There's a mere 5 years, 1 month and 5 days until the start of the 2012 Olympics, and we'll bet you're wondering how you're going to fill your time until then. Sure, there are other sporting events you could watch and cultural events you could attend, but what if you fancy something more Olympic-esque?
Then the Cultural Olympiad will be right up your alley. It's not a sporting event, but a festival intended to showcase the best of British culture during the four years leading up to the Olympics. The Cultural Olympiad's a pretty new idea - the first Olympics to hold a pre-Olympics cultural event were the 2004 Athens games. As Athens was the home of the ancient Olympics as well as the first modern games, they figured they should emulate the ancient Greeks, who competed in more than just sporting events. The Cultural Olympiad's meant to bring in those elements of the arts into the Olympic fun.
We'll have to see how London's Olympiad compares with the others in the works. How will our planned International Shakespeare Festival and Olympic Carnival hold up against the Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010 plans? Of course, we all know London's the best city in the world, so we're pretty sure we'll do pretty well.
The Cultural Olympiad won't have to share a logo with the 2012 Olympics, but the yet to be unveiled motif is being designed by the same firm who came up with the much discussed 2012 emblem.
