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The safety of the US athletes during the London Olympics has emerged as one of the biggest concerns for the security chiefs, and they have sought permission to place snipers on the roof of a school, where the athletes would have their training base. Isobel Cattermole, the director of schools at Tower Hamlets Council in east London, has said she has been approached but refused to say whether it was by British or US intelligence services, or even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Tower Hamlets has agreed to let them use Mile End Leisure Centre as a training base from July 27 to August 15. According to a Tower Hamlets Council document: "Hosting the American team at Mile End Stadium presents a number of security challenges, for which the US Olympic Committee has assumed responsibility." According to the Daily Express, although a huge security operation is being mounted to safeguard Fortress Olympic Park in Stratford , the real problem could be how to prevent an attack on US team members who will be training two miles away in Mile End. The center, which will remain open to the public, has a small stadium and a 400-metre running track where star sprinters Tyson Gay and Jeremy Wariner will train, right next to the gang-blighted Ocean Estate in Stepney. It is also a mile from the headquarters of hate preacher Anjem Choudary's banned Islamic group and close to the scenes of several counter-terrorism raids. The US stay coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. American athletes and citizens are obvious targets because of mostly Muslim local anger over US foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq. American security teams are thought to be bringing 500 FBI officers to cover the Games, many of them armed.

Safety of US athletes emerges as biggest concern at London Olympics