The Paralympics. Bring on the Superhumans…

We travelled again to London on the 31st August, only a couple of days into the paralympic games. I have to say we didnt get as in to the opening ceremony as we did with the Olympics but going to the park the atmosphere was the same.  This time we all went, grandparents included and going into the park had the same magical feel.

We were thrilled to have tickets to the Velodrome, the best tickets in the park!! Despite being warned about the heat in there, nothing really prepared us for the humidity and heat when the doors opened. We had to wait to get in large groups at a time so that the environmental temperature wasn’t disrupted too much. The velodrome is SUCH an amazing building. I took my fish eye lens with me but to be honest the design of it with its curves and long continuous lines it almost does a fish eye without the lens.

The excitement was tangible. We had flags and we were ready to shout. We had great seats and looking down into the warm up area of the stalls we could see all the athletes going through their stretches, massage and slowly cycling their warm up bike round while keeping an eye on the action unfolding on the track. We knew that there was a lot of British interest and we also knew we would see a couple of finals and some medal ceremonies. The velodrome had this very cool system of getting people quiet which involved the faces of some very famous celebrities appearing and shhhhhhhing the crowd. The kids absolutely loved it.

The first event was the time trial…knowing that there was a British guy lying first in the qualifying rounds increased the excitement for everyone and we waited and waited to see the last rider to go.

But then disaster struck as Jody Cundy slipped coming out of the gate and stopped for a re-start but wasn’t given it and was disqualified. The downside of not watching on TV was that we had no commentators warning us what may happen and we suddenly realised he had been disqualified as the  loud speaker pronounced the athlete who had raced before Jody as the Gold medalist. A brief stunned silence followed by gasps and then the inevitable boos resonated around the capacity crowd.  Then the pressure cooker just blew for Cundy and in the athlete waiting area, things were thrown, shouts, swearing and we all watched, feeling a little bit like we shouldn’t. Such a powerful and poignant display of disappointment, the anger at years and years work thrown away. Fortunately we were up in the second balcony so could only hear shouting and not the exact language he used, one of the good things about not being camera close!. He did return at the end of the session and apologise to the crowd. Something which was met with warm applause and appreciation but i think most people understood anyhow.

The pursuit final we saw was exciting and inspirational. So many times i was staggered at how strong, able and bloody fast these disabled athletes could go. At one point my OH looked over the kids heads at me and mouthed ‘that guy has one leg? how is that fair?’ when the competitor seems to have two legs. I shrugged my shoulders as we watched the rider with one leg power past and win the pursuit and then ultimately the gold. It was remarkable.

We watched David Colbourne win his gold medal.  I can safely say im not sure all of us could have shouted any louder. At one point i found myself yelling ‘GO FASTER!” over the metal barrier in front of us. That moment i remembered an interview with one of paralympic team GB when they said they would love it if people would not see the disability but just get behind them as an athlete..job done. We were all behind him as he started to gain time on his competitor. The noise was awesome, the force of noise following him around the track like a tidal wave must have felt incredible. His lap of honour was met with banners, flags, flashes and him being chased by press photographers along the track. Superstars being made.

Singing the national anthem when he got his medal with the kids and the giant choir in the velodrome is a memory that will stay with me forever…

It truly was inspirational, the athletes, the atmosphere, the achievement.

We left, back through the park. Stopping to dance at  a brass band and watch the words in water fall from the bridge. Walking away from the stadium felt like closing a book after the most exciting story you have read for a long time. Now we knew the ending, we had walked it, experienced it, photographed it and written our own small part of history…

Its time to see what happens next.

 

 

 

 

 

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Olympic Story part 4..

i realise some of my readers (if there are any out there??!) may be starting to get a bit sick of my olympic updates. Well im happy for you to pass this one by. I am, truthfully, documenting it for us and our family, which to be honest is why i write this blog when it comes down to it. 🙂

So….coming out of the Aquatic centre was a bit like leaving wembley after a concert…not the sort of thing you would generally see as a ‘must do’  experience with three small kids. So i took hold of my 3 year olds hand and made sure the older girls walked in front of me.  We made it out, found the water fountains and met up with the boys.

It was a busy day in the park, im sure there weren’t too many quite ones tbh but this was a big ticket day. Chris Hoy, Usain Bolt, just to name a few and so the numbers thronging round the park never seemed to die down. While we were in the Aquatic centre we kept hearing a noise that i had thought was thunder or a plane going over..when we came out we realised that it was in fact the noise from the athletic stadium. Mr. Bolt was in ‘da house’ 🙂

At the end of the morning session of athletics it became very congested. i guess a sudden influx of 80,000 people will do that. We had an idea of going to sit on the hill and eat our lunch where the big screen shows the events unfolding and to be honest i was a bit surprised to see a queue to get in. We decided against the queue and sat on an available bench near the incredible Velodrome and listened to the roars and shouts from the various venues that were near us.

We strode round the park, which is MASSIVE. It was lovely seeing people in amazing outfits…there to support their country. It was a big scandinavian day obviously and i loved how supporters dressed in their national dress would stop and pose for photographs. We walked along pathways lined with wild flowers in a wonderfully typical english summer type way. My girls oo’h and ahh’d at the exceptionally well trained police horses. The kids took a while jumping across the coloured spots area on the way out of the park. But lingering seemed to be encouraged. There was little presentations and buskers dotted around the park. This was, after all, for most of us a once in a lifetime and it was good to be able to soak up the atmosphere.

We left the park, passing by the fountain which displayed words of inspiration and hope that were spelled out by the droplets of water as they fell.  Tired but still smiling it was the end of our Olympic Story for now.

But we would be back.

This is part of my somewhat lame attempt to link up with my friend older single mum..you can find out about her challenge by clicking the lovely little link box below….

one week

 

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its saturday caption day…

its all about the caption today…hmm wondering what is going on here. Please leave a caption and maybe what you think of my new look! What’dyathink?

and don’t forget to head over and see the mama of the Satcap by clicking the link below 🙂

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Our Olympic Story – part 1

I have been a bit MIA through the summer…i think i might have said that before.

Times when i could have blogged..sort of got sucked up by ‘ooh ill just put the olympics/paralympics on’ and shoooosh that time is sucked into a vortex. Im trying to get back into the swing of things but i am struggling with finding the time. I have to sleep folks…there i said it…even though there are days and nights when i don’t…if i could run on 4 hours sleep then I would be okay..but 6 hours is my minimum really and lately that has been rare….

BUT…Im keen to not let this amazing summer of sport and fabulous moments of history pass by un- documented. We were lucky enough to go to both the Olympic and Paralympic games and so as my twitter and blog friend Older single mum is doing a feature link called #oneweek where you document about the same subject and use photographs for one week. That is going to be my focus this week. My aim is to document our olympic experiences throughout the summer over this week. It has defined our summer so it seems right.

It might take me longer than a week if im honest..im working tonight and i have a certain little girls birthday at the end of the week..but ill just keep going till im done.

So today……it began one very early morning…

We went to London on the 7th August for the morning session of diving and Handball..me and the girls went to the Aquatic Centre and OH and son went to the Copper box. There was much excitement the night before and even in the morning despite the early start. We were kitted out with TeamGB T shirts, socks and face paints! Ready to shout for our side!

One thing struck me on the train, (we are lucky enough to be able to stay with my parents and catch the Javelin train to London which takes an amazing 35 minutes…just about right amount of time for a wriggly toddler to cope with)..anyway the train was packed..people in games maker outfits, others with flags of different nations draped across their shoulders, hats, banners..it was like going to a party. The train attendant stopped to ask the kids what we were going to see…you could see others listening in…curious and then smiling at the kids enthusiasm as they replied. “we are going to see Tom Daley!!”

There was a sense of ease which i havent encountered travelling in London before…yes it was FULL as London always it..but it was friendly. Families, couples, friends and the odd athlete  (yes we saw one very famous one on the escalator up to the park 😉 ) all heading to the same party with the same goal. To enjoy the atmosphere and soak up a bit of that olympic spirit.

and so far we were doing just that…..

 

 

one week

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