Today, Team GB athletes begin to head to Loughborough University’s pre-Games training camp. Here they will receive their kits for the Games and begin their intensive training.
Thursday, the midsummer solstice, is a busy day. With Wimbledon fast approaching, the tennis team is set to be announced. If he maintains his place in the world’s top five, Andy Murray, right, could stand a chance of winning a medal, although he is yet to win a grand slam. Hopefully home support will stand him in good stead. A small climb in rankings could see Elena Baltacha coming through in the women’s team.
The London 2012 arts festival also launches on Thursday with an open-air concert set against the backdrop of Stirling Castle in Scotland, featuring superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel. This is the first of 12,000 events across the country over the summer. Ruth Mackenzie, Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 festival director, says: “The London 2012 Festival will be the largest cultural celebration in our lifetime.”
Friday is the last chance to qualify for the athletics, at the Aviva trials in Birmingham. Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis and Phillips Idowu will join more than 750 British athletes going head to head for selection.
This weekend, pop stars Jay-Z and Rihanna will arrive in east London for the London 2012 Festival’s Radio 1 Big Weekend concert at Hackney Marshes. More than 100 acts, including Plan B, Rita Ora and Hackney’s very own Leona Lewis, will perform at this free event.
Saturday is also Olympics day, an international celebration of sport organised by the International Olympic Committee to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games in 1894. In London the IOC will be hosting special sports events in schools.
The torch is making its way through northern England, with the band Friendly Fires headlining a free concert when it reaches Leeds on Sunday.
