London 2012 Olympics

Wow so much has been happening recently that I haven’t yet blogged about our amazing trips to the London 2012 Olympics.

Firstly, just after our return from Spain David, Sebastian, my mother-in-law Hazel and I were fortunate enough to go to the North Greenwich Arena (otherwise known as the O2) to watch the ladies all around individual gymnastics finals.

We had a little drama on the way there as our train suddenly stopped and the driver announced that the line was closed ahead due to a power failure.  After a considerable while he then announced that the power problem was due to a fire in the tunnel ahead.  Finally after an hour at standstill the driver took us up the other line to pass the problem and we were soon on our way again.

It was very exciting to see one of the Olympic venues.  We arrived and had to go up escalators to get to our seating area.  We walked in and I looked down and realised how high up we were.  Then we turned around and I realised we had to climb even more steps to get to our actual seats.  We were right up in the gods.

The venue was very bright and pink.  As it started to fill up we were treated to some pre-show dancing from the Royal National Ballet who performed part of Swan Lake.

The gymnastics was really good and it was exciting to watch girls perform who we had previously seen on the television.  I got quite a headache though trying to decide where to look as each of the four apparatus were all happening at the same time (beam, uneven bars, vault and floor). 

Our second visit was to the actual Olympic Stadium which was a real treat.  It was fantastic to arrive and see the stadium.  The Olympic park had been planted with wild country flowers in the borders and the colours of the flowers looked lovely in the sunshine.

I couldn’t believe it when I first saw our seats in the stadium.  After the gymnastics I just assumed we wouldn’t have great seats but we were actually only sixteen rows back from the front and we were directly opposite the long jump. Seb could not believe it and kept repeating “Wow we have great seats!”

We were there to watch the athletics but unfortunately only heats and not finals.  We saw some Mens Pole Vaulting; Womens Hammer throw; men’s Decathalon 100 metres, long jump and shotput. 

British Long Jumper - Awde

The highlight was watching British Athlete Mo Farrah qualify in the 5000 metres.

The noise of the stadium errupting every lap that Mo ran was simply a phenomenal experience.  The sound was quite overwhelming and that was without a complete roof over the stadium so much of the noise must have been lost.

There was a mexican wave of cheering, clapping and flag waving as Mo progressed around the stadium.

It was also interesting to see what happens in reality rather than what you see on the TV although I do quite like the voice-over commentaries that help explain whether something was well executed or not as it is hard to tell when everything happens live and so fast.

We loved the two remote control mini cars that were used to return the Hammer after each throw – fantastic idea!!

We were also surprised to realised that there are two sandpits for the long  jump and two vaults for the pole vaulting as on TV it looks like the same one is used each time.

It was a blisteringly hot day and we hadn’t taken sun-cream with us.

After the athletics we enjoyed a trip to the Olympic Superstore where we bought Mascots for Seb and Nat.

Then we had a walk around the park to see the basket ball arena, the Velodrome, the open air park with huge live TV screens, and the Olympic village with the various country flags hanging from each balcony of the tower block apartments.

We even saw the Royal barge.

A very exciting couple of days out – we were really pleased that we had gone and feel very blessed that we had managed to secure tickets.

David and Seb also went to see some Table tennis (ping pong) but I gave my ticket to my dad who was keen to see some of the Olympics.  I didn’t mind as three trips to London in one week was really beyond my limits!

It is a shame that the Olympics are over but I am relieved that we put on such a good show and it really was great to be a part of it.  Really looking forward to the Paraolympics starting soon.