The Olympics - Diving!

Intially, we were wary about the Olympics coming to the London; the cost, the hassle, winning hardly any medals....

The Magnificent Athletics Stadium

But as time inched closer, a hubbub began about the Oympics. Signposts went up, flags were hung down Oxford Street, PR campaigns began, and a buzz began. We decided that we'd like to at least sample the atmosphere, and registered for tickets (about the time the 3rd round of balloting began). As for sports, as neither of us are hugely sporty, we were pretty easygoing as to what we would see, but after chatting about it, we decided we'd like to see the Olympic Park (after our disasterous attempt earlier) and hubby would like to experience the Swimming or the Diving. Hearing that more tickets were being released gradually, I kept an eye out, and managed to snag a couple of cheapie tickets to the Men's 3m Springboard Preliminaries. The session was even an evening one, so no disruption or time off - bonus!

So after work last night, off we trotted. What a place.

C'mon GB!!!

The Aquatics Centre:

Zahar Hadid's beautifully undulating roof inside the aquatics centre... though it did block the viewing for anyone watching the high-diving 10m board. Fail.

Not seats for the height-wary, but armed with binoculars and the kindly provided big screens with updates and slow motion re-takes, we probably had better seats than the judges.

I love my 'baby' Camera - a EXR550. LOOK at that ZOOM!

The Muscles on these lads is incredible.

The athletes are incredible. The sheer elegance of the twists and turns they force their bodies into so sharply is amazing. The atmosphere, which is really what we went for, was something else. The roar of the crowd as their divers lined up for their dives was simply electric, then utter silence - not a cough not a sniffle, then the excited applause was awe inspiring. Especially when the GB boys took the platform.

 Once we saw the Diving, we wandered around the Straford end of the Park:

 

Homeward bound :(

Todays Workout: 45 minutes moderate walking around the Park, 10 minutes up the 10 or so flights of stairs up to our seats, Jaw-dropping watching the Divers.