Games fever finally hit London on Thursday as the Olympic flame was carried around central London and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds lining the roads as the city, which is hosting its third Olympic Games, prepared for the opening ceremony on Friday night.
British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that safety and security were his government’s biggest concerns.
London has deployed multi-layered security for the Games, which includes the Royal Navy’s largest warship, the HMS Ocean, on the Thames, Typhoon aircraft at London’s RAF Northolt base, deployment of Puma helicopters at a Territorial Army centre in Ilford and the police-led Olympic security effort includes participation of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines to deter any threats from the Thames. The UK government has also deployed surface-to-air missiles at six sites in and around London for security.
The UK government said on Thursday that around 33,000 Games family members, including nearly 10,500 athletes from a total of 190 countries, had already arrived in the UK and almost 2,300 members of the Games family were due to arrive on Thursday.
The immigration control operations at Heathrow airport functioned smoothly as the union called of its scheduled strike on Wednesday, saving the UK government from an embarrassing PR disaster. The weather gods are also siding with London as the met office on Thursday said that there was only a slight chance of rain over the Olympic Park on Friday evening, promising a rainless opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle.
The £27-million opening ceremony, titled Isles of Wonder, is inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and will be unveiled Friday night, open to inevitable comparison with the spectacular opening of the Beijing Olympics four years ago.