By DANICA KIRKA and RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press
LONDON July 16, 2012 (AP)
The opening ceremony is still 11 days away, but for athletes and Londoners, the Olympics started Monday.
Thousands of competitors descended upon the Athletes Village and training camps, Heathrow Airport experienced its busiest day ever, London drivers grappled with the city's first "Games Lane" for Olympic vehicles and preparations shifted into the highest gear.
Smart-looking sailors guarded the gates to Olympic Park, looking so cheerful that visitors would never guess they had been pulled off leave only a few days ago to fill a security gap when contractor G4S admitted it couldn't provide enough guards. As well as 3,500 extra troops, the Olympic security coordinator has dispatched police officers to venues left open when G4S contractors failed to show up for work.
As the Olympic flame made its way to the seaside city of Brighton, organizers revealed dramatic plans for its arrival in London at the end of the week. Someone knows how to make an entrance: a Royal Marine will abseil the flame from a helicopter into the Tower of London, fusing the flame into the very walls of the London landmark.
