My Olympics Recap - Mostly in Pictures

The Olympics are over. Sigh. I am suffering from serious sports and BBC withdrawal.

After only getting tickets to one event, table tennis, I ended up going to three events thanks to friends and enough patience to keep hitting refresh during the online ticket resales. We saw the women's table tennis semis, I saw US v. China women's volleyball with friends and then I saw part of the men's decathlon (discus throwing and pole vault), men's 4x400 relay prelims and women's high jump prelims in the athletics competition. I was really hoping to be able to go to the Olympic park so I tried over and over again to buy a ticket when they would go on sale around 11pm each night. I managed to score one which was all I needed for entry to the park. And lest you think I left out Dave, he had his own ticket to the athletics on the final Friday night. We also watched the start of the road race, a few minutes of the men's 50k race walk and I saw the cycling portion of the men's triathlon. 

Overall I was really impressed with the London Olympics. I have never been to an Olympics so I have no point of reference or comparison, but to me the whole thing was very smooth and organized. There were volunteers everywhere, and friendly ones to boot. The tube wasn't too crowded, the city managed and the games were exciting and of course very successful for Team GB. I think it took people (Londoners) a little while to warm up to the games but once they really got going everyone was on board and appreciating the good qualities the Olympics bring to the host city and the feeling of the world coming together to enjoy sport. And of course Team GB's record medal haul didn't hurt matters! I saw an article after the games finished saying that London didn't come out of the Olympics saying "we told you we could do it" but instead had the attitude "wow, we actually did it!" And I might add, did it well.

I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic park. I thought they did a great job, but again no point of reference. The landscaping was beautiful with the different wildflowers, I was really impressed they managed to plant so many trees and flowers and timed the blooms seemingly perfectly. The park like areas were inviting, there were places to sit and shade for escaping the heat (and I needed shade, it was HOT the day I went). The venues were interesting to see and some quite appealing, such as the velodrome. It was welcoming, easy to manage, easy to get to and easy to enjoy. I had a great day and wished I could have attended more events in the park, although considering the whole long running ticket snafu I am more than happy with my attendance record. My first (and maybe only) Olympics was great and it all took place in my adopted home town! Yeah London!

Now on to the pictures...