Double-Decker Post

By Leah (2012 Host)

Gamesmaker to Spectator

Once the Gamesmaking finished, it’s been fun to be a spectator at some of the venues, and at home when my TV reception cooperates.

Lots of us are describing a similar type of Olympics Time Warp  – only being at home to sleep, forgetting to shop for groceries, not being in touch with friends and family, and every day being about the Games, only talking and reading about the Games, and trying to hold down non-Games-related, full-time day jobs!

We feel so lucky to have this experience to see sports we would otherwise not necessarily go to see. The acronym POD is being used and we are all expecting its onset (Post-Olympics Depression).

Here are some photos from Beach Volleyball last Saturday. I also went to Table Tennis on Monday but didn’t take many photos. Just of the wakeboarding class going on near the ExCel Centre and the new Thames cable car.

Beach Volleyball takes place in Horse guards parade, just down the road from the Queen’s humble abode. The Union Jack and the Olympic flags are lining the Mall. There are sand sculptures, practice courts and statues of famous volleyball athletes all around St. James’s Park. The main arena fits 15,000 spectators. Dancers in beachwear perform during timeouts and breaks, music plays the whole time and the announcer keeps the crowd laughing. Gamesmaker rakers even out the sand when needed and keep the court’s pink border visible.

We had a blast in such a party atmosphere, and enjoyed watching the solo photo session by a fan two rows in front of us, sporting a hat full of Olympic pins, keen to document his attendance in the arena!

The winning German team we saw are in the Men’s gold medal match against Brazil (Emanuel Rego of statue fame). And congrats to Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh on their gold medal hat trick

It Was All New to Us

We learned up on handball before attending the men’s quarterfinal between Denmark and Sweden Wednesday night. It’s an interesting mix of a few familiar sports, very fast paced, and dozens of goals scored.

Since artistic gymnastics has finished, basketball moved to the o2 (the North Greenwich Arena), so bigger crowds could go to the final games, and similarly handball moved from the Copper Box to the Basketball Arena.

The Park was very crowded when I got there around 4 p.m. The Royal Barge Gloriana is there, having brought the torch part of the way there (before David Beckham sped it over the rest of the way). If you watched the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Flotilla, it is the barge that led the procession.

There were long lines to get into Park Live, where spectators on the riverbanks can watch live feeds of events on a big doublesided screen.

It was mostly a Danish crowd in the arena, but Sweden prevailed. I liked the Swedish coach’s matching sneakers – the assistant coaches were all wearing boring white ones. The Swedish goalie did a balletic jump on one penalty throw. An American cheerleading squad performed at halftime but the announcer did not mention their school or home state. The game was tied most of the time so it was a very exciting finish.

We walked around afterward until the sun started setting, and it was wonderful seeing the venues’ lights come on. We could hear the cheers coming from The Riverbank Arena where The Netherlands beat New Zealand in a penalty shootout in field hockey, and the Stadium where some decathlon events were taking place.

I am not sure I will get back to the Park during the Paralympics because of the other volunteering. I am lucky to have been there twice in the past couple of weeks. We are all curious to see what the Park, the permanent venues and the Olympic Village apartments will be like in the years to come.