Great Britain 1, New Zealand 0

The arrival to London was nice and easy.  Within 20 minutes I was through security and baggage claim, and happy to see my friends Emily and Christopher who were nice enough to pick me up!  It was a great time catching up, but sleep was necessary too!

On Tuesday it was off to Cardiff, spending the day with friends enjoying the awesome weather.

Wednesday was the first big day.  Something that I had been waiting for… for a very long time.

After a quick stop at Cardiff’s Olympic ring display…

 

We (being Ruth and her husband Gareth, as well as my penpal Mark and his eldest son Will) met up at the front of Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales at around 3pm.  We had been warned and had duly read the security briefing on the London 2012 website and as such we got through lickety split.  I have made notes for the future events!

There is something magical entering this stadium.  In fact, it could be any stadium.  You come to the realization that it’s something you’ve dreamed of as a little kid, something you started fantasizing about six years ago, something that you started the wheels in motion for three years ago, something you realized was going to happen a year ago, something you exited a plane across the ocean for two days ago, something you woke up to on this morning.

For you, it could be anything.

For me, it was going to the Olympics.

When we entered the stadium and got to our (pretty darn decent) seats, I had to pinch myself.  The time had finally arrived. We got to watch the warm up, and being that Team GB was playing, there was an extra air of excitement going around.

At 4 pm, the game started.  Gareth, Ruth’s husband, was the unofficial cheering guy in our section.  OGGIE OGGIE OGGIE! (OY! OY! OY!).  It worked so well with the atmosphere.

 

Football is a nice departure from the North American sports world, with the added bonus of being at the Olympics, because two things are prevalent.  First, football is played in 45 minutes halves and save for the addition of injury time, they JUST PLAY THE GAME.  Secondly, all you could see was Olympic 2012 signage – no advertisements.

 

The game itself was very exciting… especially when the GB team member scored in the 65th minute to count the only goal of the match.  GB 1-NZ 0.  Very tight, close match.  It really could have gone either way.

Following up was Cameroon/Brazil… wasn’t even close, 5-0 Brazil was your winner.  They were partying on the streets afterwards!

And there you have it… one event down, eight to go.  Up next: Tuesday and women’s soccer, CANADA vs. Sweden!!!!

Cheers,

Vick :)

The Backstory

My first memories of the Olympics are from Calgary in 1988.  I was living in a little town north of Kingston, Ontario and for whatever reason we couldn’t see the Olympic torch when it ran through… so my parents made sure to take me to the next town to see it.  I think that they yanked me out of school to see it… but as a current teacher I don’t really want to confirm that.

Other memories, as I sit on the plane with other London-bound travelers, some of whom are probably coming over for the Olympics as well, are flooding back right now.  Ben Johnson’s rise, then fall, in Seoul in 1988.  My grandfather letting me know that Silken Laumann had won the bronze medal in rowing after her crash months earlier in Barcelona in 1992.  Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in Lillehammer in 1994.  Donovan Bailey’s massive win in Atlanta in 1996.  Watching every single minute of Sydney 2000 Olympic coverage in the last year of university.  Cramming 17 people into a residence room in France to watch Canada beat the US in the Salt Lake City games in 2002.  Witnessing the Australian short track speed skater seemingly come out of nowhere to win in that same games.  Hooking up the cable in the grade nine French class I was teaching to watch Brad Gushue’s team bring home gold to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2006 from Turin.  Seeing the triumph of Eric Lamaze, Ian Millar and the rest of the equestrian team take gold in Beijing in 2008.  Once again being present to the flame running through my (new) hometown in 2010, and then watching medal win after medal win from afar during the Vancouver 2010.

And now I arrive at the London 2012 games.  As I had mentioned in my other blog, one of the main purposes of taking the 2009-2010 school year off was to go to Vancouver to volunteer.  It didn’t really pan out, but what did take place during the fall of 2009 was the groundwork for the London games.  My friend, who lives on the outskirts of London said that she and her husband would be very happy to have me stay at their place (thanks, Em and Chris!).  In 2011 the mobilization for tickets began… and although we were not victorious during the first request, we strategized and picked different events and got the first tickets in June 2011!

Since then it has been, for me, a fun treasure hunt to get more tickets.  In fact, I’ve got nine events to go and see!  To wit:

Wednesday July 25^th – Women’s Football in Cardiff – GB/NZ and Brazil/Cameroon.  This is also the first event of the Olympics!

Tuesday, July 31^st – Women’s Football in Newcastle – CANADA/Sweden and France/Colombia

Friday, Aug 3^rd – Women’s Basketball in London – teams tba

Monday, August 6^th – Canoe/Kayak sprint in Buckinghamshire in the morning, Men’s Beach Volleyball in London in the evening.

Tuesday August 7^th – Men’s 3m Springboard Diving semi-finals in the morning, Athletics in the evening.

Wednesday, August 8^th – Men’s Court Volleyball

Thursday, August 9^th – Women’s Football Gold Medal game

As you can see, it’s going to be a wild time.  But I can’t wait.

In fact, I can, because I’ve been waiting years for this opportunity, and a few more days isn’t going to hurt.

Cheers,

Vick.