Random Facts About the London Olympics

The opening ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic Games is coming up on Friday. Here are a few random facts about the London Olympics. 

In the summer of 1858, there was a smell that fell over the city. It was untreated sewage in the River Thames that nearly incapacitated London. That event inspired Parliament to build the northern outfall sewer and that is where the Olympic Park Greenway footpath and cycleway now sit. Ew.

British based Ladbrokes is taking bets for when, where and if the Loch Ness Monster will appear in the Thames during the Olympics. Currently the odds are 2012 to 1. How funny is it that there is gambling company called Ladbrokes?

The city is really showing love for the local wildlife. About four thousand frogs, newts and toads were hand relocated away from Olympic Village as it was being built and the Olympic site itself has 525 bird houses and 150 bat boxes plus numerous otter homes. These were built to help maintain the local creatures and produce an eco friendly event.

Speaking of being eco friendly, organizers are aiming for a zero waste event. All of the packaging for everything will be color coded to match the rubbish bins so attendees know where to put things. Food packaging, knives and forks will all be composted. Plastic bottles will be recycled and the remainder of the items will be taken away to an electrical plant.

Things will hopefully be speedy as the athletes and spectators leave England. London's Heathrow Airport built a special terminal for the Olympic athletes and their families. The new terminal has 31 check in desks and seven lines for security.

Olympic Stadium will have a capacity of 80 thousand for the games and while that may sound like a lot, it's the lowest number of seats ever built. After the Olympics are over, the four arenas will be taken apart and relocated throughout the United Kingdom and made into homes. Same goes for the water polo and swimming pools. Olympic Village where the athletes stay will be made into affordable apartment homes.

McDonald's is the Olympics main advertising partner and they're opening their largest restaurant ever at the Games. It will be 32 thousand square feet, two floors and have seating for 15 hundred. It will also employ 500 people. There are also three other McDonald's stores that will be operating and all of them will be taken apart, with the furniture and machines being recycled or reused in other restaurants.

If you are going to watch just to see if anyone decides to go streaking, don't bother. Streaking will be punishable by law. Anyone caught running around without their britches will be facing fines of 31 thousand U.S. dollars. They have put the laws in place because of the prim and proper nature of the Brits and they're also trying to deter people walking around with body painted advertisements because organizers are trying to cut down on ambush marketing.

The Olympic coverage can be seen on NBC. We have several local athletes that will be participating in the Games. Want to know when to watch or set your DVR? Click HERE!