Sports
London has hosted the Summer Olympics three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012. London was chosen in July 2005 to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times. London was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934. London will host the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
London's most popular sport is football and it has fourteen League football clubs, including six in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. In May 2012 Chelsea become the first London club to win the UEFA Champions League.
London also has five rugby union teams in the Aviva Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps, London Welsh and Harlequins), although only Harlequins and Saracens play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London). The other professional rugby union team in the city is RFU Championship club London Scottish, that play home matches in the city. The city has other very traditional rugby union clubs, famously Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C..
There are three professional rugby league clubs in London – London Broncos who play in the European Super League at The Stoop and the Championship One side the London Skolars (based in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey) Hemel Stags based in Hemel Hempstead, north of London will play in the Championship One from 2013.
From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000. Twickenham Stadium in south-west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.
Cricket in London is served by two Test cricket grounds Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C.) in St John's Wood and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C.) in Kennington. Lord's has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup. One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some 35,000 runners attempt a 26.2 miles (42.2 km) course around the city, and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake.
The London Commuter Belt contains many internationally recognised golf courses such as, among others, Wentworth Golf Club and Sunningdale Golf Club.
Read more about this topic: The Weather In London
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his Neighbour.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Guys do not have a genetic blueprint that allows them to understand or love sports.”
—Lesley Visser, U.S. sports reporter and announcer. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 82 (June 17, 1991)
“The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)