Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong bites the bronze medal after the track cycling women's keirin event, during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong bites the bronze medal after the track cycling women's keirin event, during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
United States' Sanya Richards-Ross, front left, competes in a women's 400-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Runners pass by the Olympics flame on the first day of the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa De Olza)
Canada's Jenna Martin, Dominican Republic's Raysa Sanchez, Jamaica's Rosemarie Whyte, Nigeria's Omolara Omotosho and Spain's Aauri Lorena Bokesa, from left, runs through the pouring rain in a women's 400-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Britain's Jessica Ennis makes an attempt in the High Jump of the women's Heptathlon during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
LONDON (AP) ? 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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WHAT'S COOKING?
AP's Nicole Winfield had a rare glimpse inside the athletes' dining area. Here's what some of them are eating: Traditional English breakfast, complete with fried eggs, black pudding, roasted tomatoes; kimchi and miso soup, lamb samosas and baba ganoush and, this being the Olympics, McDonald's.
Conspicuously absent: poppy seeds. ("It will show up on an anti-doping test," chief caterer Jan Matthews says.) And alcohol. The village is officially dry.
? Nicole Winfield ? www.twitter.com/nwinfield
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DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE
Just saw a group of sprinters get kicked out of the stands ? in brusque manner ? by a security guard here at Olympic Stadium.
They filed their way up the stairs and into one of the media areas. "Leave. Leave. Leave," the guard told them. They balked. "Leave now or I'll have you removed by force."
I asked the guard what the deal was and he said, simply, that their credentials didn't allow them to be there and they were taking up space and clogging up the aisleways.
OK, so, what if Usain Bolt walked up here and wanted to watch?
"I'd do the exact same thing," the guard said.
? Eddie Pells ? www.twitter.com/epells
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QUICKQUOTE: 'PHENOMENAL!'
"It was (expletive) phenomenal! They definitely don't need me anymore!" ? Tour de France winner and Olympic time trial gold medalist Bradley Wiggins after watching the British pursuit team win the gold medal Friday. Wiggins was a member of the team when it won gold in Beijing.
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WALL OF SOUND
From AP's Fergus Bell inside the velodrome where the British fans have been raising the roof: "It can only be described as a wall of sound. It is passed from spectator to spectator, keeping time with the cyclists zooming past them on the track. On the final laps it becomes a solid mass of noise that assaults you from all angles, swelling as the riders speed toward the finish line. It gives you goose bumps. It lifts you to your feet."
? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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LONDON BOURBON
Are we in the Olympic Park or on Bourbon Street? A brass band is putting the groove in these London Games, circling the bridge that connects Westfield Mall to the city's Olympic Stadium.
They're putting everyone in a Mardi Gras-kind of mood.
Here's a look: http://yfrog.com/h67k5dzej
? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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QUICKQUOTE:KEEPING IT REAL
"That'll soon change, after the shot." ? 19-year-old Katarina Johnson-Thompson, a Briton who is off to a surprising third place start in the women's heptathlon.
?Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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KOBE IN THE HOUSE
SPOTTED: Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant is watching the cycling finals tonight in the Olympic Velodrome. Also getting a piece of the action are London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe and Britain's Bradley Wiggins.
? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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CANCER-FREE
Eric Shanteau finished off his Olympics still hoping for a gold medal. No matter what, he's much happier than he was four years ago about what awaits him when he gets back to the United States.
Before the Beijing Games, the American swimmer was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery less than a week after he got home. He's been cancer-free ever since.
"I'm just enjoying myself so much more," Shanteau said. "It's just so much easier to walk around with a smile on my face at this meet than it was four years ago."
While Shanteau failed to make the final of his only individual event, the 100-meter breaststroke, he has a chance to pick up his first Olympic medal after swimming the preliminaries of the 400 medley relay Friday. The Americans are a heavy favorite and everyone who competes on the relay ? either in the morning prelims or the evening final ? would get a gold if they win.
Shanteau plans to take at least two months off after the games. Then, he'll decide whether to continue his swimming career.
But at least he doesn't have cancer hanging over him.
"Wow, I can go home and relax and celebrate and do whatever I want to now," Shanteau said, breaking into a big smile, "and not have to worry about living."
? Paul Newberry ? Twitter http://twitter.com/pnewberry1963
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WHO'S SHOPPING FOR KEYRINGS?
SPOTTED: Russian basketball players Natalia Vieru and Nadezhda Grishaeva just seen in Cool Britannia ? a sprawling souvenir shop in Piccadilly Circus. They were picking out keyrings as intrepid customers and staff ? pint-sized in comparison ? approached to ask for a photo.
"We don't mind it," said Vieru, who is 6 foot 6 (1.98 meters) tall. "It's fun for people, so why not?"
? James Clasper ? Twitter http://twitter.com/jamesclasper
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RED, WHITE AND BLUE
U.S. runners Sanya Richards-Ross and DeeDee Trotter won their 400-meter qualifying races Friday with relative ease ? and in stylish fashion.
Richards-Ross wore an all-red combination, with her fingernails painted different versions of red, white and blue.
Trotter had a small American flag painted next to her right eye ? complete with glitter and sparkling jewels.
"This is a mild version of what you'll get in the finals," Trotter says. "This is just the beginning. Tomorrow it'll be a little more dramatic, right 'til we get to the war paint to where it's really on to get there and get that grind on."
Trotter raced in heavy rain at Olympic Stadium. And no surprise, she was prepared for it. Trotter's face paint was waterproof.
"It's sweatproof, too," she says.
Richards-Ross has more outfits planned for Saturday and beyond.
"We have so many different options in our kit now, so I feel it's cool to be able to wear different outfits through the rounds," she says. "This is first-round look. I'll have something else on tomorrow."
? Mark Long ? Twitter http://twitter.com/apmarklong
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THE PACER
To an infrequent observer of cycling competition, the cyclist acting in the role of the pacer in the Keirin track-cycling event looks a little odd.
He's dressed all in black and rides a motorized bike that looks like it's come straight out of early 20th century Paris. He appears to almost sneak up on the competitors.
A gun fires and the race starts.
He eventually leaves the track in the same quiet, dignified manner with which he arrived.
? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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LOCHTE: RELIEVED
Best avoid the Olympic swimming pool until it's drained after the games: American swimming star Ryan Lochte, who won five medals in London, has admitted to urinating in the pool.
Not during the races, he told U.S. broadcaster Ryan Seacrest ? "but I sure did in warmup."
Um ... why? "I think there's just something about getting into chlorine water that you just automatically go."
? Rob Harris ? Twitter http://twitter.com/robharris
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REMEMBER WHEN?
To say five-time Olympian Natalie Cook has fond memories of winning the gold medal in her home country is perhaps a bit of an understatement.
"Sept. 25, 2000, 2:30 in the afternoon," she interrupts when a reporter begins to ask about the Sydney Games. "I remember where the ball landed. I remember where my family was. I remember everything."
The 37-year-old Australian commemorates the date every year by meeting then-partner Kerri Pottharst at Bondi Beach, where the venue was located, to share a glass of champagne. If one of them can't make it to Sydney, they speak on the phone.
Cook has been to every games since beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996, winning a bronze medal in Atlanta with Pottharst. They won gold four years later at Bondi.
"I continue to try to have that again," she said Friday in a meet-and-greet with reporters organized by the FIVB. "But it would never be the same."
Cook played in Athens and Beijing with Nicole Sanderson. She has been in London with Tasmin Hinchley, but the two were eliminated in pool play.
And that's it for Cook. Looking down at the venue practice courts, where the Swiss women were preparing for Saturday's match, she says, "It's funny. I have no desire to be out there."
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NO FREE VIEW
A view of Olympic Park now comes at a price.
A department store overlooking the games venue has started charging visitors to look out a window onto the Olympic site.
Word has spread that the John Lewis shop in the Westfield Stratford City mall offers an excellent view over the park, and the store says it has introduced the fee to help manage the crowds.
John Lewis says income from the 2 pound ($3.20) per adult fee will go to local charities.
? Jill Lawless ? Twitter http://twitter.com/JillLawless
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EPIC TENNIS
It's been the most epic battle on the London Olympic tennis courts so far.
Top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland and Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina battled over four hours to 17 games each in the third set after del Potro won the first set and Federer the second.
The number of chances each had to put away the other needed to be counted on both fingers and toes ? ticket holders certainly got their money's worth.
In the end, Federer pulled it out, breaking del Potro to win 19-17 in the third.
Federer, the king of tennis, won gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but has never won an individual Olympic medal.
? Sheila Norman-Culp ? Twitter http://twitter.com/snormanculp
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RAISING THE BAR
How heavy are the bars for Olympic weightlifters? A pair of male volunteers at the ExCel Centre unwittingly helped illustrate that.
Russia's Nadezda Evstyukhina's 125-kilogram bar (275.5 pounds) rolled off the platform Friday after she failed to register a clean lift.
The volunteers had to lift and carry the bar roughly three inches and five feet to get it back onto the platform. They looked like they were struggling with it a bit, too.
Kazakhstan's Svetlana Podobedova promptly stepped up and threw 126 pounds above her head.
She made it look easy.
? Luke Meredith ? Twitter http://twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP
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CARTWHEELS
How do you celebrate a goal in the Olympics? The U.S. women have a new answer: cartwheels.
The Americans were playing New Zealand at St. James' Park in Newcastle on Friday. Abby Wambach took a fine cross from Alex Morgan in the first half and poked it behind the New Zealand goalie for a 1-0 lead.
Wambach and Megan Rapinoe did side-by-side cartwheels. Midfielder Lauren Cheney went one better ? a full frontal flip to celebrate Wambach's goal.
The U.S. women eventually won 2-0.
?Sheila Norman-Culp ? Twitter http://twitter.com/snormanculp
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VELODROME FACTOIDS
? There are 10 gold medals up for grabs in the velodrome (5 for men, 5 for women).
? The track cycling events are spread out over six days of competition.
? The velodrome can seat 6,000 people.
? 250 meters (802 feet) of track was installed over a period of eight weeks by 26 specialist carpenters.
? 56 kilometers (35 miles) of surface timber was used on the track, fixed with 300,000 nails.
? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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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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