People all around the world celebrated on Sunday 24 August – the moment when London became Olympic host city for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Hundreds of special Olympic handover flags were raised in venues across the globe, including our four UK offices and 18 offices in ten countries overseas.
The raising of the flags followed the acceptance of the Olympic flag by London’s Major, Boris Johnson, at Beijing’s spectacular closing ceremony in front of a worldwide audience estimated to be 1.6 billion.
Crowds of up to 40,000 people gathered in London’s Mall to watch the closing ceremony via a giant screen and join the handover celebration party with live music and performances.
The Olympics are a remarkable showcase for sports and human achievement. Part of London 2012 will focus on an International Development Sports programme. This is being developed and shaped with UK Sport, the British Council and UNICEF amongst others. Take a look at how the London 2012 Games will inspire and engage young people from across the world.
In response to the handover, our offices in Colombia have created a buzz in their Teaching Centre with a new competition entitled ‘Where do you see yourself in 2012?’. Participants are posting their answers on the British Council Colombia’s Facebook page – that has over 3,000 fans – for the chance to win an MP3 player.
With the Paralympics handover taking place on 17 September, the countdown to the London 2012 is fast underway and who knows how much buzz we can generate between now and then.
Take a look at the official London 2012 Olympic Games handover video.
The countries which are displaying the Olympic flag are:
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