As you like it

Just when you thought it was all over and the best had passed, the Olympics delivered another magical day.

I dropped Ben and Rob off at the station and cycled accross town to the park aware that I only had a few shifts left to go. Now my mind starts to wanter to what is it going to feel like to go back to work and try to take some of the positives with me.

There is a massive feeling of uplift as you walk onto the Olympic park. As I walk in I say hello to a few members of the public and have a quick chat to find out what they are going to be seeing. Then there will be all the good mornings with the security staff and anyone else. Finally you are in the park.

We are quiet agian as every thing is running smoothly which means that I get the chance to meet a friend Candi who has been lucky enough to get tickets to see the hockey and I direct them to have their photos taken with the torch that David Beckham carried.

While we are waiting for things to happen we get Gold and Bronze in the triathlon and the office starts to buzz. Then it's another Gold for the dressage and you can feel the exitement levels increase around the park as the word goes round.
I get a chance to watch the BMX athletes practice. I think this is going to be one of the events of the games. It looks amazing and very difficult. Lets hope the GB athletes do well.

And as if things haven't been good enough so far I get asked to help out in the Velodrome for the afternoon session. I think most of the others on the team know that I am a cyclist and they have been very generous in giving me some very good things to do. An afternoon supporting the press in the tribunes means that you get to watch the sport (providing there are no issues) from one of the best positions in the house. The only think lacking is the crowd. Fortunately in the Velodrome the crowd are never far away and although you are removed, there is still a fantastic atmosphere.

To be able to watch sport of the standard that I saw yesterday evening was a dream come true. Laura Trott was fantastic. For someone who is only 20 she showed a greatr deal of composure.

Victoria Pendleton looked to have an off day. Whether that was down to pressure or not I do not know. In the first heat it looked to me as if Anna Mears tried to unnerve Pendleton as they were coming towards the line and maybe it was that and the resulting relegation that meant that in the second sprint she wasn't in the right frame of mind as Anna Mears wone comfortably.

Chris Hoy was simply untouchable and the icing on the cake is that we had Matthew Pincent watching a couple of yards away.

Team pursuit

That was a one off. On the site where I first raced my bike I stood and watched four men drive a crowd in a way I have never experienced before. Music, drama and the arts can move, but not a whole crowd like those four young people did this evening. The volume,the intensity and the passion were all there in floods. Excitement and happiness oozed out of every pore of every one of us. Thursday was good, but the drama lasted only 40 odd seconds and it was over in a blink. Last night we were treated to just under four minutes of world record breaking drama.

On a side note a little thing I did which made me feel good. Before the race started I was standing in a place were an officious games maker kept on moving people on. A more than your jobs worth kind of bloke. Whilst stading there I noticed an Australian man trying to get a decent place to watch the race and the officious games maker was telling him to move on. So I offered up my place to which the Aussie said thanks. Then he followed it up saying his son was racing in the Aussie team. I've taken his photo and email address and I'm sure that this is just the start of the story as I will email him and hopefully find out more.

 

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Cycling

Thursday was the first day of competition in the velodrome and all those involved in bringing it together finally got to see that their plans worked. Apart from the disappointment in the women's team sprint everything went to plan.

For me it couldn't have started better as in the afternoon I was asked to stay up in the press area within the velodrome. The press occupy a large chunk of one side near to the finish line. Most places offer a good view, but the press have some of the best seats. The afternoon ebbed and flowed. Whenever a member of team gm took to the track the noise of the crowed increased to the extent that it was hard to hear what was going on. The afternoon built up to the finale which was the men's team sprint

It was a magical afternoon. The finale came when the men's sprint team took to the floor. It was tense and the crowed hushed as the gb took the starters orders. If you watched on tv you don't hear the fact that in the dome the cheer travels round with the riders in a mexican wave. It's intense. Within only a few seconds it's gold! And we all calm down.

I'ts probably the only time I will get to see an Olympic gold won and it was a very up lifting experience.

 

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Sport - it looks very different from here

It's a strange thing that for the most part I haven't much of a clue what is going on at the Olympic games. I have no access to television when I get back to the van which is probably a good thing as it means that I get to bed at a decent hour and don't have the temptation of more sport.

For the most part we focus on the sports we are involved in and have an intimate view of what is going on. Every now and then our focus changes when something big is happening. Today that was the first gold medals which meant that for a few minutes our office came to a halt, the volume on the TV was switched up and the cheering started as the girls got closer to the line.

 

I was hoping for a repeat when I was eating my lunch in the break out area. Unfortunately it was only a bronze for the rowing 8. You could see the mood rapidly changing from calm to really excited and back to subdued.