The dreaded last day How were we going to cope without this most marvellous of events happening in our city? I suppose we have the Paralympics to look forward to, though no tickets yet, then Rio 2016 to start saving for. But in the meantime, there was one more event to go to, the last 2 events of the Modern Pentathlon, something we have done well in since its introduction at Sydney 2000 when Steph Cooke won GOLD.
I started the day by taking B to Tooting Bec lido, as we'd heard via Twitter that Ian Thorpe wanted to do his bit for the legacy and was going to be giving swimming advice out to anyone who turned up. There was no sign of him when we got there, but the place was pretty busy - mainly with people who were doing their usual Sunday swim, but after about half an hour and a dip in the unheated pool, he arrived. There was quite a crowd, and he presented a trophy to someone from the swimming club, then signed some autographs and exchanged a bit of banter, with me telling him, on behalf of the nation, that he was an excellent pundit & should come back & take over from Lineker. B heard him talking about Brazil, and from her perch on my shoulders told him that her mummy was from brazil - he looked up at her and said that she looked like her mummy was from Brazil, before exchanging some pleasantries in Portuguese! She clammed up completely at this!
At this point we were invited through, with a handful of other small kids, to have our swimming lesson with him - but for some reason B had a complete emotional breakdown and refused to go in the pool, wanted to give up swimming & swimming lessons for ever etc. I have no idea what brought this on, and it was only once I said we could go, after trying in vain to persuade her to join in, that she stopped crying. How do you explain to a 6 year old what an amazing opportunity she was passing up? On our way out of the place she said that she didn't know what had come over her, and was very sorry - but wouldn't go back!
On the way home we stopped at Sainsbury's to buy some Team GB t-shirts for her & H, as well as some other half-price Team GB tat - those nectar points finally coming in handy so that these items were essentially actually FREE! Then we had a quick lunch before heading for Greenwich, getting there pretty easily via Lewisham & the DLR.
On the way down from the station to the park, B & H went for the world record for the number of high fives they could get from volunteers wearing foam hands. On arrival at the park itself, it turned out that there was a viewing village with a big screen & extortionate food stalls - not very well advertised (perhaps hence the nice atmosphere!) - one for the Paralympics if it's still there! We got through security easily where, once again, I was able to take my water, this time in a metal flask which was detected. The marine checking the bag just asked me to drink a bit from it rather than chuck it all away - another example of common sense prevailing which the airports could certainly learn from.
The venue was fantastic - the show-jumping arena was set up with 3 stands with the fourth side being the Royal Maritime Museum with Canary Wharf & Docklands behind. We sat about half way up one of the stands, and this was the view:
As probably befits the image of Equestrian, this was by far the poshest venue we've been at - the music was solidly of the Radio 2 variety, and the announcer was very good, inviting us to "contain our emotion" when the horses were about - we practiced keeping quiet, applauding discreetly, and having a sharp intake of breath - and there was mercifully no sign of We Will Rock You anywhere. One of the GB girls was in 3rd, and I immediately assumed it was Mhari Spence, the World Champion, but she was actually in 10th, and it was Sam Murray, bronze medallist from the European championships, who held our best medal hopes.
Unfortunately for me, little Mr H was a bit of a nightmare - not wanting to sit still (surprisingly for a 2 year old...NOT), yelling if he couldn't sit and play on the steps, and with the requests for quiet when the horses were on, we were very aware of any disturbance he might have been creating for the others around us. We were rescued by one of the volunteers who moved the kids & me down to the very front of the stands, where there were other young kids, and more space, and, ironically given how much closer we were to the action, more noise, so it wasn't so bad. The Gabster stayed firmly ensconsed at the top of the stand, enjoying a bit of downtime from the kids...!
Here are the Team GBrazil supporters!
I like the Modern Pentathlon, as from a schadenfreude point of view, the equestrian bit can be highly entertaining. It's the one variable the competitors can't control. The way it works is that they are allocated a horse at random by lot, that horse is used twice, and they only have 20 mins and 3 jumps to get used to each other. It's supposed to test the riding skills rather than the horse, and the fences looked fairly low.
I know it's unkind, and quite possibly we're watching a lifetime's ambition going up in smoke, but I defy you not to laugh or at least stifle a grin when a rider goes over a fence hanging on to the horse's neck for dear life, or sprints after it having been thrown off. It's funny! I did feel bad for them when fences were refused though, and the crowd got to use our aforementioned intake of breath.
This was where Mhari Spence's hopes were shattered, as she had drawn a huge & very feisty looking horse who gave her a hell of a time. There was actually only one clear round, so maybe the heat had got to the horses.
Once they had all finished the equestrian, the fences were removed and a track was marked out for the final event. The points totals were converted into a time handicap, and everyone started according to this. Hence our best hope was 8 seconds back. This makes it all very exciting as you then know that the first person over the line is the overall winner - imagine how cool that would be in other multi-event disciplines?!
They have now combined the shooting event with the final 3000m cross country part, so the athletes start at the handicapped intervals, run straight to the shooting range, hit 5 targets, run 1000m, calm down enough to hit another 5, run another 1000m, hit their last 5 targets, then it's 1000m to GOLD! This means you have 2 chances to get past people - on the track by being faster or on the range by being steadier. By the time they were round for the second shoot, the crowd had figured out the scoreboard & were counting down the shots.
When Murray was really close on the 3rd circuit, the roar increased as each target was hit, and when she went past the Brazilian into Silver position as they were running out of the stadium for the last time, the place erupted! She still had to stay in front though, and when she came back into the stadium a few minutes later in second place, the roar was amazing. She was never going to catch the Lithuanian, but she had to stay in front. On the tv footage you can see the Gabster and I jumping up and down, bringing home our respective compatriots. It was a very exciting end to the final event in the Olympics.We hung around for the medal ceremony & celebrations, then made our way slowly away.
On the way out I stopped for a chat with one of the volunteers, as I was curious about the water in the sinks in the loos. There was a "not drinking water" label on them which I hadn't seen anywhere else, (and ignored anyway), and the lady revealed a few things: the label hadn't been there the previous week, the plumbing hadn't been changed, and Games water seller COCA-COLA HAD PUT THEIR FOOT DOWN AFTER LOW WATER SALES IN THE FIRST WEEK TO GET THE STICKER PUT THERE!! I expressed my outrage by filling my bottles from the nearest sink. Beware of this ruse if you're going to the Paralympics.
Here's Sam, on the last lap, racing for Silver, with the Brazilian girl gaining on her all the time, but not quite enough to get in shot!
Sam Murray, Modern Pentathlon, SILVER
On the way out we got a picture of my Olympic family next to the rings, then faffed about a bit by the big screen before heading for the chippy.
I guess we'll see!
We ate our fish and chips down by the river, next to the Cutty Sark, as a lone and quite decent busker played Britpop nearby and the sun went down on the most fantastic fortnight many of us will ever see in London.
Then it was home for the Closing Ceremony, watched on delay, where my main disappointment was that Take That didn't sing Relight my Fire as the flame went out. It was nowhere near as good as the Opening, or the two weeks that followed, but it wasn't that bad either, and I enjoyed it well enough.
Turns out I was on telly a few times that afternoon, in the Thorpe piece as well as at the event, so you can add that to the footage of the Badminton finals in Athens! Haven't quite summoned the courage to watch the final 90 minute montage programme yet, but have got the nightly radio highlights recorded on my phone, and that's dusty enough!
Elsewhere during the day we still had a couple more chances in the boxing, and I didn't see or hear either of them. The first guy, Fred Evans, ran out of steam in the final and was well beaten. The second one, the Super Heavyweight, was a tighter affair, which may only have been won in the 3rd round when Joshua got some big shots in. The score was tied and Joshua won on countback. The Italians protested, and there was some tension for a while before the protest was rejected and our last GOLD of the game was confirmed. 29 of them! Here's hoping that Joshua's career follows the path of Lennox Lewis, as opposed to Audley Harrison.
Fred Evans, Boxing, SILVER
Anthony Joshua, Boxing, GOLD
