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London 2012 celebrates 100 days to go to the Olympic Games today by confirming that millions of people around the UK are getting ready to welcome the world to London.

Among those getting ready are a total of 70,000 volunteers, already a significant way through the million hours of training they will receive ahead of the eight million hours of volunteering they will deliver.

Over eight million people have said in a recent survey they are getting ready to line the streets and cheer the thousands of community heroes carrying the Olympic Flame around the UK.

Two million school children are learning about the values of the Games and the countries and cultures of the 10,000-plus athletes from over 200 National Olympic Committees coming to compete in the UK.

Spectators are also getting ready: eight million Olympic and Paralympic tickets will be in the hands of sports fans by the summer.

Red Arrows to mark Opening Ceremony
The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) also announced today that the world-famous Red Arrows aerobatic display team will perform a nine-ship flypast in Big Battle formation to symbolically link the whole of the UK and provide a quintessential British welcome on the day of the Olympic Opening Ceremony (27 July).

Further details of the London 2012 Live Sites up and down the country have also been announced. The big screens, run in partnership between London 2012, the BBC and local authorities, and supported by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, partners BT and Lloyds TSB, and supporters Cisco and Cadbury, will become fully dedicated to coverage of London 2012 from May onwards.

Games motto and new Olympic Rings launched
LOCOG also today unveiled the motto for the Games – ‘Inspire a generation’, reflecting the promise made when London bid for the Games – and launched the latest ‘spectacular’ installation of the Olympic Rings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, west London. The rings are 50m long, made up of 20,000 plants and are visible from the Heathrow flight path.

Celebrations taking place across the UK
Thousands of people are marking 100 days to go across all nations and regions. In Weymouth and Portland, the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing competitions, a giant sandcastle has been built featuring the Olympic Rings no Weymouth beach. And to celebrate the UK’s role in the birth of the modern Olympic movement, a total of 40 ‘Coubertin Oaks’ oak trees are being planted at venues around the UK.

LOCOG Chair Seb Coe said: ‘With 100 days to go to the start of the Games, millions of people are getting ready to do the best work of their lives and welcome the world this summer. There is a groundswell of support and excitement, not just in the UK, but internationally as the final countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games begins. Whether it’s the competing athletes or people getting ready to join their communities in supporting Torchbearers on the streets of the UK, the whole world is getting ready for London. Expectations are high, and we won’t disappoint.’

London 2012 will be the fourth Olympic Games in which Triathlon will be contested.  The competition will begin and end in Hyde Park, while taking in some of London’s most iconic landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Wellington Arch, Constitution Hill and Hyde Park Corner.

The races will begin with a 1,500m swim in the Serpentine. After transitioning in Hyde Park, athletes continue with a seven-lap, 40km bike ride around a technical course that takes in Buckingham Palace and the Wellington Arch, and end with a four-lap, 10km run around the Serpentine to the finish.  Click here for course map and venue details

ITU’s Olympic qualification period concludes on 26-27 May at the Madrid round of the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series. Click here for more on Olympic qualification

Click here for ITU’s Olympic website

Photo and with files by: LOCOG