Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Anya Starovoytov, from San Francisco, likes the music at Saturday's track events

LONDON – Organizers of the London Games on Saturday defended loud music played in the Olympic Stadium while athletes are competing.

Pop tunes with a playlist dominated by British artists were being played constantly between Friday night’s events at the 80,000-seater track and field venue, and also during longer races such as the women's 10,000-meter final.

Some commentators and ticket-holders criticized the decision via social media, calling it “intrusive” and “horribly, unforgivably misjudged.”

Jackie Brock-Doyle, director of communications at the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), said the idea had been approved by the sport's IAAF governing body.

She told reporters on Saturday: “In terms of the music, I think we have the level right, but if you are saying that people are not liking it, then, of course, we will have a look at it, but we have actually had loads of really positive feedback about the atmosphere and the music in the venue.”

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Paul Kelso, sports writer at The Daily Telegraph newspaper, wrote on Saturday that the music was “drowning out the golden moments of London 2012.”

He wrote:

Locog have made much of their use of music in venues, and for the most part it has been well-judged and discerningly selected. Who has ever heard This Charming Man by The Smiths at an athletics meeting before?

But last night, as the women’s 10,000m provided the climax of an exhilarating first day, it was horribly, unforgivably misjudged. The race is one of the great treats of the Olympics, a slowly unfolding drama of tactics and pacing, team strategy combining with individual ambition to provide a unique, always memorable event.

But instead of respecting the athletes and allowing the drama to unfold naturally, the witless gang in the stadium DJ booth decided that techno and twaddle would enhance the experience.

So as a group of four athletes, including eventual winner Tirunesh Dibaba, broke the field and gathered themselves for the finish with 2,000m to run, the commentator, Canadian Garry Hill, encouraged a Mexican Wave to track them round the stadium.

Worse, with two laps to go he dropped some house music. For what its worth it was a decent tune, but it was an unforgiveable distraction from the climax of one of the purest tests of athleticism we will see at the London Games. It might also have been a distraction to the athletes as they calibrated their pace for the final surge.

His comments were echoed by many Twitter users.  Athletics Weekly editor Jason Henderson Tweeted: "Not sure about loud, thumping music in athletics stadium. Grands prix, fine. But Olympics should be more traditional, surely."

London journalist Nick Metcalfe posted: “Is the gloss being taken off the Olympic Stadium atmosphere already? Many complaints about intrusive announcements and music.”

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However, the crowd at Saturday's track events was more positive. Tom Wong, from east Yorkshire, England, said: "I really like it - they've chosen the music well and it really helps the atmosphere - it would feel very quiet otherwise."

Anya Starovoytov, from San Francisco, said: "It's getting everyone really pumped up - I can't see that it would bother anyone."

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The music was also defended at Saturday’s press conference by Teresa Edwards, chef de mission at the United States Olympic Committee. She said: “I love it. You can't hear it. In basketball it definitely goes out as soon as the player hits the floor. It entertains the crowd, and we are very used to it in the States, to be honest with you.”

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Tom Wong, from east Yorkshire, England, welcomed the music

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Patrick Bauman, secretary-general of the Federation of International Basketball, added:  “Personally I maybe agree that it is loud but that is a personal view. The spectators really love it. It does not bother the players and the athletes, they are playing the game.

“In my venue we haven't received any complaints at all. They come in at 9 o'clock in the morning, they leave at midnight and they are all happy, so I think they have the right mix of talent on the field, at least in our sport, and of music and of loudness as well because people like to cheer, they like their kiss cam, and they like singing English songs which are known worldwide, and I think that is really good. It brings more to their experience. It has been excellent, and certainly better than what we had in the past.”

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Luke Macgregor / Reuters

Soldiers man a security checkpoint at an entrance to the London 2012 Olympic Park at Stratford in London on July 12, 2012.

LONDON — The military has been drafted to plug a security gap, the road surface along a key arrival route is cracking up and London Heathrow International Airport is expecting long lines. Only 14 days before the Olympics, are the wheels coming off London's Games planning or are Britons just finding excuses to grumble?

It has not been an encouraging week for organizers, or for London's 7.5 million residents. A crowd control rehearsal at main stations during Tuesday's morning commute caused frayed tempers and led to predictions that the city's creaking transport infrastructure may not be able to cope.

@Shoutsatcows on Twitter

A sign in the London Olympic Park, posted to Twitter, explaining that French fries cannot be served -- except to those ordering traditional British fish and chips together.

Then NBC News broke the news on Wednesday that Britain's military will have to come up with 3,500 bodies to fill a shortfall in security personnel because private contractor G4S admitted it might not meet its agreed targets to supply workers.

Competing athletes, due to arrive from all corners of the world on Monday, were warned on Thursday that the M4 motorway link that was supposed to whisk them from Heathrow to their hotels and training bases may still be closed after cracks were discovered in a concrete viaduct. Meanwhile, delays at airport immigration recently were so bad that passengers began slow-clapping in protest.

And anyone at the Olympic site trying to cheer themselves up with a snack might also be disappointed. Under the multi-million dollar International Olympic Committee sponsorship deals, chips — as fries are known in the U.K. — are banned at the site unless they come from McDonald's, or if they are served as part of a traditional British fish and chips meal. A sign in the workers' cafeteria, posted on Twitter, struck a note of disappointment.

The military, currently undergoing a painful round of layoffs and cost-cutting, is far from pleased at mopping up the failings of a private contractor. Retired Colonel Richard Kemp, a former UK commander in Afghanistan, told the BBC on Thursday:

“Many of the soldiers that are coming — this extra 3,500 — I understand are soldiers who have just returned from Afghanistan. As always when you give any part of the armed forces a task they will do it extremely well, extremely professionally and with a smile on their face… but we shouldn't forget also that many of these soldiers are people who have been told in the last few days that they are going to be made redundant, that their regiments are being scrapped and they are under great pressure already. The wider morale in the armed forces now is very fragile and this will simply add to that fragility.”

Britain's Home Secretary, Theresa May, has offered free Olympic tickets to the extra soldiers to compensate them for having their leave canceled. 

Summoned to parliament on Thursday to explain the security shortfall, May denied claims by opposition lawmakers that Games preparations were "a shambles." She also dismissed concerns that the presence of up to 11,000 soldiers at Games venues — more than the 9,500 troops Britain currently has deployed in Afghanistan — would make visitors feel uncomfortable.

London Mayor Boris Johnson went a step farther, saying the military presence "adds to the tone of the occasion."

But the tone of the Games is precisely what is raising concern in some quarters. Early evidence from the main Olympic Park suggests the often-officious character of British event organization could be a serious irritant: Identity passes and access credentials are zealously scrutinized at every turn by guards brandishing official buttons and lanyards, but maps or signs have yet to be installed at the vast site.

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The Spectator

The cover of the July 14 issue of weekly conservative magazine, The Spectator.

Many local parks, stations and access roads have already been shut down two weeks before the Games, effectively extending the inconveniences associated with airports to the entire city. Conservative commentator Charles Moore, writing in a special issue of The Spectator magazine, took particular exception to the mantra of officialdom, 'for security reasons,' calling it "the great tyrant's excuse of our times."

Strict enforcement of Olympic branding rules and sponsorship clauses has also come under criticism. Pierre Williams, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, castigated LOCOG (the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) for "petty officiousness" and for having been "absurdly over-protective" of its corporate sponsors, according to a report in the Financial Times. "In its almost paranoid attempts to protect the Olympic brand and its corporate sponsors, it has largely destroyed the goodwill that was there for the taking from businesses supplying the games," he said.

Onlookers taking pictures at the 'O2' music arena have reported being hassled by security staff because the site will shortly become an Olympic venue for basketball and thus off-limits for photography. (It can't be called the 'O2' either, because it is named after a non-Olympic commercial sponsor: It will be known during the games as 'North Greenwich Arena 1'.)

However, these alone are not indications that the Olympics will be a disaster. It seems unlikely that a city that has learned to live with crush-loaded Tube trains and has spent decades under the threat of terror — first from the IRA, which used explosives and bomb warnings to disrupt London's public transport for a generation, and then from Islamic militants — could not cope with two weeks of similar inconvenience.

Complaints are to be expected, especially in a country where moaning might be regarded as an Olympic event in its own right.

"I hope, and expect, it will be a success," said author and transport expert Christian Wolmar. "I am optimistic that the transport system will cope just fine. If anything goes wrong at the Olympics it will be overzealous and dumb security, not public transport."

There has been one small victory for the common man: McDonald's on Thursday said it had relaxed its position on French fries in a deal with LOCOG that allows workers to be served individual portions of fries at other restaurants on the main Games site.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign came on Thursday afternoon, when transit authority Transport for London asked for volunteers to rehearse waiting in line and "simulate the unloading of a crush Central line car" to test crowd control measures. "How much fun does that sound like to you?" asked David Hill of The Guardian. 

You may think the last thing the British needed to practice was waiting in line or putting up with crowded trains, but it seems no detail is being left to chance at the 2012 Olympics. There was no shortage of unpaid volunteers, and the event was reportedly a success. Maybe things will run just fine after all.

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Eddie Keogh / Reuters file

A brand of beer is seen on a pump at the Railway Tavern pub in east London Feb. 2, 2012. Built around 1825, the pub is across the road from the athlete's village. The landlady for the past 40 years Jan Dooner said: "I'm hoping for some good business during the Games, whether they want to celebrate or drown their sorrows."

Spectators hoping to enjoy the London 2012 Olympic Games with a cool brew in hand will have to shell out the equivalent of about $11 for a pint of beer, according to organizers.

London Olympics organizers announced Wednesday they expected to serve 14 million meals during the games, calling it "the largest peace time catering operation in the world."

"We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain," said Paul Deighton, chief executive of organizing committee LOCOG.

"We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events, which because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street."

A bottle of water will cost 1.60 pounds ($2.50) and a bottle of Coke will sell for 2.30 pounds ($3.60). A plate of fish and chips will go for 8 pounds ($12.50).

Many were outraged by the prices, and particularly the cost of beer, British newspaper The Telegraph reported.

An 11-ounce bottle of Heineken lager will cost 4.20 pounds or $6.50, which makes the equivalent price of a pint 7.23 pounds or $11. That's more than double the national average price of 3.17 pounds for a pint of beer in the UK, The Telegraph said.

Organizers said food and drink for a family of four should run under 40 pounds ($62).

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Tal Cohen / EPA

Triple Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Ben Ainslie carries the flame as the first torchbearer of the torch relay around Britain on Saturday.

LONDON -- The sweatsuit comes off and the business hat goes on when it comes to many of those participating in the Olympic torch relay. 

The historic ritual only started Saturday, but by Sunday there were already at least eight torches being auctioned on eBay with offers in excess of $170,000, although perhaps not all the bids were genuine. 

One volunteer is yet to get hold of the torch but has already put his up for sale. 

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At this rate we can expect plenty more. Eight thousand bearers are taking part in the relay as the flame travels 8,000 miles around Great Britain. Volunteers are allowed to keep their torch if they pay $340. This is where some have spotted the value – the torches cost $780 to produce, the Olympic organizers having paid the difference. 

So what do you get for your money? The torches are made of aluminum alloy with a gold effect giving them that all-important shimmer. 

Hand-welded, they have 8,000 holes.  But, at 31 inches it’s a little long for some mantelpieces. 

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Andrew Bell was among those deciding to sell, according to the Sun on Sunday newspaper.

“I understand some people may find the idea of selling an Olympic torch offensive,” the 31-year-old from Cornwall, who was among the first carriers, told the paper. 

“But we could genuinely use the money,” he added, according to the newspaper. 

 A spokeswoman for LOCOG, the Olympic organizing committee, seemed relaxed about the moneymaking scheme.

 “They are the torchbearers’ property.” She told NBC News. “We just hope they go to a good home.”

 So it seems the Olympics and commercialism go hand-in-hand.

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