91Èȱ¬

The 91Èȱ¬'s London 2012 website, the new "home" for all of the 91Èȱ¬'s London 2012 content, will be launched tomorrow to mark two years to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games. World Olympic Dreams will be launched on the site at the same time.

The 2012 site, bbc.co.uk/2012, will give users a single entry point to a showcase of 91Èȱ¬ content related to London 2012, drawing on news, sport, programmes from the 91Èȱ¬ Archive and more. The site will also contain prominent links to external content such as information about volunteering in 2012 and how to buy tickets for the Olympic Games.

Nearer the Games it will be the home of the 91Èȱ¬'s Torch Relay coverage online, building in technical innovation from the 91Èȱ¬'s Future Media & Technology division and external development companies.

The Torch Relay begins in May 2012 and will cover the UK, before reaching its climax at the Opening Ceremony in London on 27 July.

Among other highlights will be World Olympic Dreams, a project which will feature 26 individual stories and 46 athletes from around the world as they strive to achieve Olympic glory in 2012, and World Class, a sister project which aims to twin British schools with others around the world. Also reflected on the site will be the array of high profile Cultural/Festival 2012 activity and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The look and feel of the site will adapt to the dominant theme of the 2012 journey. For example, when the Torch Relay is under way, the site will fit with that theme and, before the Games themselves get under way, traffic and travel information will be added so that users can easily check on how to get around London and to the other Olympic venues.

Roger Mosey, the 91Èȱ¬'s director of London 2012, said: "Telling the story of London 2012 from now until the end of the Games is one of the biggest challenges the 91Èȱ¬ has ever undertaken. We want our coverage to bring the whole of the UK together to enjoy this unprecedented period of events, and the 91Èȱ¬'s website will be the place where people can find out about everything from the 100 metres final and the latest Olympic News to the greatest cultural performances."

World Olympic Dreams is an innovative multi-platform project which will be broadcast across TV, radio and online and will follow athletes drawn from six continents and competing in 17 different Olympic sports (see Notes to Editors for full list of athletes).

The series of short films will be collated through the 91Èȱ¬'s worldwide reporting network, with correspondents in each of the countries featured providing the relevant footage.

Viewers will be given a real insight into each of the athlete's unique stories and very different personal circumstances while they all work towards the same goal of Olympic success: personal training regimes; coaches; diet; family; friends; their likes and dislikes; and the sacrifices they all have to make.

Two new films will be broadcast every month and the World Olympic Dreams website will be updated with the latest news from all the athletes. The site will also contain features such as Q&As and blogs as well as the athletes personal social media sites, where users will be able to interact with the athletes.

In addition, 91Èȱ¬ Breakfast, World News, World Service, News Channel and 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 Live will carry coverage.

91Èȱ¬ Sport news reporter and Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent will front the series and will be bringing regular updates and reports on each of the 26 stories.

To mark the launch of the new London 2012 website, the 91Èȱ¬ Archive is releasing a brand new collection of television and radio programmes online.

Programmes from the archives take you back to the Austerity Games to reveal how the 91Èȱ¬ coped with their first time broadcasting television from any Olympic games, and also how the bombed and battered city of London managed to host the Olympics on a shoe-string.

"Pictures showing the Olympics from a different angle – from behind the cameras – have been released publicly for the first time." The pictures include shots of crowds cheering on the British team as they parade through Wembley, and the British Gymnastic team getting ready for the Games by practising in Hyde Park.

The collection can be seen by visiting bbc.co.uk/archive from 27 July.

Notes to Editors

Athletes featured in World Olympic Dreams:

Abhinav Bindra (27, from India) shooting
Acheing Ajulu-Bushell (16,from GB) swimming
Alistair Brownlee (22, from GB) triathlon
Emily Seebohm (17, from Australia) swimming
Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan (24, from Mongolia) boxing
Hinrich Romeike (47, from Germany) equestrian
Hoang Anh Tuan (24, from Vietnam) weightlifting
Hamza Hussein & Haider Rashid (34/28, from Iraq) rowing
Im Dong Hyun (24, from South Korea) archery
Ivan Ukhov (24, from Russia) athletics (high jump)
Jehue Gordon (17, from Trinidad & Tobago) athletics
Jonathan, Kevin & Olivia Borlee (22/22/24, from Belgium) athletics
Julien Absalon (29, from France) cycling
Linet & Moses Masai (20/23, from Kenya) athletics
Luol Deng (24, from GB) basketball
Majlinda Kelmendi (18, from Kosovo) judo
MC Marykom (27, from India) boxing
Merlyn Diamond (18, from Namibia) athletics
Nader al Masri (29, from Palestine*) athletics
Olga Kharlan (19, from Ukraine) fencing
Rohullah Nikpai (22, from Afghanistan) taekwondo
Sarah Menezes (19, from Brazil) judo
Shawn Johnson (17, from USA) gymnastics
The Pakistan Hockey Team (various, from Pakistan) hockey
Usain Bolt (23, from Jamaica) athletics
Wu Min Zia & He Zi (24/20, from China) synchronised diving

*The Palestine National Olympic Committee is recognised by the IOC.

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