The Spectator Experience
An amazing day out at the 2012 London Olympics
By Geoff Cordingley
The Tickets
It all started with my application for tickets in the ballot in spring, 2011. I applied for tickets mainly for Athletics and Cycling, so did not expect to get many. As June progressed it appeared that I was going to be disappointed and not get any tickets at all, and then, on Wednesday, 22nd June 2011, I received an e-mail stating that I had been allocated four tickets for an Athletics finals’ evening.
At the beginning of the year I added the date into the family calendar and my diary – 10th August. Next I received an e-mail stating that tickets were to starting to be distributed and I had to make sure my details were correct. This was in February. There was then a long wait until the tickets arrived in July – four tickets plus Zone 1-9 travel cards, great!
On Wednesday evening, two days before we were due to go, I checked the tickets – 11th August!! I had had the date in my diary wrong all this time! So there had to be some quick changes of plans but that wasn’t too difficult and we were all set!
The Journey
On the 11th we caught the 3.09 pm train to Liverpool Street. Gill, my wife, Stephen, our younger son, and I were excited. We would meet Richard, our older son, at the Olympic Park. We tried to change at Tottenham Hale but, as we were waiting on the platform, there was an announcement that the train we had just left was being diverted via Stratford because of a problem at Hackney Downs. So we returned to our seats and were transported to Stratford.
We had a brief view of the park from our seats and joined the milling throng heading directly for it – no one was interested in checking tickets at the station barrier, too many folk! We could not go wrong, apart from the crowd there were plenty of Games Makers, some sitting on “tennis umpires’ chairs” pointing us in the right direct.
The entry was straight forward and quick. Our tickets were zapped on the way to the park and then we went through tents containing airport style x-ray machines which were negotiated with minimum delay.
There we were in the Olympic Park! So what’s the first thing you do when you enter an Olympic park? Take photographs, of course, just like every one else.
Roaming round the Park
The next thing to do was find our bearings. Guess who had forgotten the map we had been sent? Never mind, Stephen had been before (to see Hockey) so he gave us an idea of where things were and then went off to buy a flag. We filled our water bottles and set off towards the Park Live, where the big screens were situated. We did not hurry, looking around us as we went, passing the BBC studio.
Eventually we reached the Park Live where the screens, which were down in a valley, were showing the Bronze Medal match between Great Britain and Australia. The hockey stadium was almost next to the Park Live and we could see the scoreboard in the stadium which showed Australia winning 3 – 1. There was a queue to get in, so after a short debate we decided to wander across a near by bridge where we came upon a queue to the large screen viewing area on the other side of the valley. People were beginning to stream out of the Park Live by this time as the hockey match had just finished.
As we were beginning to fell hungry, we wandered on a little further past a large mirror promoting a well known petrol company, past the basket ball hall from which we could hear occasional cheers accompanying the handball match in progress, and reached our goal, an eating area. Here we bought a sandwich each and sat on a picnic table overlooking the Park Live with a limited view of one of the large screens showing interviews.
After eating we decided it was time to return to the Stadium. As we set off we realised we were by the Olympic Village with Bulgarian, German and Great Britain flags on view.
There were mounted police walking around the park and stopping to be photographed and let the horses be stroked. One boy, we saw, even had his photograph taking wearing a policeman’s helmet!
We walked through one of the lower park areas by the river, with trees and plants in flower. (I have been told that the gardeners were working every night, dead-heading flowers, planting replacements and cutting the grass using head lamps!)
On our way back to the stadium we passed a number of street entertainers including a marching band, buskers and morris dancers. We also passed the water polo centre.
Into the Stadium
Our tickets were zapped again as we crossed bridge B to enter the stadium. The signs inside were very good and there were plenty of entrances, ours was 244 which meant we had a longish staircase to climb. Then we could see the track and field area. It was magnificent! We had further steps to climb to our seats. We were three quarters of the way up the stadium on the third bend, i.e. diagonally opposite the finish line. Richard and Stephen were already there.
We were seated about 6.35 pm and the compensation for not being near the finish line was that we were close to the high jump pit where the women competitors were already warming up. The bar was not particularly high and at least two jumpers did a straddle jump over it as part of their warm up.
As people were settling in their seats, athletic personalities were being interviewed in the middle of the finishing straight and these interviews were displayed on two large screens, one at each end of the stadium. Among those being interviewed was Iwan Thomas, the ex-400 metres runner.
Soon the men javelin finalists entered the stadium: their throwing area was at the opposite end of the stadium to the high jumpers, you’ll be pleased to know! Shortly after that the high jump final began. The spectators clapped each jumpers approach and either cheered when the bar stayed or sighed when it fell. The bar started at 1.86 metres, if I remember correctly and a Russian jumper, Chicherova, seemed to clear most heights comfortably. The competitors also included two other Russian jumpers and a Belgian mother of two!!
Whilst the high jump was progressing, there were the 4×100 metres for women and the 4×400 metres for men medal ceremonies. These races had taken place the previous day.
The javelin final was now underway and seeing the javelin soar through the air was an amazing sight – the officials measuring the throws needed to have nimble feet to make sure they always avoided the javelin as it landed. Mind watching the little remote controlled cars taking the javelins back to the throwers was quite fascinating!
The MO Show
The stadium was already noisy but just before 7.30 there was a huge roar as the runners in the final of the 5000 metres entered the stadium. This was, of course, mainly for Mo Farah and was repeated when his name was announced. This race started right in front of us and Mo was at the back of the race for a couple of laps, slightly detached from the rest of the runners and we wondered whether it was a race too far, especially as these two laps were run rather slowly. However as the race wore on, he moved up the field until he took the lead with about 700 metres to go and was able to hold the lead right to the finish. Everyone was on their feet throughout the race and the noise which was high at the beginning reached a crescendo, as you can imagine, as the race reached its climax. For sometime afterwards our ears were ringing with the sound. This noise far exceeded anything I have ever experienced at any sporting, musical or other event.
The jumpers and throwers did make much progress during all this, at least I don’t think they did, I was concentrating on the race!
The next races were the women’s 800 metres and the 4×400 metres which were noisily supported but not with the intensity of the 5000 metres.
The 4×100 metres race was nearly as raucously supported as the 5000 metres especially when Usain Bolt took the baton at the beginning of the home straight and streaked away to the finish line.
The remaining medal ceremonies took place with Mo Farah’s gold medal the last one to be presented, probably to make sure that a large percentage of the crowd remained until the end. Some people did leave early but I could not really understand why they did so, I wanted to stay to the end of what had been a most incredibly enjoyable day. We even watched the Mo and Usain show at the end.
The End
Eventually we made our way back down the stairs and persuaded an American to take a family picture on the forecourt of the stadium with the Orbit in the background. The American had managed to get into the Park and then bought a ticket from some Germans who also had tickets for the Hockey Final. The Orbit looked much better at night than it had during daylight.
Next we had to queue to leave the park. This was well organised with separate exits for different destinatinons and, considering nearly 70,000 people from the Stadium (some had left earlier), 10,000 from the diving pool plus some who had been watching the screens were also leaving, this did not take too long. At Stratford station Gill & I had to wait 30 minutes for a train to Hertford but this did not seem to matter, everyone was cheerful and friendly. We chatted to a Games Maker who seemed sad that the Games were coming to a close. (Stephen had caught a Central line train into London and Richard had a wait to catch the Javelin to St Pancras.)
It only remained to hear the weary tones of our very own Games Maker, Bryan Little, on the platform at Hertford East. A brief chat with him, and a wonderful day, everything I had hoped it would be, was completed with a gentle walk home across Hartham Common.
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