What a great couple of weeks to be in London, the whole place is buzzing as the greatest show on earth comes to town. 7 years in the planning but it's worked out just fine. The stadiums are packed (ignoring the olympic family who seem to be having child care issues), the tubes are running smoothly, people are friendly & chatting to strangers and GB are winning gold medals - lots of them!
Firstly I have to record my thanks to Stephan 'the tout' Beatty for securing so many tickets with an unmatched dedication to checking the internet at all times of day.
So day 1 of my personal olympic games started early, very early, but I made it to Stratford and past the cheery ranks of volunteers pointing the way to the park. First impressions were how big the park was, with a subtle hint of pink around the place. 20 mins walk from the entrance, across to the riverbank arena for 2 games of the group stages of the mens hockey including a 6-0 thrashing of South Africa by the Aussies.
An afternoon trip up the orbit gave views across the park and revealed the stadium to be lacking in grass following the opening ceremony.
Tuesday morning and time for GB gold Wiggo was favourite and he delivered in style with Chris Frome taking bronze. Stephan & I made our first BBC appearance of the games, you need to watch the medal ceremony really carefully. We'd already snuck into the NBC breakfast show the previous day in the Olympic park during a fascinating article on women's fashion.
A dash across town followed to the excel centre & men's weightlifting. The Chinese were in a different league and after a record snatch a solid clean & jerk meant a new world record.
Swimming heats saw the appearance of Becky Addlington & Michael Phelps (not at the same time). Being heats it also saw a new game of guess the country from the 3 letter acronym as the minnows made their appearance in the spirit of inclusion rather than competitiveness.
Beach volleyball was just an inspired location choice in horse guards parade.
Saturday morning at the Olympic stadium with golden girl elect, Jess Ennis in the long jump and javelin. The appearance of a certain Usain Bolt in the 100m preliminaries and a host of other events.
Worth too mentioning the atmosphere at Hyde park live that evening as Mo Farrah capped off the evening with a 3rd athletics gold for GB in the space of about an hour.
Soggy Sunday morning watching the women's marathon.
Gymnastics at the O2, sorry North Greenwich Arena, was the story of a surprise bronze and so close, but settle for silver, for Louis Smith in the pommel horse.
Back to the park & time for GB to win their final group game against China in the basketball.
Boxing really came to life when the GB boys were in the ring & both of them won to secure at worst bronze medals.
My final event of the games was a cracker, joining 200,000 others in Hyde park for the Brownlie brothers securing another 2 medals for GB.
{photos to follow eventually}
Firstly I have to record my thanks to Stephan 'the tout' Beatty for securing so many tickets with an unmatched dedication to checking the internet at all times of day.
So day 1 of my personal olympic games started early, very early, but I made it to Stratford and past the cheery ranks of volunteers pointing the way to the park. First impressions were how big the park was, with a subtle hint of pink around the place. 20 mins walk from the entrance, across to the riverbank arena for 2 games of the group stages of the mens hockey including a 6-0 thrashing of South Africa by the Aussies.
An afternoon trip up the orbit gave views across the park and revealed the stadium to be lacking in grass following the opening ceremony.
Tuesday morning and time for GB gold Wiggo was favourite and he delivered in style with Chris Frome taking bronze. Stephan & I made our first BBC appearance of the games, you need to watch the medal ceremony really carefully. We'd already snuck into the NBC breakfast show the previous day in the Olympic park during a fascinating article on women's fashion.
A dash across town followed to the excel centre & men's weightlifting. The Chinese were in a different league and after a record snatch a solid clean & jerk meant a new world record.
Swimming heats saw the appearance of Becky Addlington & Michael Phelps (not at the same time). Being heats it also saw a new game of guess the country from the 3 letter acronym as the minnows made their appearance in the spirit of inclusion rather than competitiveness.
Beach volleyball was just an inspired location choice in horse guards parade.
Saturday morning at the Olympic stadium with golden girl elect, Jess Ennis in the long jump and javelin. The appearance of a certain Usain Bolt in the 100m preliminaries and a host of other events.
Worth too mentioning the atmosphere at Hyde park live that evening as Mo Farrah capped off the evening with a 3rd athletics gold for GB in the space of about an hour.
Soggy Sunday morning watching the women's marathon.
Gymnastics at the O2, sorry North Greenwich Arena, was the story of a surprise bronze and so close, but settle for silver, for Louis Smith in the pommel horse.
Back to the park & time for GB to win their final group game against China in the basketball.
Boxing really came to life when the GB boys were in the ring & both of them won to secure at worst bronze medals.
My final event of the games was a cracker, joining 200,000 others in Hyde park for the Brownlie brothers securing another 2 medals for GB.
{photos to follow eventually}
Too bad I missed you when you was in London! enjoy the rest of your trip and see you in 2013 when, or if, you're back!
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