The first event of the Olympics has taken place, ending in a win for Team GB in the women’s football in Cardiff.
The home team kicked off 18 days of sport with a 1-0 victory over New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium.
Earlier, a public sector strike by border staff, due to take place on the eve of the opening ceremony, was called off by union officials.
Meanwhile, thousands of Games spectators are arriving, with Heathrow expected to have its busiest day ever.
The first event of the Games saw long queues outside the Millennium Stadium, even after kick-off at 16:00 BST (15:00 GMT), as several hundred spectators had their bags checked.
Stadium manager Gerry Toms apologised but said only spectators who had taken large bags had been delayed. He said every ticket-holder had been in the stadium by 16:04.
“The difficulty was that people didn’t listen to the advice they were given on their tickets which said do not bring bags,” he said.
“There were people bringing rucksacks, people bringing shopping from the city centre and that slowed the process down.”
He agreed there had been “teething problems” and urged people to follow advice on what to bring.
Parts of the stadium were empty but the Games organisers said the number of tickets available for the event had been reduced from nearly 75,000 to 40,000 last week.
Cameroon and Brazil are due to kick off shortly at the stadium, with match officials hoping attendance across the two games will total nearly 40,000.
Four other matches in the same competition are also taking place at Hampden Park, Glasgow, and the City of Coventry Stadium. (BBC)