Among those faces in the crowds were those of Sir Chris Hoy, the triple cycling gold medallist from Beijing 2008, footballer David Beckham and tennis star Andy Murray.

Commuters may then have been disappointed to find that they were just ordinary members of the public wearing masks of the country's most famous sport stars, but it made for a very British welcome as the Olympic and Paralympics draw nearer.

Two of those arriving this morning were Jefferson and Jennifer Liu from Hong Kong, who said: "It was a lovely welcome and surprise!

"We were at the Beijing Games four years ago and are very excited to be in London this time around."

Eighty per cent of all visitors for the Games will be passing through Heathrow in the coming weeks, including sponsors, officials, coaches and athletes – including Russian sailor Tatiana Bazyuk (pictured below).


A giant picture of Jessica Ennis, one of British Airways' athlete ambassadors and a strong hope for gold in the heptathlon, adorned the flight path at Heathrow today as Olympians from across the world jetted into London.

Measuring 53 by 75 metres, the image (pictured top) was accompanied by the message "Welcome to our turf" as well as the Twitter hashtag warning #HomeAdvantage.

British Airways sponsorship manager Luisa Fernandez said: "We are delighted to be welcoming the world to London.

"It's a great warm-up for our greeters ahead of Park Live presented by British Airways at the Olympic Park.

"We look forward to welcoming tens of thousands of guests who will be able to watch live action on giant screens, and athlete interviews on the BA Stage."

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