183 days until……..

183 days until the XXX Olympiad, 183 days until millions of people will visit the city London, 183 days until subways will be packed with loads of people, 183 days until the openings ceremony in the Olympic stadium, 183 days until many broken records in different sport categories and 183 days until the most beautiful sports event in the world: THE OLYMPIC GAMES 2012!!

My second post gives interesting facts and figures about the London Olympics 2012. I was also curious about the history of the Dutch athletes at previous Olympic Games. Enjoy reading!

                                           London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic
                                             Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948

Some nice facts and figures about the London Olympics 2012:
- The Olympic Stadium will have a capacity of 80,000 during the Games
- The wave shaped roof on the Aquatics Centre measures 12,000 square meters which is one and a half times bigger than Wembley football pitch
- The Velodrome is one of the most sustainable venues in the Olympic Park
- The Velodrome ‘Cable – net’ roof is made from 17 km of steel cables. That’s over 10 miles of steel cable, twice the height of Mount Everest
- An estimated global audience of 4bn people are expected to watch the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012
- East London will see a massive upgrade in facilities. As many as 5,000 new homes could be available there after the Olympics
- Costs for the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium have been revised from £280m to £496
- This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Paralympics. The wheelchair games, involving injured World War II soldiers, were staged on the opening day of the London 1948 Olympics

London in fact and figures
Paralympics sports (disciplines)	20 (21)
Olympic sports (disciplines)	26 (39)
Omvang Olympisch park (in ha.)	246
Media	20.000
Athletes and team officials	23.900
Volunteers	70.000

The Netherlands at the Olympics:
The Netherlands first sent athletes to the Olympic Games in 1900, and has participated in almost all Games since then. The Netherlands hosted the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Netherlands has expressed interest in hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics in either Amsterdam or Rotterdam, as a centennial celebration of the 1928 Games. Dutch athletes have won 246 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, with swimming and cycling as the top medal-producing sports. The Chinese city of Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics where the Netherlands ranked 12th in the medal table, with seven gold medals and 16 medals overall.

The Sydney 2000 summer Olympic Games were the most successful Olympics for the Dutch athletes (Twelve gold and twenty-five overall medals). Inge de Bruijn also participated in Sydney and is the most successful Dutch female competitor (Swimming, 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze). Charles Pahud de Mortanges is the most successful Dutch male competitor (Equestrian, 4 gold, 1 silver) and participated in three Olympics.

Right, enough for now.... next post more about Dutch medal contenders and many many many more! 

Tot ziens, A. (The Dutch Sportaholic) 

The 'DUTCH' Sportaholic

Before I start writing my blog I want to tell you something more about the writer of this blog. 'The writer' of this blog is Alle Koperdraad; tall, blond, Dutch and was born on January 17th 1991. This is exactly twenty-one years (plus 2 days), seven thousand six hundred and sixty seven days, one hundred eighty three thousand nine hundred and sixty hours and eleven million thirty seven thousand six hundred minutes ago. I was born in a small city Hilversum in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has approximately sixteen million residents. This is almost half of the population of Canada. However Canada is the second largest country in the world and manymanymany bigger than the Netherlands.

The Netherlands (Europe)

As a kid I started walking when I was one year old and today twenty-one years later I am a RUNNER. I'm Track & Field athlete on a high level and participated in many Dutch Championships in the last couple of years.

I like to watch all kind of sports. Unfortunately I have to wait 189 days for watching the London Olympic Games. This games will feature 26 sports, which break down intro 39 disciplines. I'm using this blog to inform every Sportaholic (definition sportaholic: someone who has an addiction to sports) about the road of the Dutch athletes to London Olympic Games 2012!

The following Dutch teams are qualified for the London Olympic Games 2012:

- Hockey: men's/female team
- Rowing: eight with coxsmain (8+) Men
- Rowing: eight with coxswain (8+) Women

There are many nominated athletes and teams. Track & Field athlete Eelco Sintnicolaas (Decathlon) is nominated and says this on his Twitter page:

On 30 august the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC NSF) will present its “study top 10”. This study should give insight in the present top sports climate in The Netherlands and its future ambitions. In order to fulfill its objective to host the Olympics in 2028, one of the ambitions of the NOC NSF is to structurally end in the medals top 10 of Olympic Games. The top 10 should be seen in this perspective; it consists of those sports that have a decent chance to realize this ambition. Clearly these sports should qualify for extra financial support.

 
Why should YOU follow my blog?
Holland (The Netherlands) is a small country with high sport ambition. A lot of things happen in the Dutch world of sport. I will provide you all the latest news and all the ins and outs about the Dutch Road to London 2012 on a creative and innovative way, which makes it more fun to read!

I hope you are enthusiastic about reading my first post and in Dutch we say: Tot Ziens! (Bye Bye)

A. (The Dutch Sportaholic)