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London 2012 – Countdown Clock, Rogge's Invitation

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Bah Ki-moon, unveiled the countdown clock Wednesday for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The clock will count the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the start of the Games on July 27, 2012.

The ceremony was attended by nine-time Olympic Gold-medalist Carl Lewis and three other U.S. Olympians, and at the same time a ceremony was held in London’s Trafalgar Square where International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge invited sportsmen and women from around the world to compete in next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The clock is emblazoned with the London Olympics logo and has the number “2012” in four jagged figures with the five Olympic rings.

Meanwhile Sebastian Coe, Chairman of London 2012, and former Olympic silver medallist Colin Jackson made plaster casts of their feet at London’s St. Pancras Eurostar terminal to mark the “first steps” toward the Games.

Rogge said, “one year to go is a special time for any host nation. It is the moment when the International Olympic Committee invites the National Olympic Committees and their athletes to attend the Games, when Olympic dreams start to come into focus, and when the world turns its attention in earnest to the city that will welcome it in only 365 days’ time”.

He added, “London has come a long way since its election in 2005 in Singapore and the 2012 team and its partners are to be congratulated for their work. London 2012 is now ideally placed not just to deliver top level Olympic competition but also to leave a great legacy to the British people. I wish London well as it enters its final year of preparations and testing and I am confident that next summer this great city will once again do the Olympic movement proud”.

Coe said, “with a year to go we are inviting the athletes, spectators and visitors from around the world to come to the UK next summer – it’s ‘London Calling’. Waiting for them will be a spectacular festival of sport and culture in the world’s greatest city, which will be more magical and vibrant than ever. There is much to do in the next 12 months, but we can take huge comfort in the progress that has been made so far. We are absolutely on track and determined to stage Olympic and Paralympic Games which will deliver on the promises we made in Singapore, inspire the athletes and make the nation proud”.

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