Weightlifting Olympic sports London 2012

Held at ExCeL, the competition will take place from 28 July – 7 August and see a total of 260 athletes – 156 men and 104 women – testing their strength in their attempts to win a medal.

Competitors in Weightlifting are divided into 15 weight categories, eight for men and seven for women, with each one a medal event at London 2012.

All entries for Wrestling will be confirmed following the sport entries deadline on 9 July 2012.

View the London 2012 Weightlifting competition schedule

Men’s Weightlifting featured at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with women’s Weightlifting introduced at Sydney 2000.

A simple, engaging test of human strength, where competitors are required to perform two types of lift - the ‘clean and jerk’ and the ‘snatch’ - and the athlete lifting the highest combined total wins.
In the ‘clean and jerk’ the barbell is explosively lifted to the chest and then raised above the head. In the ‘snatch’, the barbell is lifted from the floor to over the head in one continuous, clean movement.
The competition starts with each athlete naming the weight they will start on, with the lowest going first (meaning some weaker lifters can finish before the real stars have started).
Each lifter has three attempts at each weight and the weight on the bar always goes up until there is one man or woman standing. In a tie, the lifter with the lowest body weight is the winner.
A lift is counted as an attempt as soon as it rises above the knee and is only deemed successful if the lifter raises it above he head with locked arms and legs straight until the judge is satisfied it was under control. A buzzer will sound as soon as the judge deems the weight to have been lifted successfully.
Events / disciplines
Men’s 56kg
Men’s 62kg
Men’s 69kg
Men’s 77kg
Men’s 85kg
Men’s 94kg
Men’s 105kg
Men’s +105kg
Women’s 48kg
Women’s 53kg
Women’s 58kg
Women’s 63kg
Women’s 69kg
Women’s 75kg
Women’s +75kg
Gold medals available
15

Volleyball Olympic sports London 2012

The competition will cover a period of 16 days, drawing to a close on the final day of the Games on 12 August.

View the full London 2012 Volleyball schedule

A total of 144 men and 144 women will compete for gold medals, with 12 teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

All entries for Volleyball will be confirmed following the sport entries deadline on 9 July 2012.

The venue for the competition, Earls Court, has a great Olympic history after hosting some the Boxing, Gymnastics, Weightlifting and Wrestling competitions at the London 1948 Games.

At Beijing 2008, the men's gold medal was won by the USA, while Brazil emerged victorious in the women's event. With a number of teams looking to emulate these successes this summer, competition will be stronger than ever and exciting matches are guaranteed.

Volleyball is played between two teams of six on an indoor court that measures 60ft by 30ft, the teams separated by a high net that is set at 2.43m for men and 2.24m for women.
Each team is allowed three touches to get the ball back over the net to their opposition, though the same player can’t touch the ball consecutively.
Points are won when the ball hits the floor inside the opponents’ half of the court (on the line counts as in), the opponents fail to get the ball back over the net or hit the ball outside the court.
The team that wins the point serves next. If they served previously it will be the same player to serve, if not it is rotated to the next player - the six players are arranged in two banks of three and rotate clockwise when they serve. Before rules changes in 1999 it was only possible to win a point on your own serve.
Matches are the best of five sets. Twelve competing nations are split into two groups of six before quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.
Events / disciplines
Men’s volleyball, women’s volleyball
Gold medals available
2

Tennis Olympic sports London 2012

The sport's top stars will be returning to Wimbledon just three weeks after the end of the annual grand slam tournament, in the hope of being crowned Olympic champion on the grass of Centre Court.

The Tennis events at London 2012 span nearly the entire Games, starting on Saturday 28 July and wrapping up with medal events on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 August.

View the full London 2012 Tennis schedule

All entries for Tennis will be confirmed following the sport entries deadline on 9 July 2012.

Wimbledon is not only home to one of the most famous tennis tournaments in the world, but also has a rich Olympic heritage. The venue staged the Tennis competition when London first hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, with Great Britain winning all six gold medals.

At Beijing 2008, Rafael Nadal won the men’s Singles, while Venus and Serena Williams sisters triumphed in the women’s Doubles. See the full medal table from Beijing 2008

If a football match is a game of two halves, a tennis match is all about points, games and sets. Winning points, wins games and winning games, wins sets and sets win matches.
A player will win a point if they hit a shot that their opponent can not return or their opponent’s shot lands outside the court. Each contested point is worth 15 points to your score, so if one player has won two points and the other just one the score would be 30-15.
To win a single game a player must win four points, by two clear points. To win a set a player must win six or seven games and be two games ahead of his opponent. If the score is 6-6 a tiebreak will be played where the winner is the first to seven by a margin of two or more points. To win a match a player must win two out of three sets.
At the Games, the tennis will be played according to a knockout format, with the winners of the semis facing each other on Wimbledon’s famous Centre Court for the gold medals.
All matches will be played to the best of three sets, apart from the men's singles final, which is the best of five sets. Alll mixed doubles matches will be a best of two sets and will be settled with a first-to-10 tie-break if they reach one set all.
Events / disciplines
Men’s singles, women’s singles
Men’s doubles, women’s doubles
Mixed doubles
Gold medals available
5

Taekwondo Olympic sports London 2012

The first week of competition in the London Prepares series events saw international Boxing, Table Tennis and Fencing come to ExCeL, testing workforce, field of play, lighting, results and scoring.

After a few days turnaround – emulating the exact same amount of time arenas will have at Games time – Judo and Taekwondo took their turn in the spotlight.

During the final weekend of competition, and after another tight turnaround of the arenas, Weightlifting and Wrestling events took centre stage in ExCeL. The transition of the field of play from Judo into Wrestling was a key testing element, which took less than half the time than previously predicted.

Debbie Jevans said: ‘This multi-sport venue is one of the most important and exciting Olympic venues and will be a hub of sporting activity at Games time, accommodating seven sports during the Olympic Games and six during the Paralympics, second only to the Olympic Park.

‘The task of hosting so many sports in one venue was put to the test, delivering seven international sporting events over three consecutive weeks, and I’m pleased with the outcomes. We learnt some lessons that will further inform our operational planning for the Games.’

Taekwondo translates into English as 'the art of foot and fist' – and it is exactly that, a battle of kicks and punches.
The protagonists compete on a mat inside a eight-by-eight-metre zone, over three rounds of two minutes. The aim is to land accurate kicks and punches on the scoring area of their opponent.
A kick or punch to your opponent’s torso scores one point, an additional point is awarded if the attacker has his back to his opponent at the point of contact - so spinning kicks score two points. Punches to the head are illegal, but kicks score three points. To be valid, shots must be of sufficient force. If the scores are level after three rounds, a fourth “sudden death” round is held to determine the winner.
The 64 fighters in each gender and 16 in each weight category, who compete in a straight knockout tournament with the final two playing for gold and silver. All fighters who lose to one of the two finalists enter another tournament to earn a chance to play the defeated semi-finalists for one of the two bronze medals.
Events / disciplines
Men’s 58kg
Men’s 68kg
Men’s 80kg
Men’s +80kg
Women’s 49kg
Women’s 57kg
Women’s 67kg
Women’s +67kg
Gold medals available
8

Table Tennis Olympic sports London 2012

The sport's top stars will be returning to Wimbledon just three weeks after the end of the annual grand slam tournament, in the hope of being crowned Olympic champion on the grass of Centre Court.

The Tennis events at London 2012 span nearly the entire Games, starting on Saturday 28 July and wrapping up with medal events on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 August.

View the full London 2012 Tennis schedule

All entries for Tennis will be confirmed following the sport entries deadline on 9 July 2012.

Wimbledon is not only home to one of the most famous tennis tournaments in the world, but also has a rich Olympic heritage. The venue staged the Tennis competition when London first hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, with Great Britain winning all six gold medals.

At Beijing 2008, Rafael Nadal won the men’s Singles, while Venus and Serena Williams sisters triumphed in the women’s Doubles. See the full medal table from Beijing 2008

It has been announced that a total of 172 athletes – 86 men and 86 women – will compete in the Table Tennis events at London 2012.

The men's and women's Singles events both begin on 28 July. The women's competition will finish on 7 August, swiftly followed by the end of the men's competition on 8 August.

There will also be Team events across both men's and women's competition.

All entries for Table Tennis will be confirmed following the sport entries deadline on 9 July 2012.

Find out more about the Table Tennis competition schedule

Since Table Tennis joined the Olympic programme in 1988, China has won 20 of the 24 available gold medals, and will be hoping to be among the leading nations once more at London 2012.

The competition is being held at ExCeL, the largest competition venue at the London 2012 Games. The venue hosted the Table Tennis test event in November 2011 and will be the setting for some thrilling competition this summer.

It's like tennis.....on a table. Except it's not. The principles are similar but there's a very different scoring system.
As in tennis, players must allow the ball only one bounce on their side of the court before returning it to their opponent. Points are scored if the opponent is unable to return the ball, or if they hit the ball ‘out’ of the court, ie it does not bounce on the table.
Singles matches are played over the best of seven games, with the first player to 11 (by a margin of two) winning each game. In team matches, four singles matches and one doubles match are played, each decided by the the best of five games.
Both disciplines are run in a knockout format with players and teams going through to the finals where the medals will be decided.
Events / disciplines
Men’s singles, women’s singles
Men’s team, women’s team
Gold medals available
4

Shooting London 2012 Olympics

The competitions will be hosted across three indoor ranges and three open air ranges. Construction is on track to be completed in December, ahead of international shooting test events next spring.All three indoor ranges are now structurally complete using around 1,200 tonnes of steel and clad in plywood.  Work will start shortly on building the open air ranges at the southwest London site. The spectator seating enclosure for the indoor ranges are also in place, with the finals enclosure on schedule to be finished by November 2011.Theenclosures, which are rented and can be reused after the Games, are being clad in around 18,000sqm of pvc membrane that gives the structures their unique appearance.  The Vibrantly coloured openings that help break-up the white facades create the tension, in addition to providing natural ventilation and light.ODA Chairman John Armitt said: ‘The Shooting Venue will be one of the ODA’s last sporting arenas to complete and the progress made to date is impressive given the scale of the ranges and enclosures. The innovative design contrasts excellently to the historic setting of the Royal Artillery Barracks that spectators will see as they enter the venue.’

There are five events in each of the three disciplines (rifle, pistol and shotgun) with three for men and two for women.
All the events are individual and require shooters to adopt different positions: standing, kneeling or prone, where they lie on their fronts. Rules vary according to the discipline, with distance, types of target, arm, firing position, number of shots (between 20 and 60) and the time within which the shots have to be fired all relevant factors.
The rifle and pistol classes require shooters to fire bullets at 10-ring target within a given time while the shotgun events - trap and skeet - sees them firing lead pellets at clay targets, released on or after shooters command.
The winner of the rifle and pistol events is the shooter with the highest score. During the qualification stages, the best eight shooters qualify and move to the final round where the 10 rings of the target are subdivided into ten “decimal” score zones (max 10.9). The final score is added to the qualification score to determine total scores and final rankings.
Shotgun shooters score points by hitting a ‘clay’, which is made not of clay but of pitch and chalk. A hit is declared by the referee when the target is shot and at least one visible piece is seen to fall from it. The shooter who hits the most targets wins.
Events / disciplines
Pistol class:
Men’s 10m air pistol, women’s 10m air pistol
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol
Men’s 50m pistol, women’s 25 metre pistol
Rifle class:
Men’s 10m air rifle, women’s 10m air
Men’s 50m rifle prone
Men’s 50m rifle three positions, women’s 50m rifle three positions
Shotgun class:
Men’s trap, women’s trap
Men’s double trap
Men’s skeet, women’s skeet
Gold medals available
15

Sailing Olympic sports London 2012

700 athletes and 550 officials will stay at the Sailing Village during the Olympic Games, with approximately half that number using the accommodation during the Paralympic Games.The Osprey Quay development, which will contain 84 residential units, will house competitors and team officials taking part in the London 2012 Sailing events in Weymouth and Portland Sir Keith Mills, Deputy Chair of LOCOG and Councillor Graham Winter, Mayor of Weymouth and Portland joined site workers and local residents at the Village today to thank them for their work and to showcase how a finished apartment will look during the Games.'Exciting milestone'Athletes will eat in a temporary dining hall which will be constructed on the site, and have a social area in the new Chesil Cove Foundation School which LOCOG will take temporary ownership of in May. Sir Keith Mills, LOCOG Deputy Chair said: ‘This is an exciting milestone with less than six months until we welcome the first athletes and Sailing officials to Weymouth and Portland. The Sailing Village will be a fantastic facility for the athletes, but just as importantly after the Games this will be a development with both affordable and low carbon housing on offer.’After the Sailing competitions have finished this summer the apartments will be converted into homes with 25% of the housing made available to a registered landlord for social housing needs. All the residential units are low carbon with the heating and hot water for 58 of the homes coming from a biomass heating system and many of the houses fitted with rainwater harvesting systems.

In competitive sailing, athletes complete courses in as short a time as possible, harnessing the wind in their sails for maximum speed.
There are three disciplines – match racing (one against one), fleet racing (mass start) and windsurfing – and 10 classes of boat.
Crew sizes vary from one to three, with Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and RS-X classes featuring one sailor; the 470, 49er and Star featuring two and the women’s match racing, three.
Competitors contest 10 races (15 for the 49er) with points awarded depending on finishing positions in each race (1 point for first, 41 for 41st). Each boat is allowed to discard its worst score and the ten boats with the lowest accumulated scores qualify for the medal race, where points scored are doubled and added to the opening series’ scores to decide the top 10 positions.
In match racing, the first boat across the line wins the match. Teams compete against each other in a series of round robin matches, with the top teams progressing to the final knockout stages.
Events / disciplines
(Match racing, fleet racing and windsurfing)
Men’s finn
Women’s Elliott 6m
Men’s star
Men’s 49er
Men’s laser
Women’s laser radial
Men’s RS:X, women’s RS:X
Men’s 470, women’s 470
Gold medals available
10