Facts and figures about London Olympic opening ceremony

 

 

Sheep, nurses, Mr. Bean. With Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle at the helm of a creative team, the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony was held Friday at London's Olympic Stadium.

"This is for everyone" is the theme of the opening ceremony. Organizers said the ceremony celebrates the achievements of key figures from British history and the creativity, exuberance and generosity of the British people.

 

Following is the London Olympics opening ceremony by the numbers.

 

  • Stage: 15,000 square meters of staging -- equivalent to 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

 

  • Audience: An estimated number of 4 billion global audience will watch the ceremonies (Olympic opening and closing, and Paralympic opening and closing).

 

  • Volunteer: A total of 7,500 volunteers took part in a total of 284 rehearsals at two east London rehearsal sites and at the Stadium. The child volunteers were drawn from 25 schools. The 170 16-18 year olds, from six colleges.

 

  • Animal: 40 sheep, 12 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese and 3 sheep dogs are involved in the scene -- looked after by 34 animal handlers.

 

  • Music: 500 speakers and 50 tons of sound equipment were used in the ceremony.

 

  • Costume: 40,000 recycled plastic water bottles and 10,000 recycled plastic bags are incorporated into the costumes.

 

  • Technology: Among the most exciting new ideas are the "audience pixels." The pixel screen extends around the audience seating area and is made up of 70,799 small panels mounted between the seats. Each of these panels has nine LED pixels -- there are nearly 640,000 in total -- which are controlled by a central computer.

 

  • Olympic Rings: The five Olympic Rings were launched into space carried by four balloons. By the end of the ceremony, the rings will have reached the stratosphere.

 

 

  • British meadow: The meadow built at the center of the stadium uses 7,346 square meters of real turf, including crops.

 

  • Beds: 320 beds were used in a segment of the show, which honored two of Britain's greatest achievements: its amazing body of children's literature and its National health Service. Almost all the 600 volunteer dancers in this segment work for the NHS.

 

  • Mini Cooper: One Mini Cooper car was used in the opening show.

 

  • Litter drop: A helicopter dropped 7 billion tiny pieces of paper on the stadium -- one for each person on the planet.