London Welcomes World Again for Olympics Sammy Lee remembers it vividly: food rationing, bombed-out buildings, rubble. The year was 1948, and London was hosting the Olympics amid severe austerity in the aftermath of World War II. Lee, an American diver, and fellow amateur athletes slept on cots at local air bases and schools, brought their own towels and were ferried to events in old London buses. "We didn't mind," said Lee, who won a gold and bronze medal in the Empire Pool. It was the spirit of the Olympics. We were there to compete against the best. Sixty-four years later, Lee will return as a spectator next month when London welcomes the world again. Saying these 2012 Olympics will be much different is in itself a gold-medal understatement. This will be a $14.5 billion extravaganza featuring multimillionaire professionals and global stars like Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, shiny new purpose-built venues and a revitalized east London. Britain's biggest peacetime project also entails a massive security operation. To guard the games from terrorist attack, the country is deploying 35,000 safety, police and military personnel, surface-to-air missiles on rooftops, fighter jets, helicopters and two warships on the River Thames. FILE This Wednesday, June 27, 2012 file photo shows the Olympic rings atop the iconic Tower Bridge over the river Thames in London, with one month to go until the start of London 2012 Games. The 2012 Olympics will showcase a much different London and a much different event from the 1948 London Olympics which was hosted amid severe austerity in the aftermath of World War II. Britain's biggest peacetime project also comes with a massive security operation. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file) Close Yet, put aside worries about trouble and whether the city's stretched public transportation network can transport millions of extra riders, and this should be London's finest hour. A chance to throw a rousing five-ring celebration, a global bear hug that restores the festive atmosphere lacking at the past two Olympics, in Athens and Beijing. "London this summer is going to be the place to have a party," Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said. The city will provide a stunning mix of old and new: Beach volleyball players diving across the sand in Horse Guards Parade, practically on the doorstep of the prime minister's 10 Downing Street residence. Marathon runners and road cyclists winding past Buckingham Palace. Tennis stars dueling on the Centre Court grass at Wimbledon. Archers firing their arrows at the hallowed Lord's cricket ground. Sprinters and swimmers competing in brand new arenas erected in a once-derelict area of east London brought back to life as the Olympic Park. Headlining the show will be 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries - none bigger than - who else? - Bolt and Phelps. What can Bolt possibly do for an encore after his jaw-dropping three gold medals and three world records on the track in Beijing? Can 14-time gold medalist Phelps - winner of a record eight golds in the pool in Beijing - hold off American rival Ryan Lochte in what Phelps says will be his final Olympics? Also at stake will be the top spot in the medals table between the world's two sporting superpowers: the United States and China. The U.S. won the most medals (110) in Beijing, but China took the most golds (51). Expect a tight race on both fronts this time. Away from the playing fields, the city is dressing up, from the giant Olympic rings on Tower Bridge, to the party venues and giant screens in Hyde Park, to the landscaped gardens inside the 560-acre Olympic Park. Four years ago, China used the Beijing Olympics as a coming-out spectacle to underscore its presence as a world power. It spent $40 billion on the games, erecting iconic venues like the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube natatorium and staging a grandiose opening ceremony.