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Published: July 31st 2012
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Pictures (very few) are updated from yesterday. A little light on pictures from today due to an issue with the camera. We used our back-up, but we won’t be able to download those until we get home. Still a good first glimpse into the Aquatic Centre…Basketball Arena pictures will have to wait!
We woke up early this morning in order to begin Day 1 at the 30
thSummer Olympic Games here in London. There are two events on our Agenda today (both at Olympic Park), Swimming and Basketball.
The day was really special for a lot of reasons. First, let us say how organized the transportation system was this morning for tens of thousands of Games and regular passengers on the subway, trains and high-speed trains. We actually had a fire investigation on the main line into Olympic Park this morning but you would have never known it. We had the option of two alternate routes and got to our event and through the airport style security in no time.
There is nothing quite like entering an Olympic Park. The excitement and energy is something that is simply difficult to describe in words. Such hope and positive emotions.
Every person there for different reasons, but everyone there for one singular reason – to support athletics and the power of athletics to bring countries together.
The grounds of the Olympic Park are beautiful, really straight out of Home & Garden Magazine. Not a single blade of grass out of place. The venues are stunning and everything is polished and clean for the big show.
Our first event was at the Aquatic Centre, home of all Swimming and Diving events. There is so much behind the scenes that you don’t see on TV, but the work and effort that goes into providing a truly amazing television viewing experience is mind boggling. They also treat the spectators extremely well and even though you may wait for an hour for your event to start, you would never know it with the pre-show reels and interactive hosts.
Today’s morning heats at swimming included the Men’s 100m Freestyle, Women’s 200m Butterfly, Men’s 200m Breaststroke and Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. It was great on our first day to get to cheer for Canadian in each and every swimming event – all while decked out in our Olympic gear and waving
the Canadian Flag. We are pleased to report that in each event this morning at least one Canadian swimmer qualified for the Semi-Finals (a top 16 placing). The top 8 times from the Semis advance to the finals for potential medals.
The swimming was fast and we watched a number of really close races! The excitement of the home crowd when a Team GB swimmer comes up on the blocks gives you chills every time. You can’t help but want to cheer for the home team!
After swimming, we made our way to the Basketball Arena for our first of two basketball games.
Before Basketball though, we happened to be going by just as NBC's Today Show was beginning. We hung out with Matt Lauer and the gang while they were taping a segment with former Olympic gymnasts Nastia Lukin and Shawn Johnson. We sent out some quick e-mails and texts to alert people and apparently it worked - Brenda was able to watch us on the Today Show...awesome! Did we mention how skinny Matt Lauer is in person...even Al is looking good!
Our first game was Nigeria vs. Lithuania. When you hear those countries, you
don’t immediately think ‘big basketball countries’, but in fact, Lithuania has won a number of bronze medals at the Olympic games in Basketball – as recently as Athens in 2004.
We originally started out in the nose-bleed section, two rows from the very top. But then something really cool happened. Prior to the game Will was e-mailing Stephen Seibel, a fellow referee from British Columbia that has helped at University Camps and other Canadian Basketball Officials Training – Will and him had been in contact prior to the games but we weren’t sure when he would be working. Sure enough, he came out to do that game – what are the odds? We noticed some (a lot) of empty seats in one section which happened to be the Olympic Family section (generally reserved for accredited athletes, coaches, officials, etc.)…at half time of the game, we moved down there to get a better view of Steve and the game. As fate would have it, we were able to stay and watched the rest of the game with members of the Canadian Women’s Basketball team. Amazing seats and a really incredible experience. Steve called a great game and it is no
surprise he was asked to officiate the Gold Medal game at the 2008 Olympics in China. It won’t surprise us at all if he does back to back Gold Medal games – Go Canada!
If that wasn’t enough…we go to stay in that same section for the next game to watch Great Britain play Brazil. Team GB is not a perennial power house, in fact, they are ranked 43
rd in the world, while Brazil was ranked 15
th going into the game. With the help of a home crowd of over 15,000 spectators we watched in awe as Team GB kept in within 5 points right until the dying moments of the game. The lead changed multiple times and they were in it right until the end.
Ultimately, Lithuania and Brazil were victorious and will move on to play in the quarter finals.
After a busy day in the park, we had some dinner and headed home to prepare for tomorrow. We will be up early again, heading to Stonehenge, before staking out a spot for the Cycling Time Trail.
Goodnight from London,
Kristy & Will
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