Friday Photos: Olympic Games

If you missed out on the Olympics three years ago (understandably many of us vacated London in a panic over crowded public transport) now's your chance to see top athletes compete, as Sainsbury's Anniversary Olympic Games and National Paralympic Day are returning to Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford. We've selected our favourite adrenaline-fuelled images which capture the spirit of the sporting events, as well as the nervous anticipation and tensions that arose leading up the Olympics.

Thanks to the following photographers for use of their photos via the Londonist Flickr pool: Jet Nepomuceno, Pallab Seth, Grant Bush, Simon & His Camera, P'ptje, Darren Johnson, Chris Marchant, tonybill, martinbaker76, chriskench, Leon Harris, Mike King