LONDON – Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
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TORCH INTERLUDE
From AP's Fergus Bell, a Londoner:
At 8:47 a.m. the Olympic Torch passed along the route near my house, and I was able to experience the torch relay as it was meant to be experienced. And what is that, precisely?
Hundreds of excited men, women and children lined the residential suburban streets. Next came the huge police presence: I counted at least six police motorcycles before I caught a glimpse of the procession.
One poor woman innocently reversed out of her driveway at the wrong moment and was promptly surrounded. The police were good-natured; with three days left, they've probably seen it all.
Then you see the runner. Well, not quite.
First you have at least three buses representing various Olympic sponsors adorned with toned promotional staff cheering about the runner behind. When members of the crowd do finally catch a glimpse of the runner decked out in the official white torch relay uniform, they rush in, cameras out, as they cheer and shriek.
And then it's over. In moments, it's all gone. The cheers echo down the street as everyone disperses, each carrying a big grin.
— Fergus Bell — Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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RIVER GOLF
Talk about a water trap.
U.S. PGA Tour players Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson previewed golf's inclusion at the 2016 Olympics by hitting purple balls toward a floating green on London's River Thames in late evening sunshine.
The tee box was on a barge and the floating green bobbed under the giant Olympic rings on the historic bridge. Using lob wedges, Garcia got three of his five shots on the bright green artificial turf island from around 75 yards while Johnson got two — or maybe it was three.
The pair struggled to see where those little magenta balls — the official color of the London Olympics — landed. Curious Londoners peered over the edge of the bridge in bright evening sunshine to see what was going on. Some waved flags.
Golf will be included at the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, returning for the first time since 1904.
Said Garcia just before the stunt on the choppy water: "Courses usually don't move this much, but it's definitely going to be fun."
— Gerald Imray — Twitter http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP
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EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.
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