BBC London 2012 Olympic Games advert (full length)

The complete 2:30 length BBC advert for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

[aaroncardwell]

The BBC really did get it right with London 2012, so emotional watching it back.

[gabrellesio]

Who went here after watching the Paris 2024 trailer?

[askelly]

The nostalgia, the emotions, the memories, the pride, the success, the brilliance, the wonder, the best Olympic Games ever held and the greatest two weeks to ever to be British - it was perfect! If I could find a way to bottle all of this and inject it into my veins I would I never wanted it to end!

[KatieCooper]

This was purely a magical time. After all the pessimism in the years leading up to our olympics it was soon forgotten and the whole country came together to support our athletes and for those three weeks everyone was optimistic in a way that wasn’t seen in the U.K. since the ‘90s.

I feel so fortunate that I got to go to the Olympic park to watch the games (handball, fencing at the excel, and football).

We set an example for the whole world in how to make an Olympic Games sustainable long-term and no other country has matched us since.

I felt so proud to be a Brit during the games, I really wish that we’d bid again for another Olympic Games.

[mathewc]

This was a truly incredible time for the UK 🇬🇧

[craiglennox]

still gives me goosebumps every time I hear this

[elpresso]

I remember showing this off to anyone from abroad who'd watch it. Seriously proud at the time!!

[stenwald]

The best Olympic games I’ve seen in my lifetime. Such timeless memories.

[TheSquirter]

So proud being British, that shot of London in the middle of the stadium will always be with me

[robschofield]

our Olympics was simply the best ever .

[tafari]

This is just beautiful, the best trailer for any program I’ve ever seen👌🏿

[sidpheasant]

Elbow got to "First Steps" as the composing work coincided with the first steps of the young son of one of the singers... They felt it fit in with athletes too. The cartoon work came from an Australian who had moved to London, and was inspired by what he saw of the ever-changing city looking out of his window. But all starts with the clouded but bright sky, the mountains and the waters in a U-shaped valley. The clouds have silver linings. A fishing boat we see tied up at a jetty is seen moments later out on the water dispensing what seem to be nets, but then transform into the buoyed-up lanes that competitiors at aquatic events in the Games are to follow. This is a profound image and story readily seen as referencing the Disciples who were fisherfolk shown the way to become "fishers of men"... In another hilly area (not so close to London!) a lorry is seen laying out hurdles along a country road. The hurdles placed along our way. A container port (Tilbury?) is then shown, suggesting arrivals and departures of things contained, before - for unknown reasons - we shift to the blue corner of a boxing ring, around which red, white and blue ropes stretch. A fight or struggle or contest is to take place within the confines of Britain. 0:22 finally shows London and again we see the row of distant lights that we have already seen several times. The only known building is the Telecommunications Tower (ex Post Office Tower), but there are many chimneys on ordinary houses, as well as some spired creation of Victorian architecture. We move to opening shops, and the archetype of London tradition "Pie and Mash", next to "Photo Finish" which obviously makes sporting references. Then we see that sailing is taking place by the White Cliffs of Dover, diving into the same lake, weightlifting at the same port, running next to the Pie & Mash, boxing at the venue we have already seen. The gymnastics venue is Tate Modern, but meaning Bankside Power Station! Long jump is being jumped on a cliff coast near a lighthouse, Mountain-biking in rugged hills with exposed outcrops of rock. At 1:22, a London street with a gasometer at the end. A velodrome that is also a vast quarried hole. At 2:17, the Gherkin, St Paul's, Parliament (???) and the Shard, which are then all brought within the Stadium, along with the London Eye and other landmarks. And I've got tears in my eyes...

[mathewc]

Hopefully the Olympics can return here soon. It was an incredible time not only for our country but the world 🇬🇧🇬🇧 🇬🇧

[danjsy]

Don't ever take this away please, we won't ever see something better from UK.

[Tygrmoth]

This still gives me goosebumps even now!

[redj]

Just watched this again, eight years later. So inspiring, and such a wonderful time. That summer was just the happiest time for me, a new baby girl, watching the Olympic flame go past in Peckham just after I'd registered her birth and then enjoying the wonder of the games for a blissful month. London did us proud. Fast forward to today, and we are overcome with Covid 19 and another lockdown looming. The joy and the pain of life.

[antonadams]

Just looking back at this advert for the first time in years, and I wish I hadn’t been so hasty on London 2012 at the time, because after looking back on the whole thing, I can say that London put the best games on ever in the modern history. The logo and font used for promotional material was the only problem with it. I can also say that London 2012 was the last Olympic Games in recent memory to not be filled with massive issues in some way or another. Sochi had a doping scandal, Rio had a tragic death near the end, Pyeongchang banned many countries from entering, and Tokyo was delayed by a whole year. With Beijing starting next week (for the Winter Games this time), I hope this one runs smoothly for the first time in a decade.

[jedionboard]

Has it really been 7 yrs ago !!!!, where did that time go.

[danielannett]

admit it when you saw this for the first time you knew then and there the Olympics was really coming to London and the UK
This was are Olympics and we put a show on for the whole world
Thank you

[russmex]

Gives me goose bumps every time I watch this, and reminds me of a brilliant summer in which we had the opportunity to go to some of the events