Athletes from France, Belgium and the Netherlands have crowded into London's St. Pancras train station as they wait for Eurostar services to take them home from the Olympics.

Specially chartered services are taking more than 200 competitors though the Channel tunnel and into mainland Europe as teams start to leave the summer games.

Athletes were serenaded by a Beatles tribute act at the station Monday as they waited for their trains to depart, and cheered by a crowd of fans as they finally pulled away.

Epke Zonderland, a 26-year-old gold medal winning gymnast from the Netherlands, praised organizers for taking care of athletes' needs.

"Besides training hard and preparing and doing well, it felt a little bit like a holiday," he said, before boarding a train.