London bids Olympic athletes goodbye

It may seem calm now, but London's Heathrow Airport is bracing for one of its busiest days on record.

Around 15,000 Olympic athletes will say good-bye to their London hosts as they prepare for their journey home.

U.S. gold medal rower Esther Lofgren says she will cherish memories from the 2012 Games - a sentiment echoed by many of the athletes.

U.S. OLYMPIC ROWER, GOLD MEDALLIST, ESTHER LOFGREN, ROWER, SAYING:

"Besides getting this (LIFTS MEDAL) which was the best race of my life, which is going to be a great memory - getting to see the other athletes compete was just amazing."

In an effort to make the athletes more comfortable, Heathrow set up a special terminal designed after an English park.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH OLYMPIC ATHLETE, SAILING TEAM, LISA ERICSON, SAYING:

"This terminal is cool. I've never seen anything like it. I was so shocked when we came in - there was grass and it looked like an English garden. It was fun."

Authorities expect the airport will handle about 116,000 departures throughout the day.

The 2012 London Games came to an end on Sunday, with staff now hard at work cleaning up the grounds at the Olympic Park.