Sunday, August 12, 2012

Olympics Basketball

So the final of the women's basketball, USA v France would be my last Olympic event. The venue this time was North Greenwich Arena (O2 in old money).

With kick off (or tip off) at 9pm, part of the preparation was finding a TV screen for the athletics (namely Mo Farah's 5000m). I managed to find a space in the crowds in/outside a pub within O2 and to say people got excited would be an under-statement. I wonder how many of these people knew of Mo before the Olympics?

The basketball was a bit one sided - USA were more professional - ie aggressive, clinical in shooting and more organised. When either team had a breakaway, you knew the USA player would make their lay up, with the French there was not the same confidence. That said it was a good evening, plenty of "allez les blues" chanting around the stadium and all three medalists seemed quite rightly proud of their achievements.

Photos here

So that's its for me. When the games were announced i thought it was a good thing. I thought we would do a good job and even over the last 12mths where there has been parts of the media looking for bad news stories (travel chaos to come, security problems) i was confident it would go well. What i did not expect, was how brilliantly it would go, and that:

- the organisation was good;
- the venues were all good;
- the Olympic park would be so well designed and so spacious;
- the volunteers would be so enthusiastic, helpful and would add so much to the overall event;
- that the GB athletes would be so inspired; and

that i would be so lucky with the events i attended. I booked the athletics ticket in the last few weeks of the run-up,  the programme looked good but it was more about getting to an (any) event in the main stadium. To luck out with super Saturday and three golds was quite special.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Olympics Volleyball

So i had tickets to semi final of women's volleyball, which turned out to be Brazil v Japan, with the winner taking on USA in the final. Japan appear to have played consistently throughout the group phase, whereas Brazil (the holders) were starting to gain momentum having lost 2 group matches in qualification.

Given tickets were sold a long time ago, its always interesting to see whether the crowd is going to be neutral or if both teams supporters are able to get tickets. All i can say is that we were all given an insight into what Rio is going to be like - as there was green and gold everywhere.

Brazil - who appeared the more relaxed throughout - dominated and won in three sets.

Photos here

Monday, August 6, 2012

Olympics - Hockey

So there i was, half time GB v Australia and the Olympic dreams were starting to fade away. GB completely outplayed, 3-0 down, fouling more often and receiving more green (?) cards which seem to be a 2 minute sin-bin.

But then the second half.

At 3-1 down it appeared a less embarrassing result;
At 3-2 down it looked quite respectable (Australia are after all number one team in the world);
At 3-3 the crowd went mad.

Photos here

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Olympics - Athletics Sat 4th August

I have been lucky to attend a number of great sporting moments:

- the first Lions test in Brisbane in 2001;
- the unbelievable end to the Edgbaston Ashes Test in 2005;
- seeing England win test in Adelaide in 2010:

and of course:

- watching Johnny kick the drop goal in 2003 world cup final.

Last night was a similar experience. The noise from the 80,000 crowd was as loud as anything i have heard before and the evening just played out superbly.....

- Greg Rutherford early on leading the long jump and going on to win. A victory that was not expected and which kept the tension going throughout the evening:
- Jessica Ennis. By the time she started the 800m it looked like there was nothing which would stop her from winning gold, but to end the race in the style she did got the crowd quite(!!) excited:
- Mo Farah. A tense atmosphere for the first half of the race and then the noise/support got louder and louder as each lap went past, reaching a crescendo for the last 2/3 laps.

The Olympic park is excellent, busy, well organised, so many enthusiastic volunteers and the views over to the city/canary wharf show how close to central London it is.


Photos, mainly of the stadium/environment here

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Olympics - Weightlifting

Ok, so its not really travelling but the Olympics wont be here again for a while, so i ought to keep a record of what i have seen. So on the day that Wiggins won one of two golds for GB, i went to Excel to see:

Mens 77kg Weightlifting.

Won by China's Xiaojun Lu's with a world record 175kg snatch and a world record total of 379kg when combined with his clean and jerk. It could have been better as there was confusion over the time he had for his third snatch, so he only had two attempts (the second being the world record).

Two people were injured, one Xiaojun's Lu Haojie who still finished second with a 360kg total despite only being able to have one clean and jerk, and the South Korean  Jaehyouk (reigning Olympic Champion) who withdrew after damaging elbow on 2nd lift.

Cuba's Ivan Cambar Rodriguez third on 349kg and apparently Britain's Jack Oliver finished tenth with his total lift of 310kg - although this was earlier in the day.

Thailand's Chatuphum Chinnawong had the most emtertaining support, strangely compared by the "mascot" who happened to be at the Hua Hin tennis i went to in December!

Photos here

The organisation was really good, plenty of people to show you where to go, even someone in the gents ushering people to the nearest urinal when they came free!