The Guardian strikes a more reflective note as London prepared to host the Games, saying, "Time to find out who we are."

Records already broken and ticket-holders warned

Some 10,500 athletes are set to take part in the Games, the British government said.

Some of them competed in advance of Friday night's formal kickoff, including members of multiple men's and women's football squads. Earlier Friday, for instance, all 128 competing archers took part in a preliminary round at Lord's Cricket Ground in London to determine seedings for team and individual competitions.

Three South Korean archers took the top three seeds in the men's individual round, with the winner, Im Dong-hyun -- who is legally classified as blind -- setting a world record in the process, according to the official website for the Games.

Hundreds of people hoping to attend that event, however, were turned away after apparently being sold fake tickets and because of confusion about whether the event was open to the public, UK media reported.

The London organizing committee said tickets had neither been advertised nor sold.

"We think we have made it very clear that this is not a free event, like the road races or marathon, which have been advertised as free events," the committee said in a statement.

"This is a ranking round and there is no spectator access at all. We are dealing with this at the venue, along with some people who have turned up with fake tickets purchased from a fraudulent website."

People are urged to "be extremely cautious and vigilant when attempting to buy tickets and only purchase from an official source," the statement says.

U.S. politics becomes part of the story in London

Dozens of dignitaries from around the world attended Friday night's opening ceremony. They included U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, who met with members of Team USA at a breakfast Friday morning at the U.S. Olympic training facility.

But it was her husband's presidential challenger this fall, Mitt Romney, who was making headlines.

News reports picked up on the verbal to-and-fro between British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Republican U.S. presidential candidate, who appeared to question London's readiness while on a trip to England and then appeared to backtrack.

"You know it's hard to know just how well it will turn out," Romney said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday evening. "There are a few things that were disconcerting. The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging."

A day later, in what sounded like a jab at Romney's own stewardship of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Cameron appeared to draw a contrast between staging the Games in London versus Utah.

"We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere," he said.

After meeting with Cameron, Romney praised then British preparations for the Games. He then sidestepped a question as to whether he intended to criticize the 2012 Olympic organizers in his initial comments, saying he expected the Games to be "highly successful."