(Photos courtesy of Washington State Archives.)

In case you haven’t seen the ads and TV promos, the world’s biggest sports event is coming soon. People throughout the world are getting excited about the 2012 Summer Olympics starting in London in only two weeks.

London might be thousands of miles from our state, but our State Archives has a small collection of  photos related to the Olympics that will remind us that Washington has been touched (literally) by the Olympic flame. The 1996 photo above shows Gov. Mike Lowry holding the Olympic torch while two people (who we believe were part of the relay team that carried the torch through Washington that year) stand by. Below is a 2006 photo showing Gov. Gregoire with six Washington athletes who competed earlier that year in the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy: Apolo Anton Ohno (speed skating), Kelley Stephens (hockey), Scott Macartney (alpine skiing), Christian Niccum (luge), Kristine Holzer (Nordic skiing) and Sarah Konrad (cross country and biathlon). BTW, this is not the order in how they appear in the photo, as Ohno is fourth from the left.

These photos are the third and final Archives treasure for July. On Monday, we’ll start an online poll allowing you and others to choose your favorite for the month.