So today was a big day, Dorney Lake and rowing in the morning, followed by the first evening of athletics at the Olympic Stadium. So what did I learn?
- Every Olympic volunteer seemed to love being part of this. Walking to the tube station after the athletics (11pm) every one I walked past (and there were legions of them) wished me a good night.
- Being there when GB wins a gold can be crossed off the “to-do” list. Watching Anna Watkins and Katherine Granger dominate today was a special thing to witness. The place was rocking.
- Rower Allan Campbell is one of my new heroes. He gave everything today and could hardly walk after his bronze in the single sculls.
- The transport system in London was busy, but did not break down. I was told to leave 3 hours to get from Dorney to Stratford and the stadium. Don’t know if I got lucky, but did it in half that.
- The Olympic park is terrific, so much going on and the live section with the big TV screens should be a model for all future games.
- The worry has gone and London is embracing their games. The buzz is there, the events are sold out and the atmosphere in the city is outstanding.
- Jessica Ennis is the real deal. She stepped up tonight in the Heptathlon and ran a personal best in the 200M. The atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely electric, I don’t know how to describe it.
- Except for the football this games has been sold out.
Here are some pictures from today, so tired after a long day, time for bed.
6 Comments
Being in the stadium when the hole team wins an event is awesome, watching the final session of the Heptathlon was almost religious in how noisy it was.
I imagine being at Eton Dorney would have been just as special.
London 2012 has been so much better than I could have imagined.
Great stuff ans pictures Dave, sounds like a great time.
Dave, I’m so envious of you being there. It seems England is getting most of your divided loyalties, nothing left for USA?
J
There is only so much patriotism to go around and I’m not sure I have enough left for USA, but I did cheer a couple of the US rowers yesterday, does that count?
And no, I’ve not started having my face painted yet.
“The Olympic park is terrific, so much going on and the live section with the big TV screens should be a model for all future games.”
+++++1 Spent a couple of hours there lastnight watching the athletics, lots of cheering and yelling at the big screens. Awesome idea by the organizers and a great time.
The whole city is behind this, it is a great time to be in london. Happy you are having fun.