About tickets
Tickets
The world's greatest sporting events are coming to London in 2012, and you can be there!

You can now apply for tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games are now on sale. You will need to submit an application for tickets even if you have registered your details with London 2012 and you have a ticketing account. To find out how to apply for Olympic Games tickets please read the Step by step guide to applying online. Applications for tickets to the Paralympic Games will open on 9 September 2011.

If you are not a resident of the UK or a designated European country, regardless of citizenship, you will be required to apply for tickets via your National Olympic Committee (NOC) or National Paralympic Committee (NPC). Some NOCs and NPCs may appoint an Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR) in order to help the general public obtain tickets and services relating to the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. A full list of designated European countries and contact details for all NOCs, NPCs and ATRs can be found in Ticket eligibility.

Test Events
Test Events serve as part of the preparation for the London 2012 Games and will enable you to see exciting competitive sport in Olympic and Paralympic venues for the first time, as well as enabling the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) to test key aspects of operational readiness.

Events

Test Events include a wide range of sports. They will start in summer 2011, finishing just prior to the Olympic Games.

You will play your part in testing brand new competition venues, with a focus on testing the field of play, results and scoring, as well as operational approaches and procedures.

The Test Event programme consists of three different types of events:
International invitational events, created and delivered by LOCOG
International Federation (IF) events, delivered by LOCOG in partnership with the IFs and sports national governing bodies
International events organised by sports national governing bodies and other organisations with LOCOG testing operational aspects
We hope you will enjoy watching some exciting sport while helping us to prepare for the London 2012 Games.

Tickets

Test Event tickets will be on sale starting in May 2011. Unlike tickets to the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, these tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

The events in 2011 that will be ticketed by LOCOG are:
Cycling - Mountain Bike: 31 July 2011, Hadleigh Farm, Essex
Beach Volleyball: 9-14 August 2011, Horse Guards Parade
Basketball: 16-20 August 2011, Basketball Arena, Olympic Park
Cycling - BMX: 19-20 August 2011, BMX Circuit, Olympic Park
The events in 2012 that will be ticketed by LOCOG (subject to confirmation) are:
Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline): 10-18 January 2012, North Greenwich Arena
Track Cycling: 17-19 February 2012, Velodrome, Olympic Park
Diving: 20-26 February 2012, Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park
Hockey: 2-6 May 2012, Hockey Centre, Olympic Park
Wheelchair Tennis: 2-6 May 2012, Eton Manor
Aquatics - Water Polo: 2-6 May 2012, Water Polo Arena, Olympic Park
Athletics - 4-7 May 2012, Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park
Paralympic Athletics: 8 May 2012, Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park
On-sale dates for events taking place in 2012 will be released later in 2011. If you are interested in attending any of these events, sign up to receive more information as it becomes available.

London 2012 Festival
Leading artists from all over the world will come together in the UK’s biggest ever festival - a chance for everyone to celebrate London 2012 through dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, film and digital innovation, and to leave a lasting legacy for the arts in the UK.

The Festival will serve as the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad and will open on 21 June 2012 - Midsummer’s Day. It will run until 9 September 2012 - the last day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

At the heart of the festival will be a programme of commissions by some of the finest artists in the world, with events ranging from pop to film, from visual arts and fashion to theatre, from circus to carnival, from opera to digital innovation.

The first commissions include works from the likes of Rachel Whiteread, Akram Khan, Cate Blanchett, Mike Leigh, Damon Albarn, Rufus Norris and Jamie Hewlett.

In total, the Festival will feature more than 1,000 events, with an estimated audience of more than three million people. Some of the events will be ticketed, some will be free to attend. A dedicated website will go live from summer 2011. Further information on ticketing, pricing and promotional plans will be provided in the build-up to the first tickets going on sale in October 2011.

Don't be fooled by bogus websites and organisations claiming to sell tickets to the Games. To check whether a website is an official sales channel use our website checker.