Onwards to 2012

2005

• July 6: London defeats Paris to host the 2012 Olympic Games

2006

• Land purchased in Olympic Park
• Senior staff appointed, including Paul Deighton, chief executive of the organising committee, and David Higgins, his counterpart at the Olympic Delivery Authority

2007

• March: New £9.3 billion budget approved
• June: Games logo launched
• Power lines concealed underground

2008

• January: Training camps announced
• April: Beijing torch relay runs into London protests
• May: Work begins on the Olympic Stadium
• August: Handover ceremony at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony

2009

• July: Stadium foundations and external structure complete
• July: London sponsorship passes the £500 million mark
• July 27: Exactly three years to go to the Games opening
• October: Olympic Legacy Company begins examining post-Games plans

2010

• February: Vancouver Winter Olympics
• Mascots launched
• Volunteer programme launched

2011

• Ticket pricing and availability announced
• July: All venues complete and organising committee takes possession of venues from ODA; test events follow

2012

• May: Torch relay begins in Athens, continues in United Kingdom
• June: The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
• July 27 at 8.12pm: Opening ceremony starts

London 2012: organisers plan for symbolic 20.12 start for opening ceremony

London Olympic organisers are hoping to start the opening ceremony of the Games three years today at 8.12pm, 20.12 in the 24-hour clock.

The London organising committee is in talks with broadcasters and the International Olympic Committee over scheduling the opening moments of the Games with a symmetry that would echo the start of the Beijing Olympics last summer.

In Beijing the Games began at 8.08pm (20.08) on Aug 8, the eighth of the eighth of the eighth marking the significance of eight as a lucky number in Chinese culture.

Announcing several milestones the organising committee will reveal it has raised £530 million of its £650 million sponsorship target, and Olympic lottery games have raised £580 million from the sale of two billion tickets.

Ministers, the leaders of the organising committee and Olympic Delivery Authority and athletes will mark the event by travelling to the Olympic Park on a Javelin train today. They will do so with the endorsement of IOC president Jacques Rogge, who praised London's progress.

"A little over four years ago, Seb Coe presented a vision to the IOC members of Games that would make a difference... London 2012 and its partners are delivering on that vision.

"Their good work since Singapore is a testament to that fact and I am in no doubt that in 2012, we will see great Games that will make a difference to us all."