After an almighty scramble to leave Stratford following my viewing of
Danny Boyle’s masterpiece – certainly the greatest show I’ll ever witness
(well, unless SUSU Theatre Group are given a £27 million budget, anyway!) - I
spent the remainder of the week exploring London, seeing “the Woman in Black”
in the West End, meeting up with a few friends and relatives and getting stuck
into the international festivities on display throughout the city, with
performers on many a street corner demonstrating a variety of talents and
cultures.
An encounter with the Olympic mascot, Wenlock, soon became something of
a hunt!
The spirit of togetherness, of pure optimism and excitement, was evident
particularly when I and some friends visited Victoria Park (adjacent to the
Olympic Park, so we were privileged to receive a Red Arrows flypast and a Royal
Parachuting) to watch the real Opening Ceremony on the big screens there. The
atmosphere there was similar to that which I imagine one of those street
parties from the 1950s would feature, with fairgrounds, laughing and joking
amongst strangers, a general jubilatory buzz around the place and the
occasional marching band cutting through the crowd!
The unfortunate people who had to bear with me frequently injecting “Watch
this part coming up, it’s incredible!
The Victoria Park crowd – at the smallest screen!
Despite our group having to explain to some American tourists who James
Bond and the Queen were (although they recognised Mr Bean!), it was once again
an incredible vibe just to soak up. Having the privilege of seeing the ceremony
in its full splendour was further icing on the cake. Furthermore, I was
delighted to see that, when performers dressed in industrial costume and nurses’
outfits boarded a Tube train whilst I was making my way home, the entire
platform burst into applause; it signified the outburst of pride and gratitude
towards the volunteers which overwhelmed Britain that night, and the resulting
patriotism was infectious as it swept the nation.
And so, it was time to begin my whistle-stop tour of the London 2012
venues: seven events in five days. Let’s just say that sleep wasn’t on the
agenda...
Beach Volleyball – Saturday pm
When I’d told friends that I’d landed a ticket for Beach Volleyball, I
got the reaction you might expect, even though I was only in it for the sport
(honest)! Given its competitive context, however, the last thing I’d expected
was to hear party anthems ringing around an arena just outside of Downing
Street whilst beach-clothed dancers performed in between points, or to be doing
a conga with Peter Dickson (the X Factor voiceover guy) in the audience, but
Saturday night had that in store!
A great setting, a great atmosphere – a great night!
The disadvantage of seeing some early Olympics sessions was that the
quality of the competitors wasn’t perhaps as high as in the latter stages, but
when rallies did get going they were frenetic and furious, and some athletes’
flexibility and reflexes were stunning.
Beach Volleyball’s jubilant, gleeful and party atmosphere was unique
throughout the Games, although I later read a press report that the residents
of 10 Downing St. were unhappy about the noise levels emanating from Horse
Guards’ Parade – sorry, David!
Handball – Sunday am
There was no rest for the wicked as, hours after returning from central
London, I was waking for an early visit to Olympic Park’s Copper Box to see the
fast and furious sport of Handball. I was hugely impressed with just how sharp
attacking players were – some of them seemed to be flying through the air in
Matrix-esque poses whilst hurling the ball past the opposition goalkeepers (whom
I pitied throughout)!
I fancied trying it at Southampton myself – until one of the players
took a ball directly to the face!
It was also here that, during one of the matches I saw (there were
multiple games per ticket session, ensuring there were several hours of sport
per ticket), a young boy sitting next to me turned to his father and told him
he’d enjoyed watching the sport and wanted to give it a go. His father then
took out the iPad he’d brought along and began Googling for local Handball clubs,
which I found to be quite a salient moment given the Games’ intention to ‘inspire
a generation’; that session certainly contributed, in some small part at least,
to their legacy.
Football – Sunday pm
Of course, despite my determination to open my mind to new sports, I couldn’t pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a representative British men’s football squad at Wembley Stadium, so after a hectic cross-London Tube journey, I made it in time to be impressed by a skilful display by Senegal, who conquered Uruguay 2-1, and then a nervy but ultimately victorious showing by Team GB, who defeated the UAE 3-1. Once again, the Olympic buzz was palpable in stadium audiences as people spent far more time cheering, and appreciating what was on offer, than I’ve previously noticed at football matches – well, except for one particular Uruguayan striker, but footy fans’ll know who I’m referring to!
Although I was initially quite sceptical about Football’s status as an
Olympic sport, I found it a breath of fresh air!
Badminton – Monday pm
After a morning spent catching up on lost sleep (getting back from Wembley Stadium when it’s filled by a capacity crowd can take some time!), I found myself retracing my steps from the day before to Wembley Arena, next door to the Stadium, to see some Olympic Badminton (the day before the scandal, luckily!). Unfortunately, despite the sport itself being great (although perhaps a little tough to focus on for the full five hours the session spanned!), this was perhaps my least favourite of the venues as a combination of a bizarre seating layout (with the cheap seats, in this case, not facing the courts but one another, making it a bit of a strain to see all of the action) and a lack of air conditioning (to maintain consistent flight for the shuttlecock) resulted in it being slightly uncomfortable. Even more surreal was the manner in which matches were scheduled: three courts were played on simultaneously, with umpires shouting the scores over one another, so most of the crowd simply opted to follow that which was closest to them!
Three courts full of simultaneous action was a lot to handle!
Notwithstanding, a couple of highlights stand out from that evening,
the first being the British public’s demonstration of the traditional mentality
‘support the underdog’. When the world number 1 seed began to be pegged back by
the number 27 seed, the crowd’s support for the latter, the Finn Ville Lang
whom most people had probably never heard of before then, became raucous, almost
akin to that of Murray at Wimbledon, with shouts of “Come on Lang/Finland!”
abound, although he ultimately lost. Secondly, yours truly made an appearance
on BBC television when, towards the end of the session and with the better
seats vacating quickly, I cheekily decided to position myself next to a group
of fans holding a large China flag, figuring that the television director would
probably incorporate a shot of them into his footage because a Chinese player
was involved in the final game of the evening!
On the left of your picture – hi Mum!
I’m not sure how many people watch Badminton at 11.15pm on Monday
nights, but monitors within the arena confirmed to me that I’d achieved my 10
seconds of fame that evening!
Hockey – Tuesday am
Despite the best efforts of the rain to dampen matters, I found the Hockey at the Riverside Arena in Olympic Park to be hugely enjoyable, even though a 6am wake-up call wasn’t the most pleasant following another late-night return from Wembley! The occasion was certainly brightened by the presence of the fluorescent-orange-clad Dutch Women’s team (and their following band of supporters) and a visit from Lord Coe to the section of the support I was in, and the two matches I saw were excellent entertainment as well. I was particularly impressed with the new self-pass rule and how video referrals were handled, and I can’t figure out why football hasn’t implemented similar systems yet. Definitely a sport I’ll be paying closer attention to in the future!
Despite the bleary eyes, Hockey was worth waking up for!
Water Polo – Tuesday pm
Also on Olympic Park, Water Polo was quite a short session and, although I’m not quite sure I fully understood what was going on the entire time, with players being temporarily suspended left, right and centre (despite others practically drowning one another under the water!), the end-to-end nature of the sport, with each team only having 30 seconds’ worth of possession to shoot at the other team’s goal, ensured that it was highly watchable and at times very tense.
I wasn’t entirely sure as to what was going on throughout Water Polo!
I spent the remainder of the day walking round Olympic Park (which Jo’s
captured brilliantly below), touring the many festivities, areas and
magnificent stadia built to house the Games.
Table Tennis – Wednesday am
The final offerings of an unforgettable trip saw me travel to the ExCeL Arena near Greenwich to watch the men’s quarter-finals of table tennis, which were highly exciting, if short-lived – both matches in the session were hugely one-sided. Still, like most of what I’d seen in the preceding nine days, it was something different to experience and savour! I was surprised by the vast distance the players ended up from the table, and the power with which shots sailed over the net left me in no doubt as to the standard of the winning competitors on this occasion!
The size of the crowd and the arena, all focusing on one small table,
made it feel quite surreal!
And that was that. After ten days, hundreds of photographs and many,
many incredible vistas, I was home again and spilling all my stories to
bewildered friends and family.
Quite a few people have since asked me why I opted to go to the Games
alone. I guess there were advantages in doing so – complete independence, it
was easy to slip through crowds, and it made ticket acquisition easier – but
none of that really factored into my decision when I purchased my tickets many
months in advance. There were times I wished I could’ve shared the moment – my
friends on social networks can certainly corroborate that! – and I did have an
occasional sense of loneliness amongst the family-oriented crowds at events.
But once the show started this was soon cast aside as events unfolding
before my eyes left me enraptured. Because although it was an adventure I
undertook on my own, it left me with the sense of fulfilment I had sought
before my journey. Those ten days mean that today, and in years to come, I can
proudly say:
Robin
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