Before the opening ceremony to the Olympics in London takes place on Friday, July 27, much planning and preparation must be completed. As of early February, about 10,000 employees and volunteers for the traditional games initiated the training process as they learn about Olympic heritage and familiarize themselves with the various venues that have been built in the London area to host the competitions. By the end of the month, five more orientations will be completed in order to train the entire Olympic staff of 80,000. The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), the organization in charge of preparing and executing the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, estimates that all volunteers and workers will undergo more than eight million hours of training and service to make the Games a success this summer.

The LOCOG is also advocating for local leaders in the London community to help out and get involved with the upcoming celebration in terms of hospitality and neighborhood organization.

However, the process of setting up the Olympics was not frightening for the city of London, having hosted the games previously in 1908 and 1948 and having many of the athletic venues in place before their bid to host was even accepted. Already, 146 nations have qualified for this year’s Olympics and about 58 additional nations are expected to qualify by the time the Games begin with a total of more than 10,000 athletes participating. From July 27 to Aug. 12, 26 sports will be featured, encompassing 302 events.

Aside from the more well-known sports such as swimming, cycling, track, volleyball and tennis, the Olympics will also contain sports that are normally not featured on a daily basis in America including equestrian, sailing, taekwondo, fencing and archery.

After the Olympic Games are completed, London will host its first ever Paralympic Games from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9. The Paralympics began in 1948 as a sports competition for disabled British World War II veterans and has become a tradition. This year, the Paralympics will include 21 sports with a total of 502 events. Participants have the opportunity to partake in athletics such as boccia, cycling, goalball, basketball, rowing, power lifting and many more.

The road to the 2012 summer Olympic and Paralympic is becoming more of a reality as time presses on and LOCOG coordinators are guaranteeing this year’s international athletic celebration to be a success.