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Published: June 20th 2017
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The best moment of the London Olympics for me occurred on
Saturday, August 4, when I listened to “The Star Spangled Banner” being played
as the American flag was being raised to celebrate the victory of an American
athlete who had just won a gold medal in shooting. What was amazing for me was
that I did not even have a ticket to the session where this occurred. Being at
the right place at the right time resulted in me becoming a spectator to this
triumphal occasion.
I purchased tickets to twelve Games sessions. Not expectedly
the prices of tickets for sessions where medals are awarded are significantly
greater than for tickets to non-medal sessions. This price difference can be
100%!o(MISSING)r more with emphasis on “more”. Consequently all of my tickets were for
non-medal sessions. One gets a lot of sporting entertainment for the dollar by
sticking with preliminary round sessions.
One of the tickets that I purchased was a general
admission grounds
pass to the Royal Artillery Barracks where the shooting competitions were
taking place. These shooting events include shotgun trap, shotgun sheet, air
rifle, air pistol, 50 meter rifle, and 25 meter pistol, among others. Men and
women compete separately. I had the option to purchase an upgraded grounds pass
that included a medal ceremony but declined because of the cost.
On Saturday I went to the shooting venue where I spent the morning
watching the elimination round in women's trap shooting. When this was over I
walked to the 50 meter rifle range where the qualifying round for women's 50 meter
three position rifle shooting was taking place. The field had to be narrowed to
eight competitors for the final.
Admission to the final round required an upgraded grounds
pass which I had not purchased. However, in the course of bantering with some
of the volunteers it was revealed that there was a fear that the final round
would not draw a full house so folks who had the lesser ticket would be
admitted for no additional cost on a first come first served basis 15 minutes
prior to the start of the final round. As luck would have it I was admitted to
the Rifle and Pistol Finals Hall as the venue
is named. The venue was about 90%
full when I entered, and it was completely full by the time that the
competition started.
The rest is for the record book: Jamie Lee Gray of the USA
out shot seven competitors in the 50 meter three position rifle competition.
For this I was so happy.
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Joan Davis
non-member comment
Way to go, George! So glad you were able to get into the final round and see the awarding of the championship medals. How exciting!