Journalists outnumber athletes

LONDON—More than 23,000 journalists from all over the world are covering close to 11,000 athletes competing in 36 events in the 30th Olympic Games.

That means the journalists outnumber the athletes more than 2-to-1.

The journalists work in the Main Press Centre, the International Broadcast Centre at the Olympic Park, and in the satellite centers in venues spread all over London and in other parts of Britain.

Double-deckers transporting the mediamen from one venue to another, from the Olympic-accredited media hotels to the Olympic Park form the backbone of the transport network created for the Games. To the chagrin of ordinary Londoners, the media buses create traffic.

Non-Olympic vehicles trying to beat the traffic jams and straying into marked Olympic lanes stand to pay hefty fines.

The media centers and buses are a Babel of tongues. As many as 10 languages are spoken in one deck of the  bus alone, Tagalog being one of them.

Five print journalists—plus the crew of the licensed broadcaster Solar Sports and TV5—are accredited from the Philippines.