When Will The Next Summer Olympics Be Held?

The Olympic Games take its name from its original site, Olympia in Greece. These athletic competitions date to 776 B.C. and even then, the games took place every four years. The modern Olympics era began with the 1896 Olympiad. The 2008 Olympiad or Summer Games was the 29th edition, and the next Olympiad is a milestone -- the 30th for the modern Olympics.

Olympiad XXX Dates

The IOC schedules the dates for each Olympics far in advance to give athletes, participating nations and the host city ample planning time. The 30th Summer Games is scheduled to start July 27, 2012, and continue for 16 days. The scheduled closing date for the next Olympics is Aug. 12. The 2012 Paralympics, which is for athletes with disabilities, starts Aug. 29 and ends Sept. 9.

Location

The modern Olympics rules require that the games move to a different city and country every four years. London is the site of the 2012 Olympics. In 2005, the city won the competitive bidding process by beating Paris with 54 votes to 50. London last hosted the Olympics in 1948 and was the host city in 1908. The IOC's acceptance of London's bid for the 2012 Olympics makes it the first city in the world to host the Olympics three times.

Traditions

The 2012 competition for Olympic glory includes 26 sports including women's boxing for the first time. The Olympic torch relay begins at Mount Olympus in Greece much earlier than the scheduled July start. The torch is scheduled to arrive May 18 in London, where it begins a 70-day journey to locations throughout the United Kingdom, using 8,000 volunteers. The opening ceremony begins when the torch arrives in the Olympic Stadium. The closing ceremony signals the official end of each Olympics. A recent tradition that has developed during the modern Olympics era lets all the athletes enter the stadium at the end of the games without being grouped by country, as they do during the opening ceremonies. This started at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, as a symbol of the unity of people.

Tickets

Ticket sales for the 2012 Olympics began in March 2011, using a lottery system that requires an application for U.K. residents, nationals of dependent countries and some European nations. The U.S. National Olympic Committee has only one authorized ticket seller for residents of the United States: CoSport. The company sells tickets for individual events and travel packages for the 2012 Olympics.