London Olympics countdown: 12 days to go

One of the bedrooms inside the London 2012 athletes village. Photograph: Colorsport/Corbis

Monday sees the bulk of the Olympics' 17,000 competitors move into the athletes' village, while another 6,000 sportsmen and women, alongside officials, make it their base for the Paralympics a few weeks later.

The teams from 203 nations will live in 2,818 apartments split across 11 blocks at the venue located inside the Olympic Park in Stratford. Alongside the blocks there are also shops, restaurants, medical, media and leisure facilities, as well as communal squares and courtyards.

The resident facilities themselves are kitted out with high-speed internet access, while there is also an on-site canteen that can cater for 5,000 people at any one time.

Construction of the athletes' village began in May 2008 and has been staggered ever since. After the Games the site will be converted into new housing, separated into 2,818 new homes, including 1,379 affordable homes and houses for sale and rent, known as East Village. Alongside it, there will be new parklands, open space, new transport links and community facilities.

It is estimated that 13 August, the day after the Olympic closing ceremony, will be the busiest in terms of people moving through Britain's airports.

THE BIG WELCOME

Alongside the athletes themselves, next week will also see a large number of spectators, journalists, VIPs and other people associated with the Games descend on London. Naturally it is airports in and around the capital that are bracing themselves for the flood of visitors, particularly Heathrow Airport, through which 80% of all visitors are expected to pass.

To ease the process, 1,000 volunteers will be deployed at the site to help the arrivals find their way and offer any required advice. Dressed in pink T-shirts, they should be easy to spot. "We are so grateful for the efforts of the Team Heathrow volunteers in helping us extend the warmest of welcomes to Games visitors," said Joanne John, Heathrow volunteer manager and, up until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a Great Britain bobsleigher. "In return for giving up their time, we hope that it will be a valuable and exciting experience, with plenty of opportunities to make new friends, enhance CVs and learn new skills.

"Also, athletes can be lazy. It sounds odd, but for them it's all about saving energy. So they'll want the fastest route through the airport, the right information at the right time."

Aged from 18 to 80, the volunteers, as a team, will be able to speak more than 20 languages and it has been estimated that almost 90% of them will come from communities local to Heathrow.

TORCH RELAY

The torch travels from Southampton to Portsmouth on Sunday. Full details of the relay can be found at london2012.com/torch-relay/route/

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/14/london-2012-olympics-countdown

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