A golden meadow of wild flowers is already blooming around the Olympic Stadium, two years before the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Plans for the temporary London 2012 Water Polo Arena, with a distinctive sloping roof, have been approved.

Sunday 29 August 2010 marks exactly two years to go to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and the London 2012 Organising Committee is calling on the UK public to start planning their Games.

After 12 days of world-class sporting competition and cultural and educational activities, the inaugural Youth Olympic Games have come to an end in Singapore.

London 2012 today got behind England's bid to stage the football World Cup in 2018 – by joining in with 'wear your shirt to work' day.

The first stage of landscaping work is already underway on the Athletes’ Village site where an extensive wetlands park is being created.

The Basketball Arena is being readied for the 12,000 black and orange seats that will be installed in the venue.

Water is now flowing at the Lee Valley White Water Canoe Centre, the venue for the London 2012 Canoe Slalom events. The venue is on track to be completed later this year and will be the first brand new 2012 venue to be finished.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is to invite the outstanding candidates from the International Olympic Committee’s Young Reporters programme to come to London in 2012.

Work will begin this week at Greenwich Park to make it ready to host the Olympic Equestrian competition in 2012. The work will be carried out by sub-contractors working on behalf of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG), in association with The Royal Parks.

With a little under two years to go, the London 2012 venues are rapidly taking shape, as water is now flowing at the canoe slalom venue, the seating structure is taking shape at the basketball arena, ground preparation work is beginning at Greenwich Park, and landscaping work is getting underway at the Olympic Village. With athletes and teams now in the process of qualifying for the 2012 Games, this progress is a reassuring sign that London is on time and on track to welcome the world’s top sports people in 2012.

Water Works

Construction work on the new lake and competition courses has been completed at the London 2012 canoe slalom venue in the Lee Valley Regional Park and this has allowed water to start flowing at the venue, so that the courses can be tested. The venue is expected to be completed later this year and will include a standard 300m competition course, a boat conveyor, a 160m intermediate/training course, a 10,000m² finish lake, and a facility building and pumping house.

Capacity of 12,000

Thousands of seats are soon to be installed in the London 2012 basketball arena, which is reported to be one of the largest temporary venues ever used for an Olympic and Paralympic Games. The seating structure is now taking shape, before the black and orange seats – representing the colours of a basketball – are put into place. At Games-time, the venue will host basketball, handball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby.

Preparing The Ground

Work has begun on preparing the ground at Greenwich Park, the site of London’s Olympic equestrian venue. The work, which will be carried out by London 2012 sub-contractors in association with The Royal Parks, will ensure that the condition of the grass is ideal for the competitors in 2012. Work will include irrigation, de-compaction, mowing, and some other enhancements. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has also announced plans for thousands of new trees, parks, play areas, and open spaces to support the new homes being delivered in the London 2012 Olympic Village. Landscaping is already underway for the creation of an extensive wetlands area on the Village site, with the overall plans for these green spaces adding to the landscaping works already underway in the Olympic Park site, which is creating one of the largest new urban parks in the UK for over 100 years.

LONDON 2012

London was elected as the host city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad on 6 July 2005 at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. London eventually succeeded in the fourth round of voting taking 54 votes from a possible 104. London faced stiff opposition during the vote from the other four candidate cities: Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid. There will be 26 sports on the Olympic programme in London in 2012 and around 10,500 athletes.

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Interactive guide to 2012 Olympics

Mayor Boris Johnson receives the Olympic flag to signal the start of London's reign as Olympic host city and spark wild celebrations in the capital.

Triple gold medallist Chris Hoy helps unveil designs for London's 2012 Olympic cycling facilities.

London 2012 chiefs tell BBC Sport they are not seriously considering a scheme to flatten the Olympic Stadium after the Games.

Most Britons do not think the government is capable of successfully managing the 2012 Olympics, a survey suggests.

Plans for a four-year programme of cultural events ahead of the 2012 Olympics are announced in London.

Uefa's David Taylor says a GB team at the Olympics would endanger British football's separate identities.

Public enthusiasm for attending the 2012 London Olympic Games has risen almost 30% following the Beijing Games, a survey for the BBC suggests.

Britain could revise its medals target for London 2012 following the team's success at the Beijing Olympics.