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.
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.
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