In just 200 days time the waiting will all be over. The countdown since the announcement in 2005 that the games of the 30th* Summer Olympiad had been awarded to London.
Therefore as we are in 2012 with less than 30 weeks to go you may be asking what are the rules of Taekwondo, or how many races are in an Olympic sailing regatta, or who is the most winning water polo team (the last is Hungary). So where can you find all these answers and more?
Well one book I've picked up recently is by David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton and covers everything from history, basics of the events, the ceremonial, how various events are scored and some of the heroes down through the years. Called
"How to Watch the Olympics" it is the armchair spectators guide to all that will be going on across London and indeed further afield between 27 July and 12 August
(actually the football kicks off on the 25th). It may not be the most thorough of guides into the history, nor into the rules of the various games. But it is a gallimaufry that gives enough of a a taste of every aspect for a non-sport mad viewer, such as myself, an insight into everything enough to get enjoyment out of the events as they unwind.
If you want to invest in one book that is going to help you understand everything that the Olympics has to offer (because I can't be everywhere) this is certainly a book that will help you learn a little bit that even the BBC commentary team may not be able to fit into their commentary. But then again the number of hours they have to fill they may well have a copy with each one of them as well.
* There are three Olympiad where a sport never took part, the VI Berlin, the XII Tokyo, then awarded to Helsinki and the XIII London. These were all cancelled due to the World Wars.
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