But President Obama has less pleasant Olympic memories, being humiliated when the IOC awarded just a handful of votes to Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid despite his last minute glad-handing of voting members in Copenhagen in 2008.
But with the presidential election four months away, Obama may not want Romney to be the only leader associated with the Games, especially if the US are strongly vying with the Chinese at the top of the Olympic medal tally.
One of the test scenarios put to the Olympic basketball venue manager over the past few months was determining who would be ejected from the VIP seating if Obama and his extensive security entourage turned up with just 30-minutes notice.
Earlier this week Obama and vice president Joe Biden witnessed the USA Olympic basketball team in their final exhibition game against Brazil before leaving for England.
"Obviously the talent that we have got at this point is unbelievable," said Obama in the half-time break of the match as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant dominated the court.
“So there’s no reason that we shouldn’t bring home the gold. We just have to stay focused.”
Romney will also attend two UK fund-raisers to help his election campaign, now organised by a host of global banking leaders after former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigned in the wake of the Libor rate scandal.
Lanhee Chen, Romney's policy director, explained the overseas trip was to "listen and learn, to visit countries that share common values, common interests and in many cases share heritage with people in the United States".
London 2012 Games lanes: Traffic delays of two hours - BBC News
Drivers coming into London have faced delays of up to two hours after new restrictions came into force for the Olympics.
Lane restrictions have begun to be applied on the A12, A13 and A40.
By 11:20 BST the situation on the three roads had improved, although there was still some congestion with delays on approach roads.
Transport for London had warned journeys on the roads may take "considerably longer than usual".
One motorist who called BBC London from the A13 said his normal hour-long drive from Swanley to Redbridge had already taken far longer than normal and he expected it to take about two and a half hours.
There was particularly heavy traffic on local roads in Canning Town and West Ham in east London.
And congestion was also seen in central London, with delays in Whitehall, Shaftesbury Avenue and Trafalgar Square.
The Mall is also closed due to Olympic preparations and motorists told of delays in Greenwich.
There have been changes to 120 key junctions, with more than 1,000 sets of traffic lights rephased due to the Games.
A fine of £130 will be issued to drivers who break the regulations, for instance by driving in Games lanes or stopping along the route.
Up to date traffic information on delays can be obtained from the BBC Travel news site for London.
'Unprecedented changes'In a briefing before the problems began, a spokesman for Transport for London, said: "Several major routes into London will be exceptionally busy on Monday morning as the capital continues its transformation into a huge sporting and cultural venue.
"The unprecedented scale of changes to London's roads, the arrival for the Games of 11,500 athletes, media and officials and the Torch Relay mean that there will be a significant impact on traffic in the capital.
"This impact will last for the duration of the Olympic Games."
The changes are part of the establishment of the Olympic Route Network, which is intended to make sure athletes and officials can move around the city smoothly.
It is due to begin full operation on Wednesday.
London Olympics mascots: menacing or magic? - Newsday
Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images | A sculpture of the London 2012 Olympic Games mascot Wenlock decorated with a street map of Westminster. (July 17, 2012)
LONDON - Sinister. Disturbing. Creepy. Frightening.
The official mascots of London's Olympic and Paralympic Games — Wenlock and Mandeville — have been called all of those things, but organizers are hoping to tack on a more positive title: merchandising magic.
The futuristic-looking pair have popped up all over London, casting their one-eyed gaze at tourists and locals alike from posters, statues and a slew of Olympic merchandise ranging from key chains to cutlery.
Bloggers and other commentators, however, have been skewering the duo for scaring children and projecting a creepy surveillance-state image of the Olympic games.
Wenlock — named after an English town in Shropshire that helped inspire the modern Olympic games — and Mandeville, whose name pays tribute to the hospital considered the birthplace of the Paralympic Games — look more like surveillance robots than humans or animals.
In place of a face, each have one large, staring eye — a camera, according to Olympic organizers, to let them "record everything."
They have legs, but no feet; arms bearing "friendship bands" in the colors of the Olympic rings, but no fingers. Both of their heads have "taxi light" in the middle, a tribute to London's famous black cabs.
Wenlock's head is round, while Mandeville has ridges atop his noggin. They peer out of official London Olympics snow globes, adorn backpacks and towels, decorate magnets and mugs.
Olympic mascots over the years have raised the question: What were they thinking? (Turin's humanized snowball and ice cube in 2006, anyone?) But even Sydney's spiky echidna managed to look cute and cuddly, while a barrage of critics say Wenlock and Mandeville are anything but.
"It's not so friendly," said Jenny Zhang, looking at a Wenlock while in London from China for business. "We don't see a smiling face, it's not a friendly eye. It's just watching you."
Since they were selected as the official mascots back in 2009, detractors have had a field day with the pair, questioning how faceless monsters fashioned out of "drops of steel" — the duo's creation story — won out over 100 other designs by artists and agencies.
Their watchful eyes —described in many forums as toy versions of London's omnipresent CCTV lenses — seem to have caused the most discomfort, drawing Orwellian comparisons and references to surveillance states. Wenlock figurines in police gear have come under fire from dozens of online commenters decrying the "fascist playthings" and "totalitarian toys."
Actor Ewan McGregor tweeted his disappointment Friday after seeing plastic mascot statutes in London's Regents Park: "With this country's artistic heritage this one eyed joke made me sad."
Despite the vocal backlash, mascots are proving to be an important part of the London 2012 product range, according to the city's Olympic organizing committee. It said in an email that soft toys of Wenlock and Mandeville were a "consistent best seller."
Organizers would not provide a breakdown of sales so far, but said Wenlock and Mandeville items make up around 20 percent of the total London 2012 licensed merchandise, which is expected to generate more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) worth of sales.
Despite the ever-present mockery, visitors to the mascots' official website have created more than 105,500 personalized avatars, and mascot statues in London seem to be inspiring more curiosity than criticism.
On a recent afternoon, some tourists gawked at the life-size statues while others hung off them for photos.
Six-year-old Nimaran Sandhu's face lit up when she saw a Wenlock statue.
"It hasn't got a face and I think it's funny," she told a reporter, adding with a giggle that Wenlock looked "fat."
Alessia Goldthorpe, 5, rattled off facts about Wenlock and Mandeville to her father in the same park before declaring that she likes Wenlock.
"He's happy!" she exclaimed.
Wrexham FC defeat Vauxhall Motors FC - with gallery - Daily Post
WREXHAM maintained their 100% record by recording a third successive victory in the latest pre-season friendly with Vauxhall Motors at Rivacre Park on Saturday.
But they did not have it all their own way against the Blue Square Bet North opposition and needed to come from behind at the break, a penalty by Neil Ashton and a powerful Mark Creighton header cancelling out Tom Ruffer’s opportunistic strike in the 41st minute.
Marking this particular contest out from what has gone before, though, was the Dragons’ line-up, their 3-5-2 formation from the start a throwback to the days when Denis Smith was in the managerial hot-seat.
A new template for change, however, it most certainly is not, assistant boss Billy Barr afterwards insisting it’s merely an option for consideration as and when the circumstances might demand next season.
And, although the over-long grass made life difficult for both teams, Barr was happy that the Wrexham players did their best to follow the pre-match instructions
“We went with a different system today, just to have a look at it while we can work on things,” he said.
“And while the pitch probably slowed us down with the passing that we wanted to have in terms of tempo it was pleasing overall.
“It’s a different option and one we might need to go to in a game throughout the season.
“If teams combat the 4-3-3, can we change into something that gives them a problem?
“While we are able to in pre-season, when results don’t matter so much, it’s a chance to look at it.”
Expanding on his theme, Barr added: “It’s more for us to be able to spend more time on the ball and be prepared to do that.
“They (the opposition) might have a lot of people behind the ball and it’s not for us to get carried away and frustrated or think we have to go and hit a World Cup-winning ball.
“We need to spend time on the ball, coax them out and that might give us a chance to maybe pick a pass in behind rather than hoof one in behind.”
In sticking with the plan, Wrexham took just eight minutes to create the first opening, Brett Ormerod’s pass putting Danny Wright through to face goalkeeper Zac Jones, who was quickly off his line to block.
Thereafter patience was needed in abundance as the home side kept plenty of men goalside for long spells of the opening period, but when Vauxhall emerged from their shell after half an hour it was to prove to good effect.
Callum Henry fired into the side-netting when first to a Mike Burns free kick and Danny Fearnehough should have scored with a free header from Andy Nicholson’s cross, only for the ball to strike Joslain Mayebi. And the home side went ahead four minutes before the break, capitalising on a trio of errors in the Dragons’ defence.
Chris Westwood needlessly conceded possession just outside his own penalty area, then Mayebi’s fruitless attempt to intercept a pass to Ruffer left him stranded and the striker’s curling shot was watched into the top corner by a seemingly flat-footed Creighton, who may have thought the ball was clearing the bar.
The lead was short-lived, however, Wrexham hitting back within three minutes of the resumption when substitute Lee Dames was penalised for hand-ball and Ashton fired home from the spot.
Five minutes later Jones made a fine save to deny Ormerod his first goal in Wrexham colours, Wright steering the rebound too high and as the Dragons turned the screw, Creighton went close with a header from a corner.
But the home side hit back, Simon Thelwell and substitute Craig Mahon both threatening with a combination of pace and control to bring the best out of Mayebi and it was not until the visitors had made 10 changes that they reasserted themselves.
The winner came in the 74th minute, Creighton jumping highest to power home Jay Colbeck’s corner and only another excellent stop from keeper Jones in the home goal denied Adrian Cieslewicz and Wrexham a third goal three minutes later.
Transport trouble for London four days from Games - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Severe disruptions hit three of the main rail links to the Olympic Park in east London early on Monday, four days before the start of the Games, in the latest transport fiasco to raise anxiety levels in the British capital.
Adding to the stress factor, the labour union RMT announced industrial action by staff in some parts of the city's transport network during the Games to demand bonuses in recognition of the extra work involved.
Weary Londoners accustomed to almost daily problems on the Tube, the world's oldest urban underground railway network, have been predicting for years that the overstretched system would struggle to cope with the Olympics.
The Monday morning rush hour seemed to confirm their worst fears as they were met with announcements over the speaker system that the Central Line was suspended on its busiest stretch while the Jubilee Line was running at a snail's pace.
Compounding the misery, a key overground link was also "experiencing severe delays".
These announcements were met with disbelieving rolls of the eyeballs as the Central Line, Jubilee Line and Overground all go to Stratford, site of the Olympic Park and focus of years of infrastructure improvement efforts.
"This is going to be brilliant for the Olympics," said one passenger on the crowded but at least functioning Northern Line, to guffaws from fellow commuters pressed into the carriage like sardines.
The Central Line closure was due to a passenger on the tracks, hardly the fault of those running the Tube. But ominously, the Jubilee Line delays were caused by faulty platform-edge doors at North Greenwich station -- gateway to several Olympic venues.
The Overground's problems were due to a signalling failure, one of London transport's most common ailments, according to the announcements.
"It's been a bit of a nightmare. They seem to be understaffed. I'm not sure they're going to be able to cope," said Mike Troughton, 30, emerging from busy Liverpool Street station.
The RMT said staff from South West trains would refuse to work overtime throughout the Games, while staff at Serco, the company that runs the bicycles-for-hire known as "Boris Bikes" after the capital's colourful Mayor Boris Johnson, would take similar action during the first weekend of the Games.
Some staff at Transport for London, including those manning information telephone lines, would strike for short periods during the opening weekend, the RMT said. These actions are all over demands for Olympic bonuses.
"Although we have secured good deals on Olympics recognition and reward for the vast majority of our members we still have a small number of employers holding out," said RMT boss Bob Crow in a statement.
"We cannot accept that blatant unfairness and the time has come for these employers to seize the opportunity, get round the table and sign off agreements that recognise the additional work and pressures that these staff will be carrying."
(Reporting and writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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