The men's 100m final will be one of the few events at the Olympics to be screened live in 3D, the BBC has announced.
Plans to cover the Games in 3D were first unveiled by Roger Mosey, the BBC's director for London 2012, in September 2009.
At the time, he revealed that the Beeb would be unlikely to "comprehensively" use the technology to capture the international sporting event, but said it would "be a shame" if the Olympics was not part of the experiments into 3D broadcasting.
Although the BBC had committed to screening parts of London 2012 in 3D, specific details of which events will be included had not been confirmed until now.
The public service broadcaster will kick off its three-dimensional coverage with the extravagant opening ceremony, which will be presented by Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle. At the last Olympic Games in Beijing, an estimated 15 per cent of the world's population tuned in to watch the spectacle.
Nightly highlights from the Olympics will be aired in 3D, as well as the closing ceremony on August 12th where the Games will be officially handed over to the next host, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
However, the only sporting event to be shown live in 3D will be the 100m final on August 5th.
Explaining the BBC's cautious approach to 3D coverage, Mr Mosey said the decision to screen just a few events was largely in line with public demand for the technology.
By expanding its 3D programming, the broadcaster would have been forced to deliver less high-definition (HD) content on the BBC HD Channel.
"If we had, for instance, decided to do a whole night of athletics in 3D on Friday 3rd August then we'd have lost swimming and other sports from BBC HD - which would have disadvantaged the far larger number of people who'd want to watch that," Mr Mosey explained.
"The aim, then, is to showcase 3D for the biggest moments but to preserve choice in a world of conflicting demands."
