Leave it to those lewd Brits to have more cheerleaders at their Olympics than any other Games in recent years. Appearing mostly at beach volleyball and basketball events, these packs of brightly-dressed women (and a few men) have romped about joyfully between matches, doing their best to lighten the mood of jaw-clenching, bloodthirsty competition — like an amuse-bouche between heavy courses, if you will. Interestingly, the wire photographers have taken to photographing the cheerleaders’ hindquarters with fervor, particularly those wearing swimsuits (the default costume for those performing at beach volleyball events).
Where do these cheerleaders even come from? Apparently some of them are members of the Ascension Eagles, a British charity-slash-cheer-program that has four squads of 16 cheerleaders performing at various events. Others — namely, the ones wearing the adorable swimsuits at all the beach volleyball games — are part of the Crimson Heat cheer squad, tapped by the London organizing committee as the official cheerleaders of the 2012 Games. All of the cheerleaders are participating purely on a volunteer basis. Enjoy our slideshow of their antics.