London 2012: Olympic Games

 

 

 

 

Hajime is the tradition instruction that starts a judo contest …so let’s begin.

Raffle

Generally, I am not lucky when it comes to winning raffles; so you can imagine my surprise when I received an email saying the length of one of my BT landline telephone calls had won me tickets to the Olympic Games. I rushed off a reply with sentiments of “R U having a giraffe”? Being the cynical person that I am, I wanted to check that this was not the unwitting target of a scam. It didn’t ask for my password, any personal details or me to send any money to retrieve my prize. The following week I was told that I had won tickets to the judo competition and I would be sent them about two weeks before the day. I was always taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I jumped at the opportunity. This would be a once-in-a-life-time experience to be an Olympic Games spectator

Journey

The journey to the ExCeL Centre was fairly straight forward. Departing from Hertford East railway station, the route was virtually north to south. At Tottenham Hale the train continued on to Stratford instead of veering west towards Liverpool Street. At Stratford the number of people had increased significantly but there were plenty of hi-visibly jackets littering the concourses and platforms to keep the crowds moving. Transport for London (TfL) had changed the traffic flow between the DLR, the Central & Jubilee lines and the main-line overground trains to avoid any congestion. As a result, I had to change at Canning Town to get on the right DLR line to Custom House.

Entry

I thought that it would be plain sailing after that …oh no! Somebody had been down to the local Post Office and borrowed stands and tapes to make one of those zigzag queues. It was a bit like one of those puzzles where you have to find the way into the centre of the maze from the outside. Eventually, I did find the correct entrance to the ‘crock of gold’ but this only led me to a security checks. It was a bit like going through an airport scanner. All metal objects had to be deposited in a plastic box; no mobile phones, no money; no fluids, no belts, no keys  …however I was able to keep my dignity and keep my shoes on. Once through the security checks, my ticket was checked.

Arena

As I walked the full length of the ExCeL Centre to reach the judo arena, I heard every language under the sun. It was an absolute cosmopolitan experience. The only problem was that because people were not familiar with their surroundings or where they were going…they stopped stone-dead in front of you; very annoying. At the entrance to the judo arena, my ticket was checked once again. The next task was to find the correct entrance number, before I could locate the correct row and seat numbers. As you entered the arena, you were confronted by a seething mass of humanity. Much has been made about the occupancy of the spectator seating. Well, I can report that on the first day of competition there were not many empty seats. The arena was brightly lit, equipped with cameramen, timing keepers, journalists, photographers and spectators.

Tatami (mat)

The active area (10m x 10m) was made up of a number of rectangular yellow mats in the middle, known as the combat area. Around the outside were more rectangular mats but these were pink. Quickly, I worked out that if you stepped outside the combat area, the clock was stopped and the competitors were brought back to their starting positions. Each match lasted 5 mins, with the referee being able to stop-the-clock at any time for minor infringements, penalty points or resetting the contestants. If the match was a tie, then the ‘golden score’ came into play. The first person to score the next point won.

Judges

Three (3) judges were in control of the contest; one referee and two line judges. Like boxing, I assume the referee had the final say but at each corner of the combat area there were two judges, each with their own opinion. These judges sat on metal seats but they had to be mindful of the drift of the two contestants. They had to move away (with their chairs) at a moment’s notice. From time to time the judges had a conflagration and the scoreboard was amended. At one point, a Hungarian coach was banished from the side of the mat for overzealous coaching; talk about absolute power.

Rules

From the outset, I do have to confess that I am not a judo aficionado. When I entered the arena, I could not tell my ippon; from my waza-ari; from my yuko. Most of the audience seemed to be knowledgeable about the scoring system in judo. They emitted oohs and ahs at the appropriate moment. Eventually, I did work out that a yuko is the smallest score that could be awarded. A waza-ari was equal to half an ippon and an ippon won the match outright. The ethos of judo is politeness, courage, sincerity, self-control, honour, modesty, friendship, and respect. A shodo was awarded for a minor infringement for judo etiquette, which is equivalent to a yellow card in football. A fourth shodo ends the contest.

Contestants

The session was a mixture of women’s and men’s’ matches in the lightweight class. It kicked off with the repecharge matches, followed by the semi-finals and then the finals. My perception was that this was an injury-free sport. Many of the protagonists seemed to have picked up niggling injuries; because fingers, wrists, ankles, feet were trussed up with copious amounts of strapping. Most of the matches were cat & mouse affairs, with each contestant was trying to gain an advantage through a better initial hold. It appeared the object of the exercise was to get one another’s kit off, since the number of times the match had to be stopped for one or other contestant to re-tie the belt of their tunic. In the first semi-final between the Japanese and Italian, the contest was over before it began. The Japanese man was much quicker into the grab and within 90 secs he had the Italian down twice …contest over. However in the final, the Russian stole a march on the Japanese and won by an ippon. The Japanese man was shell shocked. The women had an additional problem … unkempt hair. Ladies with long hair had it swept up into a bun and use a hair clip on top of their heads; nearly as bad as a hijab!

Fans

For a British observer, the Japanese fans were the loudest and most vociferous. It must have been like this at the end of World War II, they emerged from the jungle, bandanas tied around their heads and whooping loudly. These were closely followed by the Brazilians, Chinese and Eastern Europeans in that order. Since there were no Brits left in the contest, it was a straight choice between European and Far Eastern contestants. Of course, the Europeans won hands down.

Ceremonies

And with that, the matches were over for the day. The only thing that remained was to present the medals. A team of volunteers emerged with what looked like an IKEA flat-packed kit and proceeded to erect an Olympic stage. It appeared to come without any instructions, so they had to assemble it by trial and error. After what appeared to be an eternity, the medal procession emerged from one of the entrances to a loud fanfare. The medals were presented in true competitive fashion; bronze, silver and gold followed by the raising of the flags to the winner’s national anthem. After that the medalists were lead along a pre-determined route so that photographers could get their pictures and interviewers their sound bites.

…in conclusion

It was certainly a once-in-lifetime experience; the full-on Olympic event. I don’t know that I would have paid full price to witness this judo performance but as spectacles go, it was unique. Something I will remember for the rest of my life.