London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. Twenty-six sports will be contested in the London Games 2012, although additional events may be added before the Summer Games opens once again.

The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: The Olympic zone, the River Zone and the Central zone. The center of the London Games will be Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Major renovations to the area include moving electric utilities underground to make way for 6 major venues that will comprise the Park. The new London Olympic Stadium is the center of the Olympic Park. Olympic Stadium will seat approximately 80,000 spectators. Once the London Olympics are completed, the stadium is designed to be reduced to a 25,000 capacity venue to serve the city of London. The other five venues are the Basketball Arena, the Aquatics Center, London VeloPark, Olympic Hockey Center and the Handball Arena.

In addition to these are those venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, which will host the sailing events, and other stadiums across the UK.