I got chatting to some volunteers on the tube in, who said they hadn't been allowed to fill the spare seats in their uniforms, in case Joe Public got all riled up. On behalf of Joe Public, I informed them that this ruling was bollocks. They had some good stories - the boxing venue swimming in beery vomit by the end of each day, the Spanish couple who turned up at Olympic Park with a ticket for the football in Coventry that day, the old man who tried to sneak in via a side entrance!
We were well marshalled out of the station & around the side of Westfield to the Stratford Gate, where the queues were pretty light and I was inside within 15 minutes. As I walked in, a huge roar went up from the stadium - a GB discus thrower had just hit the qualifying mark!
I met up with Chris and we made our way via Park Live for some sailing & a picnic to the Copper Box, The Box That Rocks (according to the tiresome announcer). Chatted to some Danes outside who told me I should cheer them on against South Korea, and as we ended up in amongst a bunch of Danish supporters, we did just that.
>
As it turns out, Handball is a really exciting game, at times hilariously physical. There's nothing like seeing grown adults pushing each other over. Both teams also had their fair share of rather unathletic looking athletes, which is always encouraging. My favourite was the Korean number 8, who was always in the mix. One particular highlight was a sequence which started with him complaining about being elbowed by one guy, which was followed by him being sandwich blocked by 2 guys and ending up lying on the floor between them while they shrugged and the crowd cracked up!
For rank outsiders who hadn't won a game yet, Korea were excellent value, and had a 2 goal lead for most of the match until deep into the second half when the Danes pulled it back and got the win.
The next game were no hopers Great Britain vs 2008 medallists Iceland. As has been the case in other sports we have't done before, we've kept it close for the first half or set, before fading - and this was what happened here too, though not from want of support from the crowd, who roared every goal.
We then made the rather schoolboy error of heading to the shop to buy a t-shirt, rather than proceed directly to Park Live for the Sprint final. I met some members of the Cabo Verde delegation in the queue and we had a photo and a quick chorus of Sangue Beirona!
Luckily we both had radios so we listened to the race as we made our way from the shop to the big screen, and after letting out a big cheer which confused the people around us, made it in time to see the laps of honour, replays & celebrations. Everyone stood up and sang the National Anthem too!
Next up was the nation's other sweetheart, Laura Trott, in the elimination race - the one we had famously missed when we left the test event early! It's a great race, where the last person over the line every couple of laps gets eliminated. She seems to love this race, and always finds the gaps at the last second. With the crowd inside & outside the Velodrome roaring her on, we had the usual very exciting race which Laura ended up winning!
That was it really for the day's hopes - Dai Greene was still to go in the 400m hurdles later on, but he qualified poorly and hopes weren't high, so we went off for a walk around the park, up to the Olympic rings (by the Velodrome / basketball arena) and back down to the big screen for the final. The park is bloody massive!
Unfortunately, Dai didn't do any better in the final and finished outside the medals, at which point we called it a night and headed for the exit. On our way out we walked past someone dressed in full Team Aussie kit, none other than Steve Waugh, but either because he's a grumpy git, or he was cold, or in a hurry, or thought he was going to get sledged by the Poms, he didn't stop for a handshake or photo - though he did at least look back and nod a greeting.
Went home on the DLR, resisting the efforts of the station announcer to give him a Team GB whoop - mate, it was after 10pm and everyone was knackered and wanting to get home!
Those medals: Beth Tweddle, Assymetric Bars, Bronze
A great routine but a step backwards on the dismount left her out of Gold with a few still to go. There followed some tense minutes listening to the radio commentary before the bronze was confirmed to great relief & delight! A real servant to UK Gymnatics, she was delighted and didn't get drawn into the whole "step away from Gold" the media tried to push on her.
Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash & Peter Charles, Team Showjumping, Gold
This was won while we were in the handball & not really paying attention to the thrashing being administered by Iceland. They showed the medal ceremony on the screens inside the venue to possibly the biggest cheers of the afternoon!
Jason Kenny, Sprint, Gold
Yet again you have to take your hat off to British Cycling & Dave B. Selecting Jason Kenny ahead of Sir Chris Hoy, denying Hoy the chance to defend his title, and putting Kenny in the way of Bauge who normally eats him up and spits him out. But as with all the other cyclists, the coaches have done a superb job and Kenny was more than ready for him. Much to my surprise, we didn't even need a decider, as Kenny put Bauge away in 2 races. Brilliant stuff. Apparently Gregory Bauge, as well as casting aspersions on how it was that we're doing so well in the velodrome, also said that Kenny wasn't that fast - got any silver polish for those medals Greg?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment