Ping Pong Deng Ning

Tuesday 31 July 2012

We saw the quarter finals of the women's Table Tennis at the Excel centre including Deng Ning from China, the world number one who was very impressive.

Esther was supporting China because her Red Group at nursery represented China in their Olympic games (sports day).   There were a number of Chinese supporters sitting around us and appreciated our support.

Susanna had lots of fun waving flags and making people smile around us.

After the Table Tennis we went for a wander and went on the Royal Victoria Dock Bridge which has a good view to London City Airport and over to the city. Archie made use of the opportunity to balance in the middle...

Esther and Archie are really enjoying the experience and entertained the tube carriage on the way home by playing basketball and football, then receiving 'medals' and singing the National Anthem!

THE OLYMPIC PARK

Monday 30 July 2012

Today we all went. Jo, Esther and Susana had their first WOW factor of just being there, and Archie was a bit happier because today he didn't have to do all the walking as Daddy had decided it would be a good idea to bring a buggy!

It really is good! It looks good, it feels good, there is a lovely (but busy) atmosphere, it is clean, no litter, the toilets are fantastic and there are enough of them. Also stuff seems sustainable, the carbon footprint is relatively low for such a big project. It makes you happy this is in your home city, where you (used to in our case) live. We all came home buzzing.

We went to see some Women's Basketball today. China beat Croatia which was good as they are our second favourite team, and then Turkey beat the Czech Republic.

Coca-cola's Beatbox

The Bandstand

We then enjoyed looking at the lovely buildings, the bandstand, the flowers, the waterfall, the phonebox art, the Coca-Cola Beat Box: (Esther: "What is Coca-Cola, mummy?") the Park Live, the huge McDonalds, the colourful floor, the gamesmaking again, the first aid points (twice), the BMW cars, the London 2012 garden and the tube ride home (where Susanna pilfered and snapped a flag and we met a tired Sun journalist).

Mini 'Emily Wenlock' meets Wenlock

Only step on pink and yellow

Don't get too used to it!

Nigeria can't shoot, but they win.

Sunday 29 July 2012

Andy and Archie set off at 7am to go to the Olympic Park and watch basketball. Security was fantastic again, as was the gamesmaking, but it was a long walk for a tired and hungry 2 year old to the Basketball Arena. But he did make it!

Both games were interesting, entertaining and exciting. I enjoyed the proper NBA statistical merits to the scoreboards. This was particularly took my fancy as Nigeria were worse in every aspect of shooting, yet they still won: 60-56 eventually! (due to fouling a lot less than Tunisia).

The other match was a very high class game between Brazil and Australia which ended with the South Americans emerging victorious, also by just 4 points.

There was constant entertainment with some great dancing and an excellent compere. Esther had asked when she would get to watch the Olympics again! 'Tomorrow' was the answer. When we'll all get to go to the Olympic Park and watch basketball and soak up the atmosphere.

However this was not strictly true as after church Jo, Esther and Susanna went with Grandma, Granddad and Aunty Liz on the tube to Hyde Park Corner to find a spot on Constitution Hill to await the arrival of Andy, Archie and Granny. Whilst they were waiting they went to the top of the Wellington Memorial.

After that it was a case of waiting for the female road race cyclists to arrive.

That's Grandma.

When Lissie Armistead passed us with 700m to go she was third getting ready for the sprint, where she finished second and won Great Britain's first medal of the games. Everyone got a bit wet but there was another lovely positive atmosphere.

Fantastic team performance

Saturday 28th July 2012

One of the events I was most looking forward to was the Men's cycling road race. Knowing it was going to be a very long day and a long walk, I left the family with my in-laws and set off early to catch three tubes, a train and then eventually climb Box Hill.

There was a fantastic atmosphere and very organised and cheerful stewarding, gamesmaking, policing and security. I was well impressed.

The breakaway of 11 stayed clear for most of the laps.

but the small British team kept them in check almost single-handedly. Towards the end of the Box Hill climbs though more riders got clear making a break of 32 upfront. This was too much even for the power of Wiggins, Froome, Millar and Stannard (shown here with a German and Mark Cavendish behind them)

They still got very close but ultimately ended up disappointed. This showed in their interviews and the BBC coverage, unfortunately, did not seem to give their performance, or the race as a whole, justice.

Nevertheless it was brilliant to be part of such as a positive experience from all involved on Box Hill, fans, workers and riders alike, even Vino got a healthy round of applause when he triumphed from the excellent crowd watching the big screen on top of Box Hill. Tomorrow Basketball..........

Spain defeated

Thursday 26 July 2012

Our second day of football, this time it was the men's turn.  There were more people today but still space to get a better seat!

Honduras vs Morocco was up first, another game with lots of goals ending in 2-2. We supported Honduras as they had a nice kit.

Spain vs Japan was next, lots of support for the Japanese in the ground, and a shock result making Hampden   big news for the second day in a row!

Our Olympic adventure that nearly started a war

Wednesday 25 July 2012

We arrived at Hampden Park after a short journey from home and sailed into the ground, barely a queue in sight. The security and Policing teams were brilliant.

Our first Olympic experience was USA vs France in Women's Football. It was a goal packed game that was fun to watch.

We enjoyed listening to the national anthems. Archie can now sing God save the Queen all the way through so we are hoping he will have an opportunity to sing it at a medal ceremony at some point in the games.

There were quite a few empty seats, not just the ones next to Andy!

After the first match there was a break whilst the DPR Korea and Columbia teams warmed up. We spent some time out the back crawling about the floor...

and deciding to go for the free tap water on offer ...

Then we went back to wait for the start of the match. and we waited ... and waited ... and waited...

If you've seen the news at all you will know that the South Korean flag was displayed next to the North Korean team when the names were read out. The North Korean team names were read out 3 times before finally it was announced that the 'behind the scenes issues had been dealt with' and kick off was going to start in 15 minutes at 20.50hrs. By that time everyone was tired and we decided to leave after the national anthems were sung.

All in all a good first day that left everyone looking forward to more sport over the next few weeks.

Our very own Athletics Stadium

We spent the afternoon creating a race track...

It came complete with it's very own Myall crowd!