officials and broadcasters are allowed to buy 13% of the tickets, the remaining 12% are available at National Olympic Committees in their respective countries.

* 10,490 Athletes are expected to participate in London Olympics 2012 who compete for 302 medals.

* Athletes will be subject to 5,000 anti-doping tests.

* Interestingly, 4,200 Paralympic athletes will compete for 503 medal events in 20 different sports.

* Games will be held at 34 venues across Britain including the nine stadiums inside the Olympic Park in east London.

* It took three years to build the heart of the park at Olympic Stadium. 10,000 tonnes of steel was used to build it.

* The venues are home to 10,000 temporary toilets.

* The estimated amount spent on staging the Games is $14.5 billion (11.6 billion euros/ 9.3 billion pounds). This is almost four times the estimated cost of hosting the games at the time of London's bid in 2005!

* Security will alone cost £555 million while the budget for the ceremonies has been £81 million.

* 46,000 Construction workers were involved to build the Olympic Park and Village while the Games will alone involve a workforce of 200,000 including 100,000 contractors and 70,000 volunteers.

* It is learnt that two million people are expected to visit London for the Games, according to Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson.

* Spectators will make 15 million journeys on London's creaking public transport system on each of the busiest days of the Games.

* 14 million meals will be served at the Games, using 25,000 loaves of bread, 100 tonnes of meat, 75,000 litres of milk and 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.

* 70 Sheep, 12 Horses, three cows, two goats, 10 Chicken and three Sheepdogs will take part in the opening ceremony, when the Olympic Stadium will be transformed into a rural British idyll.

* 1,50,000 condoms will be provided to competitors in the athletes' village.

* 1 million pieces of Sports equipment were bought, which includes 26,400 tennis balls, 600 basketballs and 6,000 archery targets for London Games 2012.

* 12,875 Kilometres (8,000 miles) is the route for the Torch Relay. The Olympic flame is travelling around Britain over ten weeks, travelling 177 miles a day on average.

These facts give the gist of London Olympics 2012, while there are many more interesting details about the Games which is slated to begin on Friday, Jul 27.

OneIndia News