I fell in love with the Olympics. I always love the Olympics but to see all of this happening in my home country and, shock horror, to see us actually do it well and for it all to run relatively smoothly (as in there were minor cock-ups, but there always wil be) was just incredible. This was, without a doubt, the greatest sporting event of my life. I'm a Sunderland fan for f
ucks sake, is it any surprise?
I thought the opening ceremony was stunning. The athletes parade dragged and dragged and dragged as it always does but thats unavoidable. Danny Boyle deserves a medal of his own for what he did with it and it made me feel more proud than I ever have before to be British. I don't know how well certain parts were received outside of the UK but for me, it was absolutely beautiful.
I've been addicted to it for two weeks, and I was even on holiday for one of those weeks. It didnt make any difference, I still kept right up to date, even when I couldnt sit infront of it all day after work. 'Super Saturday' was a day that will be remembered here for a long, long time. Six golds in the space of a few hours and three of them in athletics. Everyone deserves praise here for that but the highlights were of course a dominating performance from Jessica Ennis that shows she could well be our future, and of course Mo Farah. Who doesn't like Mo Farah?
I'm gonna pre-order my BBC DVD today. Yes, I'm serious. This will make it even harder for me to forget some of the wonderful moments. Sir Chris of Hoy getting two more gold medals in what will probably be his last Olympics, Victoria Pendleton retiring an Olympic champion (and hopefully this is how she can come to remember these games), Brad Wiggins winning gold just weeks after winning the tour and ensuring he goes on to be our sports personality of the year (i have no doubt), Gemma Gibbons securing her medal in the judo and looking upward to mouth "I love you, mum" (some people get really cynical with this kind of stuff but Gemmas mum is deceased and, like many parents, made ends meet to support her childrens interests, in this case her daughters Judo), Andy Murray disposing of Federer in straight sets (I was so into this and was cheering every break...and I was in a little cafe in Wales with my family, surrounded by old people), Kath Grainger finally getting her gold medal at the last attempt after silvers in the previous three games.
There are too many to mention but not just Team GB, I took the time to be amazed by Usain Bolt and his double triple, David Rudisha leave the rest of the pack behind and break the 800m WR and of course the theatre surrounding Michael Phelps. After his 4th place finish and then his defeat to Chad le Cros, the media were predictably calling the end of him. Surely everyone knew that wasn't gonna be the case. He can still claim to have retired at the top. There was also the Korean badminton coach who, after the disqualification of all players involved in that debacle, was quoted as saying "China started it!" which I thought was a lovely quote. And speaking of highlights, theres also
Chads dad.
The closing ceremony was always going to be hit and miss. I think thats exactly what it ended up being. Again, I dont know how it was received outside of the UK but there wasnt much of a lean on British culture at this one, just lots of music. That means the NBC commentators shouldnt have had too much trouble with this one, not like apparently failing to recognise who Tim Berners-Lee was and so instructing people to "Google him", which is rather ironic. I can only hope that story was distorted and exaggerated and isn't exactly true.
Well done London. All the athletes, the organisers, the police, the volunteers, the general public, the BBC for absolutely unreal coverage and for everyone involved. I will be beaming with pride and patriotism for quite some time.