LONDON -- A battlefield explosion sends troops flying, a speeding car flips over on a highway, a "Murderball" player is knocked right out of his wheelchair, all set to a fierce Public Enemy soundtrack. 

"Forget everything you thought you knew about strength. Forget everything you thought you knew about humans. It's time to do battle. Meet the Superhumans."

That’s how British TV viewers are being introduced to this year’s Paralympic athletes by Channel 4, which is broadcasting the London 2012 Games. Its campaign is giving Superbowl ads a run for their money, going viral with more than 500,000 views on YouTube alone.

The hard-hitting ad is designed to jolt the public into a state of awareness and awe of what many of these disabled athletes have had to deal with just to stay alive, let alone compete at an elite level. It highlights that the competitors have overcome disabilities and disasters most of us cannot begin to imagine or will ever have to face. And that was before they became world-class competitors.

More coverage of the London Paralympics from Britain's ITV News

The campaign also aims to combat the impression that the Paralympics is essentially the "Olympics-lite." Among the sports the ad focuses on is wheelchair rugby -- which is so violent that it's been dubbed "Murderball." The sheer amount of full-force contact between players requires welders to be put on standby on the sideline to repair damaged wheelchairs.

The International Wheelchair Rugby Federation has championed the "Meet the Superhumans" campaign and comments posted on its Vimeo page illustrate the ad's power. "Now that's what I'm talking about, 'Thank you for letting me be myself.' Public Enemy never sounded better," one fan wrote. "It's a great soundtrack for our ... lives whether we're Olympians or not."

Channel 4

This ad campaign for Channel 4's Paralympic coverage has captured the imagination of many people in Britain.

The event was founded 1948 to help rehabilitate injured British veterans returning from the Second World War, though many Americans remain unaware that it exists. (There's also a tendency to confuse it with the Special Olympics, which is unrelated. Paralympic athletes compete despite impairments including amputations, blindness, cerebral palsy and mobility disabilities.) However, there are signs that 2012 will be its breakout year.

London-bound veterans push Paralympics back to battlefield roots

The success of the London 2012 Olympic Games has sparked a spike in public interest in Britain. Ticket sales have wildly exceeded expectations, with organizers saying 2.3 million tickets have already been sold, which is more than any other Paralympic Games in history. There's a high demand for the 200,000 remaining tickets, which will be made available in batches online.

Soccer superstar David Beckham is serving as an ambassador to the Games and Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to attend Wednesday night's Opening Ceremony.

Team USA features 20 military veterans and active duty service members, including some wounded at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among them is U.S. Army 82nd Airborne paratrooper Centra "Ce-Ce" Mazyck, who was paralyzed when her parachute got tangled with another in 2003. Doctors said she'd never walk again but Maczyk refused to listen. And she has proved them wrong.

"I wasn't hearing it. In my heart, in my soul, I knew I could walk," Mazyck told NBC News. "To this day, I am walking."

The South Carolina-based mother of one is now engaged to be married but admits shes also deeply "in love" with her javelin.

'Very fortunate'
U.S. Navy Lt. Bradley Snyder was blinded by a bomb while rushing to the aid of two fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.

His training regimen had him swimming 4,000 yards a day at his local pool in Baltimore. He is due to compete on the one-year anniversary of his injury. 

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last year. The Navy officer will once again represent the U.S., this time at the London 2012 Paralympics in September.

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"I knew I was very fortunate to be in that hospital bed and not in a coffin in the ground," Snyder said. "I'm going to show people that I'm not going to let this beat me. I'm not going to let blindness build a brick wall around me. I am going to find a way forward."

From darkness to gold: Blinded Navy swimmer set to race at Paralympics

South African double amputee and sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who has been nicknamed the "Blade Runner," will compete in the Paralympics after making history by running in the 400-meter event at the Olympics.

Pistorius is likely to face tough competition from Team USA, including a 25-year-old rocket scientist Jerome Singleton and the 22-year-old Blake Leeper.

Pistorius, a four-time Paralympic gold medealist, will carry the flag for South Africa at Wednesday's Opening Ceremony. Coldplay will perform at the Closing Ceremony on September 9.

"I believe these Games are going to change peoples' mindsets about disabilities," Pistorius told Reuters. "In the last two to three years I've seen a shift. For many years people have shunned disability, but I don't have anything in life I'm not able to do. I don't think of my disability, I think of my ability."

Sixteen countries are competing for the first time. Among them, Haiti will make its debut with two athletes competing in track and field.

British broadcaster Channel 4 will show 150 hours of programming and about 350 hours more online and across three temporary on-demand channel.

The International Paralympic Committee predicts that, adding together viewers on each of the 11 days of competition, the total audience figure for the London Paralympics will reach 4 billion.

It said that four years ago in Beijing, a total overall audience of around 3.8 billion in 80 countries watched the 2008 Paralympics - including a total of 1.4 billion viewings in China across 11 days, 670 million in Japan and 439 million in Germany. Calculating figures in that way means individual viewers are counted several times.

More coverage of the London Paralympics from NBC News

The daughter of the founder of the Paralympics told NBC News that the record-breaking ticket sales and interest in the London event would have made her father "immensely proud."

Eva Loeffler said Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann – a neurologist who pioneered the rehabilitation of paralyzed Second World War service members at a hospital near London – would have been "extremely pleased" at how the Games had captured the public imagination.

The 79-year-old said it was "very appropriate, in a way" that so many veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts were taking part in this year's event. "Helping the military wounded was where it all began, after all," she said.

London 2012: Who were the real winners, losers?

Guttman, who fled Germany in 1933 after being persecuted by Hitler's Nazi regime, challenged medical orthodoxy at Stoke Mandeville hospital, north–west of London, by encouraging patients to play sports rather than accept their paralysis.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

The Agitos symbol of the Parlaympics has replaced the Olympic rings on London's iconic Tower Bridge.

When London hosted the Summer Olympics in 1948, he created the Stoke Mandeville Games involving just 16 competitors. In the years that followed, he built his competition into the parallel Paralympic Games.

This year's event will feature 4,200 athletes from 166 teams competing in 20 sports.

Although Guttman died in 1980, Loeffler has continued his work, becoming a key figure in disabled sport – and has accepted an honorary role as mayor of the Paralympic Athletes' Village at the Olympic Park in East London.

'Second-class citizens': Wheelchair user's fury at Paralympics over seating

One of Guttman's dreams was that disabled athletes would ultimately compete alongside their able-bodied counterparts – a wish that came true last month with Pistorius' historic participation at the Olympics.

"He would have regarded that as a great moment, I'm sure," Loeffler said.

How to watch the Paralympics from the U.S.

• The International Paralympic Committee will live stream more than 780 hours of events.
• NBC Sports Network will air one-hour highlight shows on September 4, 5, 6, and 11. All NBC and NBC Sports Network Paralympic highlight shows and specials will re-air on Universal Sports Network and www.UniversalSports.com.
  Check your local listings for channel info.
• NBC will broadcast a 90-minute special from 2-3:30 p.m. ET on September 16.
• The United States Olympic Committee has created a YouTube channel dedicated to the Games.
• The U.S. Paralympic Team will also provide in-depth coverage of Team USA on its website.

More London 2012 coverage from NBC News:

• Olympic medalists beginning to rake in gold
• From javelins to light fixtures: Olympic sell-off begins
• Restaurateur claims Games cost her business $140k
• Brazilians party in London as focus shifts to Rio 2016
• Will Olympics drive UK's couch potatoes to extinction?
• Olympic jokers: Queen has 'a laugh,' empires compete
• Who'll win gold for partying? Olympians let hair down

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

NBC News' Alastair Jamieson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jim Seida / NBC News

L-R: Gail and Dennis Serwick from Woodbridge, N.J., and their daughter Megan, 7 (front left) and Kim and Rick Van Liew from Randolph, N.J., and their sons Matthew, 11, (front middle) and Russell, 12 (front right), In London's Olympic Park Thursday.

LONDON – A day at the Olympics in one of the most expensive cities on the planet was never going to be cheap. But for a group of sports fans from New Jersey this "once in a lifetime experience" was well worth spending the equivalent of about $1,000 for a family of four.

Ticket prices for every event -- including the opening and closing ceremonies -- start at a symbolic GBP 20.12 ($32), but most seats cost considerably more, and getting access to smaller venues such as the 6,000-capacity velodrome has proved tough.

“It was so incredibly hard to get tickets,” said Gail Serwick, from Woodbridge, N.J., who eventually managed to secure seven seats in the aquatics center at $110 each thanks to relatives who live in her native Wales.

Slideshow: No tickets to the Olympics? Five London parks offer the next best thing

Around London, alternative Olympic viewing sites offer locals and tourists a cheaper, crowd-free version of the Games.

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Five were for the women’s 10m platform diving finals on Thursday morning, while two were for synchronized swimming in the afternoon.

“The allocation on sale in Britain was higher so it was the only real way we could get tickets. We tried everything and got so many rejections before we got these. You could get cheaper but we didn’t want nosebleed seats where you can’t see anything because we wanted it to be a special occasion," Serwick said.

She traveled to London with her husband Dennis and daughter Megan, 7, and another family -- Rick and Kim Van Liew and their sons Russell, 12, and Matthew, 11, from Randolph, N.J.

Their Olympic day out started with a shopping blitz for souvenirs and merchandise including London 2012 T-shirts and sweatshirts for the group and family and friends at home.

London 2012's legacy: No more UK couch potatoes or another Olympic 'white elephant'?

In total, Serwick and Kim Van Liew spent $907 in the official London 2012 store in Hyde Park near their hotel -- easy to do when a T-shirt costs $40.

Jim Seida / NBC News

Kim Van Liew and her friend Gail Serwick show off their tickets to synchronized swimming at London's Olympic Park, Thursday.

Then there is the cost of food and drink inside the Olympic Park, where sponsors Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Heineken control the prices. A Big Mac costs $4.20, a Big Mac Meal $6.70 and an individual tub of Caramel ice cream $3.90. For drinks, a 500ml (16.9 fl oz) Coke costs $3.60 while a pint (19.2 fl oz) of Heineken is $7.20.

For China officials, Beijing's Olympic 'white elephants' were worth it

In total, the group spent $93, or $13.40 per head on lunch and snacks while enjoying the sprawling park between their two events.

The only cost they didn’t have to worry about was transport: Free one-day Oyster transit cards are included with all tickets.

“We got a bus then a train to get here,” Van Liew said. “Everyone was very helpful – everywhere you looked there was somebody on hand to help.”

Fears raised that London Games will see big increase in Big Brother surveillance

In total, their day at the Olympics cost $1,770 between seven -- equivalent to nearly $253 per head, or about $1,011 for a family of four. So was it worth it?

“I was very impressed, I think the tickets were good for the price,” Dennis Serwick said. “I’ve been to Wimbledon and Roland Garros and these Olympic tickets were better value. We had a good view of the action, didn’t need binoculars or anything.”

Read more from NBC News about the Olympics

Rick Van Liew said the tickets were equivalent to the price of seats to watch Major League Baseball at the Yankee’s stadium.  Indeed, tickets for an October home game against the Boston Red Sox on sale Friday ranged from $38 to $200.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience," Gail Serwick said, "and it’s hard to put an exact price on that."

More world stories from NBC News:

• Video: This $4000 per jar caviar boasts socialist roots
• Afghan suicide bomber kills senior Army leader, 2 majors
• Notorious Colombian druglord arrested, headed to US for trial
• Who'll win the gold medal for partying? Olympians let hair down
• 'Situation is desperate' for ill Syrian refugees in Turkey
• One year after London riots, a family still grapples with fallout
• Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
• Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
• Canada lobster fishermen lash out at cheaper US exports
• Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?

AFP - Getty Images

British gold medal-winning cyclist Bradley Wiggins is seen on stage at a concert in Hyde Park, left, enjoying a beer while watching Olympic action in the Velodrome, center, and meeting Stone Roses singer Ian Brown at a secret VIP gig by the band in London, right.

LONDON - After four years of intense training and personal sacrifice, athletes are letting their hair down and joining London’s city-wide Olympic party.

With many events now over, and with Sunday's closing ceremony looming, Olympians are becoming a more frequent sight on the streets – and in the bars – of Britain’s capital.

Many are turning up at venues to support their team-mates in the remaining competition -- and sign autographs for lucky spectators.

“It is nice for us now to be able to relax and watch some of the Games,” said Czech cyclist Denis Spicka, who was surrounded by friends and female fans at Czech House – one of dozens of temporary national ‘party houses’ set up around London by tourism promoters and sponsors.

Spicka was one of hundreds of party-goers enjoying Czech beer while watching giant screens showing his country take on France at women’s basketball on Tuesday night – only hours after he had finished his own race in the Olympic Velodrome.

“The girls here are very nice,” he grinned.

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Officials from Britain's Olympic team enjoy a late-night take-out in east London's Mile End.

Across town, U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte was enjoying a birthday party at a Planet Hollywood theme restaurant near Leicester Square. The 28-year-old enjoyed chicken fingers, nachos, Champagne and birthday cake, according to E!, before heading to Mahiki, a nightclub popular with Prince Harry.

It was not the gold medal winner’s first night of partying: He joined a throng of fellow swimmers including South African Jean Basson and Lebanese Katya Bachrouche at club Chinawhite on Sunday night.

Will Games curse leave 'ghost town' London out of the gold rush?

Chad le Clos, the South African who beat Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly last week, also dropped into the club, dancing with his team and some Australian swimmers. "It was pretty cool,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “Everyone was there, the Americans and the French team. Pretty much the whole of the VIP area was crawling with swimmers. We all enjoyed ourselves."

Slideshow: Graffiti Games: UK street artists take on Olympics

Jim Seida / NBC News

Street and graffiti artists have been satirizing, celebrating and making jokes about the Olympic Games in London.

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Others have been touring London’s sights or relaxing in and around the Olympic Park. Cook Islands swimming coach Romani Katoa was enjoying a few beers with fellow spectators at the track and field events on Sunday night, while Hungarian hammer-thrower Krisztian Pars was showing off his gold medal on the top floor of a double-decker bus.

Christians, Muslims and even a 'vegan turkey' seek converts at London 2012

In the Westfield shopping mall that leads to the Olympic Park, athletes from around the world have been signing autographs for fans or partying in the top-level casino.

Indeed, spotting athletes has now become a London tourist activity in its own right: Olympians from Rwanda were pictured waiting for a bus on Monday, officials from Team Great Britain were seen ordering a late-night take-out in a kebab house in east London’s Mile End and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins posted a picture of himself on Instagram “getting wasted” near St. Paul’s Cathedral after winning his cycling gold medal for Britain.

Wiggins and fellow British gold medalist Jessica Ennis were among the athletes who attended a VIP Stone Roses concert on Monday. The duo were reportedly introduced at the gig as "king" and "queen" of England.

At the Austria House near the Tower of London, where party-goers can enjoy pilsner and sauerkraut while watching live Olympic action, Austrian gymnast Fabian Leimlehner was among those signing autographs.

Jim Seida / NBC News

Julia Sailer from Innsbruck, Austria, pours two-liter beers as fast as she can sell them at Austria's national hospitality house in the Tower Hill area of London on Tuesday.

'So much debauchery'
Speculation is now turning to life inside the Olympic Village – the super-private athletes-only area notorious for evolving into a party zone as the Games come to an end. In a now-notorious ESPN feature last month, Lochte predicted that “70 to 75 percent of Olympians” would be having sex with other competitors, adding: “Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."

About 150,000 condoms have been handed out by organizers in the wake of of stories about goings-on at the Sydney 2000 games where, according to U.S. target shooter Josh Lakatos, competitors turned an empty room into a venue for round-the-clock casual sex, assisted by an Oakley duffel bag overflowing with condoms procured from the village's medical clinic. “I've never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life," he told ESPN.

So are the beds of London’s Olympic village really shaking? “We are all sharing rooms, so it is difficult,” said Czech runner Josef Prorok at the Czech House party. “Our apartment is above the laundry area and some of my friends have discovered there are some empty places, so…”

Inside the Olympic Village: World's top athletes share college dorm-style rooms

In practice, he said, athletes prefer to head into the city to party. “There is no alcohol in the Village bar so it is boring there. Here there is a screen and there are people having fun, and girls,” he said.

His comments were echoed by former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who told The Mirror; “Any partying is done away from the Village out of respect for athletes who are still competing. To be honest you spend all your time training and eating healthily – and it only takes a glass of wine and you are hammered.”

More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com

All the better for Londoners, who are are cruising the national party houses in the hope of getting to meet athletes.

"Which is the best one?" asked Nick Watterson, from north London, who was drinking at the Czech House with friends after watching Olympic soccer at Wembley Stadium. "Brazil House sounds good. It's a great atmosphere in the city at the moment, a real party going on."  

Slideshow: Speeding through life: Olympians then and now

Tony Duffy / ALLSPORT, Getty Images

How has life treated the many U.S. Olympians who have dazzled and inspired us over the years? Find out in this handy then-and-now roundup.

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More world stories from NBC News:

• Who'll win the gold medal for partying? Olympians let hair down
• One year after London riots, a family still grapples with fallout
• Antarctica rescue drama: US expeditioner ailing
• Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
• Will Games curse leave 'ghost town' London out of the gold rush?
• Interpol drops 'red notice' for dissident
• Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?
• Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
• Londoners: I'll take a 'flat white'... What?

Jim Seida / NBC News

East Londoner Dean Houssein sells coffee, drinks and snacks from the back of a van near the London's Victoria Park, a short train ride from the Olympic Park. He said that during the Games, the area has been "deader than dead."

LONDON – Quiet restaurants, empty sidewalks and spare seats on the subway have left businesses in central London without an Olympic gold rush, despite Britain's medal success -- and have raised new questions about whether the world's largest sporting event brings any economic benefit to host countries.

It is a major concern in Britain, which is still entrenched in double-dip recession even after the construction boom created by the Games.

Attractions including St. Paul's Cathedral and the London Zoo have seen a 40 percent drop in visitors since the opening ceremony on July 27. Dire warnings of travel chaos scared many away, and those who do come are congregating in the shopping mall that abuts the Olympic Park in East London, or inside the bars and opens spaces of the sprawling park itself.

Even small businesses within sight of the landmark 80,000-seater main stadium have seen none of the expected dividend.

East Londoner Dean Houssein, who usually works as a taxi driver, decided to sell coffee, drinks and snacks such as chocolate gold medals from the back of a van near Victoria Park. It seemed like a prime location -- big screens in the park show action from the Games to crowds of thousands and the Olympic Park itself is just a 5-minute train ride away.

"It's been like a f****** ghost town ... deader than dead," Houssein said. "I've never seen the area like this. It's costing me money. It's really not happening. I need to go back to my normal job, I've got bills to pay like everyone else," he said last week.

Asked what the business was called, he replied with a wry smile, "I was thinking of calling it 'Dean the Coffee Machine,' but I'm not selling it. I'm drinking it all myself, getting the shakes."

Full coverage in London 2012: Hosting the Games

Even as authorities warned of major delays and congestion, the Daily Telegraph published a slideshow of deserted stations and sidewalks.

Theater producer Nica Burns told the Evening Standard newspaper that her venues were "bleeding."

"For my six theaters, last week was the worst this year," she said. "I think the Olympics are great — but I feel like I've been the bulls-eye for the archery competition."

Peter Vlachos, a marketing expert at the University of Greenwich, in southeast London, has been surveying local businesses about the impact of the Games. "One word came back: Disaster," he told The Associated Press.

"There are 23,000 people walking past (local shops) in the morning to get to the grounds, and at the end of the day the same 23,000 people rushing back to their hotels," he said.

"The Olympics were sold to the business community as if it was going to be a huge windfall, and it hasn't materialized," he said.

Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ... ?

Big traders are also suffering. Stores on the city's flagship shopping drag, Oxford Street, have seen footfall slump by up to one-fifth.

Slideshow: Olympic Emotional Moments

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Click for more from the 2012 summer games in London.

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"Of all months to see a drop in trade, August is the worst," said Bernard Donohue, chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. "We expected a drop in international visitors -- it's the well-known displacement effect that happens at every Olympic Games -- but we didn’t expect all the domestic visitors to stay away, too."

British Prime Minister David Cameron last week repeated official estimates that London 2012 would bring $20 billion-worth of economic benefits over the next four years, mostly in the form of inward investment urban regeneration – enough to the justify the $14 billion cost of staging the Games.

"That figure is based on somewhat shaky calculations," said Samuel Tombs of London-based analysts Capital Economics, which predicts Britain will fall back into recession within weeks of the closing ceremony.

"There are some short-term benefits, particularly in the service sector, but long-term gains are unproven. We expect modest growth in the third quarter -- partly boosted by Olympic ticket sales which are officially recorded in this quarter -- but our current prediction is that we will see growth shrink again in the fourth quarter."

Christians, Muslims and even a 'vegan turkey' seek converts at London 2012

'The Olympic Curse'?
Could Britain be the latest victim of "The Olympic Curse" -- a phenomenon that in 1976 left Montreal with a 30-year debt headache?

Jim Seida / NBC News

You can lead the world to London, but you can't make them shop. Pedestrians walk past an Olympic-themed window display in a Tommy Hilfiger store on Regent Street, central London, on Aug. 2.

Athens is estimated to have spent between $15 billion and $32 billion on hosting the 2004 Olympics -- a contributory factor in the country's economic crisis -- and recent pictures show many of the venues lying vacant and abandoned. Research from Oxford University's Saïd Business School concludes that host cities have averaged a 179-percent cost overrun in the past 50 years, although recent Games have seen among the lowest overspends.

Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world

Transit authority Transport for London last week abandoned the use of pre-recorded public announcements, voiced by Mayor Boris Johnson, warning Londoners to plan for an expected visitor boom that never materialized.

The New West End Company, which represents stores in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, is spinning the unexpected quietness as a boon for locals under the slogan 'No tickets needed.' "It's a Londoner's dream at the moment -- they can get around easily and get a table in a good restaurant," said spokesman Jace Tyrell.

The decline in visitor numbers in London could mean that other British tourist hot spots, including Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, and northwest England's Lake District, see fewer summer visitors.

Olympics officials accused of anti-Semitism over Munich remembrance

Jonathan Denby, head of the Lakes Hospitality Association, told BBC Radio 4: "We get probably 100,000 Japanese tourists during the summer. This year in July and August there are none.

"No visitors are coming in from Asia because they couldn't get hotel accommodation in London and they were frightened of all the travel restrictions in London, so they just decided to stay away for the five-week period of the Olympics," he said.

"If you want to know where all the Londoners are, a lot of them are in the Lake District," Denby added.

Forging an Olympic legacy
There have been some winners. The recently opened Westfield shopping mall, through which tens of thousands of spectators walk from Stratford station in order to reach the Olympic Park, became so busy over the weekend that it closed to all except ticket-holders. A worker at The Cow, a bar at the end of the mall overlooking the stadium, said it was making $50,000 a day from food and drink sales.

Jim Seida / NBC News

Thousands of people move through the recently-opened Westfield shopping mall on their way to and from the London Olympic Park on Aug. 2.

In Manchester, one of England's largest cities, more than 100,000 extra visitors have flocked to the central Exchange Square to watch the Olympic action on giant screens, to the delight of local businesses, according to the Manchester Evening News.

For others, it may be too early to judge with Cameron's predicted windfall will come true.

"We thought we might get some extra customers during the Games," said Roger Love, co-owner of London Fields Fitness, which offers personal training and pay-as-you-go classes in East London.

"In fact, not a single extra person has come to us because of the Olympics. At times the local area is as quiet as it was the morning after last year's riots. Having said that, we haven't lost any business, either – and there may be greater interest in sport and fitness longer term. In the park this morning I overhead someone asking their child if they wanted to be a swimmer or a runner, so there could be more future business for us -- and perhaps a real Olympic legacy -- after all."

More world stories from NBC News:

• Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
• Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?
• Interpol drops 'red notice' for dissident
• Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
• At Hiroshima memorial, Japan leaders vow to listen
• Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
• Canada lobster fishermen lash out at cheaper US exports
• Slideshow: The lives of Syria rebels fighting for freedom

LONDON -- For months, London has been gripped by fear of transport gridlock during the Olympics. So NBC News decided to find out just what was the best way to get about the city, notorious for its near stationary traffic and packed, sweltering subway trains.

We chose five different methods of travel: car, train, taxi, the city’s famous red double-decker buses and bicycle.

Our mission was to travel from Piccadilly Circus in central London to the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.

At noon last Monday local time, the five of us set off with video cameras to record our attempts to make it in time for the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving at 3 p.m.

For some it was a simple, pleasant journey. For others, it was an experience to forget.

Here are our stories:

Car driver Peter Jeary: ‘You’ll never get parked’
To be honest, no one in their right mind would drive from central London to Stratford even on the best of days -- let alone during the Olympics. It was, however, much less stressful than expected.  

The pinch point around Trafalgar Square is always bad; it took me about 20 minutes to travel half a mile. The Olympic Lane [for athletes, officials] was often tantalizingly empty as I sat nose-to-tail in traffic.

Evangelists, 'vegan turkey' seek converts at London Olympics

One moment of crisis was when a London cab (naturally!) decided to drop a passenger in the only lane open to traffic. Could I sneak past, with just two wheels in the Olympic Lane? As the cars in front did, I decided to as well. Time will tell if I get a £130 fine ($203) in the mail.

Finding somewhere to park was a nightmare. In the interests of full disclosure -- I parked in a timed zone that would have expired just as the first competitors touched the water. So even if you do try driving -- don't! You'll never get parked.

Time: One hour 30 minutes

Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

Oda / Getty Images

From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

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Cyclist Jim Seida: ‘No better way’
On a warm, sunny day, there is no better way to navigate the streets of London than on a bicycle.

As you pedal the tangled web that is central London, the sounds of languages and smells of foods from around the world become part of your point A to point B experience, making it just that, an experience, a journey, and any moment on the bike becomes about that journey, not just time passing by on your way to your destination.   

For this trip, though, from Piccadilly Circus to Stratford, trying to focus on where to go and when to turn impacted my usual enjoyment of the international experience I've come to enjoy over the past week. 

Home advantage: Britain celebrates 'sensational' Olympic medal haul

Sure, I still got to squeeze between double-decker buses with only inches to spare, and I got to dodge pedestrians as they crossed against the light, but doing these things one handed on a bicycle while trying to navigate via an iPhone with the other is, well, a bit awesome. 

There is no better way to go.  If we had to do it all over again, I'd still take a bike; and I think if we did it during rush hour I'd smoke 'em all. 

Time: 48 minutes

Taxi passenger Ian Johnston: ‘It seemed like I’d won’
It took me about 20 seconds to find one of London’s famous black taxi cabs after the five of us separated in Piccadilly Circus. 

My driver, Steve, a cabbie of 19 years’ experience and a native Londoner, was great, regaling me with stories about the time he had actor Roger Moore, rock star Noel Gallagher and other celebrities in his taxi while performing neat u-turns and avoiding traffic effectively by using side streets.

We hit a bit of traffic initially but then caught Jim Seida as he stood at the side of the road looking a bit puzzled about which direction to go. Jim slipped away again through the traffic, but soon Steve found roads that were really quiet for London and we started making good progress. I started to feel confident.

Olympics bring pride, hope to Afghanistan

Alastair Jamieson sent a text saying he was about to board one of the speedy Javelin trains to the Olympic Park, but moments later we saw our first glimpse of our target destination. It was definitely going to be close.

As we got to the venue, police stopped Steve from parking in what seemed to be a good dropping-off point and directed him to the taxi rank, wasting a few vital minutes. I thanked Steve profusely, paid the $43 bill and dodged through the crowds at a fast walk. I arrived at the entrance and couldn’t see any of the others. It seemed like I’d won, then I spotted Alastair standing at another entrance. He'd come from a different direction, so I went across to ask when he'd arrived.

Time: 43 minutes

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

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Bus passenger Jamieson Lesko: Faster if I’d ran
I've never been a bus rider, so at the start of this journey, I wondered if I've been underestimating the ‘Big Reds’ all this time. But unfortunately, it turns out that I've not been too hard on them. Double decker = double time.  

It took me one minute shy of two hours to get from Piccadilly Circus to Stratford.

Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world

If I've done my math correctly, it would have been a faster trip if I'd jogged the whole way!

For visitors to London, the benefit of the bus is that you get a comfortable seat and scenic tour of the many sites there are to enjoy… but, if you've got a ticket for the Games or are on any kind of schedule, take the tube, grab a cab, or put on your sneakers and hoof it over to the venue!

Time: One hour 59 minutes

Slideshow: Graffiti Games: UK street artists take on Olympics

Jim Seida / NBC News

Street and graffiti artists have been satirizing, celebrating and making jokes about the Olympic Games in London.

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And the winner is: train passenger Alastair Jamieson
The official London 2012 website journey planner said public transport, using a combination of tube train and high-speed rail link, would be the fastest route for our trip. 

And so it proved -- but only just.

My trip took 42 minutes --  five minutes under the website's estimate -- but was almost beaten by the cab.

London's underground system, whose oldest section dates from 1863, when Abraham Lincoln was president, was an immediate concern for Games organizers.

Medals for poets? Not at this Olympics but...

To ease pressure on the narrow tunnels, a shuttle service of Japanese-built 140mph "Javelin" trains was introduced on the fast line between London and Paris which runs underneath the Olympic Park. Running every 15 minutes, it slashed our journey time by a remarkable 21 minutes.

Despite concerns about crowding, my journey on the Piccadilly line to the King's Cross terminus station was hassle-free and, like the games venues, had plenty of free seats.

Changing trains took five minutes, and there were elevators available for those unable to tackle the large number of steps.

More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com

At Stratford's International station, it was only a six-minute walk to Stratford Gate, well-signed by volunteers in purple vests.

And even better than being the fastest route, it was the cheapest -- free to anyone with an automated Oyster swipe card, including ticket-holders.

NBC News' Peter Jeary, Jim Seida, Ian Johnston, Jamieson Lesko, Alastair Jamieson, Barny Smith and Kristy Breetzke contributed to this report.

Slideshow: Olympic Emotional Moments

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Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Londoners Eva Gray and Ryan Church were among the delighted fans of 'Team GB' at the Olympic Stadium in London, Sunday.

Updated at 5:01 p.m. ET: LONDON - Olympic host nation Britain was in euphoric mood Sunday, celebrating an "extraordinary" haul of gold medals that sent the UK media went wild with Games fever.

Two gold medals on Sunday - including Andy Murray's defeat of Roger Federer at Wimbledon - took Britain's collection to 16 at the London Games, putting it third in the overall table behind the United States (28 gold medals) and China (30).

Saturday was Britain's successful Olympic day since 1908, with six golds in the space of one hour: Two in rowing and one at the cycling velodrome quickly followed by a hat-trick of victories in athletics from Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Greg Rutherford (long jump) and Mo Farah (10,000m).

 Phelps, Rupp, Pistorius: Emotional moments

"Their extraordinary efforts have brought rapture to streets, parks and living rooms in London and all over the country if not the planet," London mayor Boris Johnson said in a characteristically hyperbolic statement.

London's funny zip-lining mayor taken seriously

"It has been a remarkable first week and my hearty congratulations go to every single athlete that has taken part," Johnson added.

"They have entertained billions of people around the world and I for one cannot wait to see what they serve up for week two." 

London Games chief Sebastian Coe, a double Olympic 1,500 champion, said: "I think we've witnessed something sensational. I've never known a night in UK athletics like that, it was unbelievable."

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Flying the flag: 'Team GB' supporters (L-R) Chris Elliott and his brothers Patrick, Dan and Nick at the Olympic Stadium in London, Sunday.

It was also a cathartic moment for London, coming almost exactly a year since rioting brought the city's safe hosting of the games into doubt.

"Today, London rose from the ashes," wrote blogger Ronnie Joice on Twitter.

At the Olympic Stadium on Sunday evening, the Union flag and 'Team GB' sports shirts were much in evidence. Eva Gray and Ryan Church, both from London, were sporting imitation gold medals in honor of Saturday night's successes.

Patrick Elliott, who was at the stadium with his three brothers, said: "The roar of the home support must have a lot to do with Britain's success. The noise that was being made when Jessica Ennis was running was incredible."

Carrie Ruddock, a South African living in London, said: "South Africa has also done better than expected - but it's great that Britain has done so well."

Britain's euphoria was reflected in Sunday morning's press coverage. "Britain awakes to an unfamiliar sensation: winning," wrote Jill Lawless of the Associated Press, noting that "a country accustomed to sporting disappointment could scarcely contain its disbelief." 

British newspapers continued the theme, the front page of the Sunday Times describing it as "Our Finest Olympic Hour" alongside a spectacular picture of Rutherford flying through the air in mid-jump.

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

South Africans Cheryl McGregor (L) and Carrie Ruddock at the Olympic Stadium, Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph had one word for it - "Sensational". The headline ran above photos of all six British gold-medal victors from the second Saturday of the Games.

"That Was Pure Gold" was the Independent's reaction with a sub-heading that read: "One by one we counted them in on another astonishing day of British Olympic success."

BBC via Twitter @suttonnick

The Sunday Telegraph marks Saturday's British medal haul

"Britain's Greatest Day" said the Observer above a picture of a smiling Ennis with a Union Jack draped over her shoulders.

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• Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world

Alastair Jamieson / NBC News

Graham and Delwyn Cure, parents of Australian track cyclist Amy Cure, are staying with Elizabeth Gill, center, at her home in Muswell Hill, North London, during the Olympic Games.

LONDON – When one of the most expensive cities in the world hosts the Olympics, high prices for tickets and hotel rooms are no surprise. But Londoners have embraced the spirit of the Games by opening up their own homes free of charge to athletes’ families and spectators from around the world.

Dozens of British residents have invited guests to use spare rooms as part of organized homestay schemes, while countless more have offered up their sofas through message boards for budget travelers such as Couchsurfing.

For some, it was reports of hotels and homeowners attempting to cash in on the Olympics that motivated them to offer open up their homes. 

In February, NBCNews.com revealed that landlords in Britain's capital were evicting tenants in order to cash in on the Games by charging tourists many times the usual rent.

“I didn’t want the world to come away from London thinking we were only interested in trying to make money from people,” said Liz Gill, who is hosting Graham and Delwyn Cure, from Tasmania, Australia, whose 19-year-old daughter Amy is due to represent her country at the women’s track team cycling later on Friday.

“When you visit a country for the first time you take away an impression of the place and the people and when I read all these reports of exorbitant hotel prices I thought it would be such a shame if that’s what Britain was remembered for. We’re delighted to have visitors,” she added.

Jim Seida / NBC News

Sofa so good: Couchsurfer Shamey Cramer, left, from Los Angeles, and his host in east London, Emy Ritt.

As long ago as February, when the biggest tranche of tickets for London 2012 went on sale, hotel rooms in London had already peaked during Games dates. British consumer organization, Which?, found a double room at the Best Western hotel on Shaftesbury Avenue for Saturday – the night of the men’s 10,000 metres final – was $733 compared to only $435 for a normal Saturday night last month.

Gill offered space in her north London home through More Than Gold – a charitable organization originally set up to represent the work of local churches at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

She is not charging anything for her spare room – something she says is “part of the spirit of the Olympic Games.”

“We have only known for a few weeks that Amy was definitely going to be part of the Olympic squad,” said Graham Cure. “There was no doubt we didn’t want to miss our daughter in her first Olympics, but by now air fares were more expensive and we were thinking about where to stay.

“We’d already spend AUS$3,000 ($3,150) each on tickets and I’d previously looked at renting a house from a list on an official website, but most people on it wanted upwards of AUS$4,500 ($4,750) a week and wanted bookings for the entire three weeks, whereas we only needed one week. There was no way we could spend that sort of money.”

Delwyn Cure added: “We always hoped something would fall into place, and in the end somebody at Cycling Australia mentioned homestay schemes and we were put in touch with Liz.”

While athletes’ families are usually given free tickets for events, offers of accommodation are rare.

For others, it was not just the price of London hotels but the atmosphere that was unappealing.

“I hate soulless and expensive chain hotels,” said Shamey Cramer, a postgraduate student originally from Los Angeles who secured a spare sofa in east London – minutes away from the main Olympic Park - through the Couchsurfing site.

“Some people like hotels, but I much prefer to meet people and experience more of the place I’m in. This is my first time doing this and it seemed the perfect way to see London during the Games.”

His host, Emy Ritt, who is working as a transport organizer for London 2012, said: “It’s a great way to meet people. You can see each other’s profiles before making arrangements, so you generally can tell it’s people you’re likely to get along with.”

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Keystone / Getty Images

The two sides of a gold medal made for the 1948 Olympic Games which were held in London. Medals for artistic achievement were first awarded at the 1912 Stockholm Games and continued until 1948.

LONDON -- A gold medal for poetry? How about one for singing, painting, etching, or even city planning? It might sound comical, but these were all once competitive Olympic events.

And the cultural side of the Olympics still continues with the London 2012 Festival of more than 12,000, mostly free events across the U.K.

Art, comedy, acrobatics, music, drama, film and fancy hats are all there for those in need of a little entertainment, artistic stimulation or simply a break from the sight of too much physical exertion.

It's just that they no longer hand out medals to those deemed to be the best.

More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com

But Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural Olympiad of which the London 2012 Festival is the main event, said they had thought about bringing back competition to the arts.

"We did actually look at it. The [London] mayor, Boris Johnson, ... was interested in this idea of reviving the medals," she told NBCNews.com.

London's funny mayor taken very seriously

But she added the International Olympic Committee was "not enthusiastic and, I guess, in the end neither was I."

"Artists love winning prizes, but there isn't an Oscar for third-best female actress," she said.

'New audiences'
Mackenzie said London 2012 had sought to boost the amount of culture associated with the Games to more closely reflect the Olympic movement's three pillars of sports, arts and education.

"I view this as a chance really to aim high ... and introduce new audiences to new artists," she said.

She enthused about a whole string of the events, including concerts featuring the likes of Jay-Z and Rihanna and the River of Music event; the modern dance of U.S. choreographer Elizabeth Streb and company, who created a human waterfall in London's Trafalgar Square; more than 70 productions of works by Shakespeare in 40 languages; and U.S. artist Zach Lieberman's project to light up Hadrian's Wall with illuminated balloons.

Dikaia Chatziefstathiou, an expert on the Olympic movement and its history who is based at the U.K.'s Canterbury Christ Church University, told NBCNews.com that the cultural side of the Olympic movement was now "only at the periphery" because of the high profile of the sporting events. 

She praised the "extremely rich and diverse” program of events in London so far, but added that "on the negative side … still the average person in the street doesn't really know" what the Cultural Olympiad is all about.

The idea that the Games is about more than sport dates back to Ancient Greece -- when the best sculptors were honored -- and the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, she said.

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

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"It says a lot about Coubertin and how he understood aesthetics and how he valued the concept of beauty. He thought you can see beauty in sport and you can also see beauty in art, and those two shouldn't be separated, they should be linked," she said.

Good, bad or ugly? Street artists weigh in on Olympics

Medals for artistic achievement were first awarded at the 1912 Stockholm Games and this continued until London 1948.

Team USA did particularly well at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, with three first prizes, four second prizes, one third prize and seven honorable mentions, according to page 764 of that event's official report. A watercolor entitled "Rodeo" -- pictured in the report -- by Lee Blair of the United States was among the winners.

Coubertin himself was one of the first artistic Olympians, Chatziefstathiou said.

"He wrote a poem called Ode au Sport [Ode to Sport] … in the 1912 Games. He submitted this poem with a pseudonym -- Georges Hohrod and Martin Eschbach, as if it was by two people -- and he won the gold medal," she said.

When the Olympics and politics collide: Is neutrality just a 'fairy tale'?

London 2012 organizers posted a video on YouTube summarizing the kind of events being held at the festival.

One eye-catching artwork is the aMAZEme installation by Brazilian artists Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo at London's Southbank Centre, which is a maze made out of 250,000 books with walls of up to 8 feet high. The layout of the walls is based on the fingerprints of the late Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges.

Luke Scully / aMAZEme

The 'aMAZEme' installation at the Southbank Centre in London. "I think the arts is something so important for our evolution and for our life-meaning," Brazilian artist Marcos Saboya said.

Saboya told NBCNews.com that when the maze, which has a Facebook page, is dismantled the books will be given to the charity Oxfam to help tackle global poverty and disease.

Millionaire medalists: Will London 2012 remain true to Olympic spirit?

He said arts and the Olympics had been “always associated … since the beginning of the concept of the Olympics.”

“I think the arts is something so important for our evolution and for our life-meaning,” Saboya said, saying he hoped people visiting the installation would be inspired to read or reread some of the books.

In the shadow of the Games, London celebrates

The London Hatwalk has seen famous statues in the city get a makeover. Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, William Shakespeare in Leicester Square and 18 other statues can all be seen wearing designs from sone of Britain's top milliners such as Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Beau Brummell's statue in London's Jermyn Street wears a new hat designed by Noel Stewart for 'Hatwalk' on July 30. Londoners and visitors have been invited to visit some of the U.K. capital's most iconic statues which are now adorned with bespoke head wear.

London Hatwalk: Meet the best dressed stiffs in London

"I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the heritage of British millinery and its contribution to our fair city than by dressing our most noble of statues, including our most heroic son, Nelson in creations dreamt up by our leading visionaries," London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.

Many of the events are taking place outside London, including Prometheus Awakes by the Graeae Theatre Company and La Fura dels Baus in Stockton-on-Tees in northeast England Thursday.

Their version of the Greek myth about the human who stole the secret of fire from the gods promises the audience will "feel the earth move and the sky explode as a ten-meter-high (32 feet) Prometheus arises from the ground and creates fire and humanity in defiance of the God Zeus."

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Slideshow: Graffiti Games: UK street artists take on Olympics

Jim Seida / NBC News

Street and graffiti artists have been satirizing, celebrating and making jokes about the Olympic Games in London.

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Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET: LONDON -- An athlete steps up to take his throw -- except he is holding a missile, not a javelin; a pole vaulter soars high, but seems headed for a landing on a moldy mattress; an Olympic mascot's leg attracts some unwanted attention from a passing dog.

Banksy, whose works routinely sell for tens of thousands of dollars, and other street artists could hardly let the London 2012 Games go by without having their say -- despite the legal risks.

While at least four graffiti artists have been arrested by police ahead of the Games -- then released on bail conditions designed to prevent them from making their mark near the venues -- London is full of art works ranging from crude and comical to heavy satire to straightforward celebration.

A piece by artist Jimmy C. is among the latter, a large spray-painted mural of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's face with streaks of vibrant color radiating outwards on the side of a row of houses in Shoreditch, not far from the Olympic Park.

He could only afford the $1,500 cost of the painting after he sold more conventional artworks at a gallery show in Paris, France, and had some money left over from paying his rent.

"People pick up on a spiritual narrative in my paintings," he told NBCNews.com, explaining that when he went through art school painters like Caravaggio and Velazquez were among his favorites and may have influenced his work.

“Some street art is very quick, humorous and political …  I try to create more lasting things with human qualities that everyone can identify with," he added.

'A very charismatic guy'
East London resident Jimmy Cochran, 39, as he is known in ordinary life, admitted he didn't know too much about the Olympics before deciding to paint something. He said he'd asked friends in Britain and Australia, where he grew up, what they thought about the Games.

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

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“He [Bolt] kept coming up in more ways than one,” he said. “I thought ‘OK, this is interesting.’ I looked him up online, looked at images of him and realized he was a very charismatic guy, a big personality. I was drawn by his features.”

He painted the image on a wall often used by street artists, but didn't ask permission from the owner, who Cochran said he had been told was in Greece.

Teen held after Olympian gets Twitter death threat

Unlike Cochran's picture, Banksy's works, which appeared on his website without any explanatory comment, have a clear political edge.

Banksy rose from being a small-scale street artist to an international star, whose work has fetched as much as $1.8 million at auction. 

He has always tried to keep his identity a secret, although the Daily Mail newspaper has claimed to have identified him and published a photograph that it said was believed to be him.

Banksy's piece showing a javelin thrower carrying a missile is entitled "Hackney [an East London borough] welcomes the Olympics," while the pole vaulter image is called "Going for Mold," according to a spokeswoman for the artist.

His spokeswoman, of Banksy's Pest Control operation, said the images did exist in the real world, but refused to say where they were. 

More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com

A dispute with a London graffiti legend known as King Robbo and perhaps some jealousy at Banksy's success mean some graffiti artists will paint over his work where they can find it, a London street art source told NBCNews.com.

For other street artists, the risk is mainly from the authorities.

Corporate clown lasted six days
An artist known as Mau Mau painted an image of Ronald McDonald with sponsors' names on his costume and an Olympic torch belching out black smoke over the Olympic rings on a wall in Ealing, West London. The local authorities painted over it six days later, he told NBCNews.com, despite the wall belonging to a friend of his.

Mau Mau said he came up with the idea after the Olympic torch relay went past his studio in the Devon area of western England and he "could barely see the torch" because of trucks emblazoned with corporate logos.

"I love to watch sport," Mau Mau said, refusing to give his real name. "I love to see Usain Bolt run the 100 meters … It's lovely to see lots of countries together competing.

"I don't see that as negative at all, it's more the branding side of things. I think it should be run more ethically… it should be more for the people and less about huge corporations," he added.

Leave the big hat! 10 things you can't bring to the Olympics

Teddy Baden, 32, painted the image of one of the Olympic mascots and the overly amorous dog to poke fun at the Olympics in a "non-malicious" way, he said.

"It becomes such a serious thing sometimes," he said, adding that he hoped the image would appeal to the "English sense of humor."

"We always support the underdog in sport, and we can take a pop at things and have a laugh at ourselves ... it's just a bit of fun," he said.

'Welcome to London, it's gray'
Lee Bofkin, co-founder of Global Street Art, which finds walls that artists are allowed to paint and keeps an archive of images, told NBCNews.com that the "vast majority of [street] art has been satirical, sending up the Olympics, noting its heavy-handed corporate presence, and just sort of generally poking fun."

He expressed disappointment that some art had been painted over, citing a wall in Plaistow, East London, a popular spot for street artists that was until recently covered with art.

"A few weeks ago, it was completely painted gray," Bofkin said. "It's a shame. We're saying to tourists 'Welcome to London, it's gray,' rather than 'Welcome to London, it's colorful.'"

The Keep Britain Tidy campaign group once opposed all kinds of graffiti or unauthorized painting on buildings, but no longer.

“What we have a problem with is low-grade ‘tagging,’ that kind of graffiti … that’s just horrible and makes places look unloved,” Helen Bingham, a spokesperson for the group, told NBCNews.com. “We have less of a problem with Banksy-esque street art.”

She said ultimately local people should decide if they wanted an image preserved or removed, but admitted it was a tricky subject.

“One person’s art is another person’s abomination … of all the issues we deal with, it’s the most difficult," Bingham said.

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Toby Melville / Reuters

Britain's Tom Daley prepares to take part in the Olympic men's synchronised 10-meter platform final on Tuesday.

LONDON -- A British teenager was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making "malicious" remarks, after a death threat to U.K. Olympic medal hopeful Tom Daley appeared on Twitter. 

The profanity-strewn tweets -- on an account NBC News has chosen not to identify -- also included the claim that the athlete had let down his dead father after Daley came fourth in the men's synchronized 10-meter dive.

Daley rose to fame in the U.K. when he competed at the 2008 Beijing Games at the age of 14.

Shortly after Monday's final, a message appeared on the Twitter account saying, “@TomDaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that.” 

The account was available to only confirmed followers Tuesday, but retweets of some of the messages showed the abuse continued with one talking about drowning Daley in a swimming pool.

The messages are part of an increasing trend in which celebrities and others are abused by so-called "trolls," who send abusive messages behind the seeming anonymity of social media sites.

Daley retweeted the message about his father and said “After giving it my all...you get idiot's sending me this.”

He then retweeted a number of messages from people calling for the Twitter account involved to be banned.

More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com

Daley still has a chance of a medal in the individual diving event.

Daley’s father Rob, 40, died from brain cancer in May 2011.

'Dad was so supportive'
Before the Olympics, Daley spoke to BBC News about how his father "gave me all the inspiration that I've needed.”

“Winning a medal would make all the struggles that I've had worthwhile. It's been my dream since a very young age to compete at an Olympics,” Daley said.

Matt Cardy / Getty Images, file

Tom Daley (second from right) follows the coffin carrying his father as it leaves St. Mary's Church Plympton, England, on June 8, 2011.

“I'm doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age. I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything. It would make it extra special to do it for him,” he added.

Don't tweet if you want TV, London Olympic fans told

As news of the offensive tweet began to spread, a message directed at Daley appeared on the Twitter account saying “I'm sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I'm just annoyed we didn't win I'm sorry tom accept my apology.”

“Please i don't want to be hated I'm just sorry you didn't win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset,” it added.

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

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The brief description of the Twitter account holder, who has nearly 50,000 followers, apparently quotes another tweeter as saying he was “gorgeous and the sweetest boy ever."

Dorset Police said in a message on its Twitter account that a “17-year-old man arrested this morning at a guest house in the Weymouth area” in relation to “tweets to @TomDaley1994,” adding that the investigation was ongoing.

A spokeswoman for Dorset Police told NBCNews.com that the teen was held on suspicion of making "malicious communications."

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News on NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Ivan Alvarado / Reuters

Spectators sit among empty seats during the men's Group A volleyball match between Britain and Bulgaria at the London 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday.

LONDON - Britain was forced to bring in military personnel at short notice to provide security for the London Olympics -- and has now done the same to help fill thousands of empty seats at several venues despite the massive public demand for tickets.

Many ordinary people who applied for tickets -- in what was essentially a lottery – missed out and there were numerous complaints about the allocation process.

But the first day saw rows of empty seats at events including swimming, dressage, tennis, gymnastics and volleyball -- according to reports in The Guardian and Telegraph newspapers -- to the outrage of many, including U.K. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Hunt said the sight of so many empty seats was "very disappointing," according to ITV News. "I was at the Beijing Games, in 2008, and one of the lessons that we took away from that, is that full stadia create the best atmosphere, it's best for the athletes, it's more fun for the spectators, it's been an absolute priority," he added.

London 2012 organizers LOCOG said it was looking into the issue, saying it appeared many of the empty seats were in "accredited seating areas," which are reserved for members of the "Olympic family," such as officials, athletes, their family and friends, journalists, and some corporate sponsors.

Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

Oda / Getty Images

From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

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At the daily briefing Sunday, LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said most venues were "stuffed to the gunnels," but admitted some of the "tens of thousands" of Olympic family members had either not turned up -- on the morning after the Opening Ceremony and associated parties -- or had only gone for a short while before moving on somewhere else.

There was laughter as he was asked about the logistics of "drafting in the army" to fill seats.

"We won't be cancelling leave," Coe quipped, saying military personnel and others, such as local teachers and students, were simply asked if they wanted to see events when there were unfilled seats. Tickets were also being sold to the public, he said.

Coe, who said 75 percent of tickets went to the public, said he did not expect the situation to continue.

Will Mott/@wmottITV

This picture of empty seats at the swimming heats, for which there had been very high demand for tickets, was posted on Twitter by ITV News producer Will Mott.

"I'm pretty sure this is not going to be an issue that we are going to be talking about in three to four days' time," he said, explaining accredited ticket holders would still be "figuring out" what their duties involved, transport arrangements and other logistical issues this early in the Games.

"I do take it seriously. Where we possibly can, we will get people into those seats where and when they are not being used," Coe added.

Twitter was abuzz with pictures of empty seats and criticism of the large areas without spectators at the affected events.

Sally Bercow, wife of the speaker of the House of Commons in the U.K. parliament, said in a message on Twitter that she was “loving” the Games, but added she was “so cross at all the empty seats. Sort it out FGS! So unfair for all of us who wanted to go :-/”

'How dare they?'
Comedian Jenny Eclair ‏was equally annoyed. “I've seen enough empty seats in my life without watching the Olympics - tragic waste - how dare they?” she tweeted.

And former British newspaper editor and CNN broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted that “These empty corporate sponsor seats at swimming etc are a total bloody disgrace. Sort it out, Lord Coe.”

London protesters decry 'corporate Olympics'

The Guardian said there were an estimated 500 empty seats at the swimming heats featuring Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte; more than 1,000 at the gymnastics morning section, which was supposed to be sold out; and more than 3,500 at the volleyball.

The Telegraph’s report about the issue had more than 1,000 comments from readers.

“I was at the volleyball last night in Earls Court. Virtually all the prime seats right in front of the court were empty. An absolute disgrace and extremely unfair to the competitors who would surely appreciate a crowd of supportive fans to cheer them on,” one reader, kafkander, wrote.

Olympics party: In shadow of Games, London celebrates

“The time to fix it is now. Simply issue a decree that if people are not in their seats by 45 mins before event start time, the seats will be re-let at cut price cash on the door fees … I would have liked to have gone but couldnt get tickets and/or was disenchanted by all the reports of the Pre Olympic ticket scandals and outrageous pricing,” another, whitevanman, said.

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