London 2012: experiencing the Olympics

This Olympic sport is very distracting.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the excitement of these London games. Amazing scenes. Inspiring performances. But it does get in the way of other things – blogging, getting work done etc. I sit down to write and there is something important happening in the velodrome. I deal with that and there is a crucial medal race at Eton Dorney. I get a break and end up watching the tight finish of a women’s basketball match. And so on..

Seriously, I’m not complaining! It has been fabulous. As I write this Andy Murray is collecting his gold medal for the men’s singles tennis. The events of this weekend have almost as if they have been scripted. Hollywood rarely presents such compelling drama.

I was blown away by the opening ceremony. I actually found it deeply moving. It was so cleverly done and contained so many ideas that I am still trying to work through what it all meant.

My main personal experience was going to watch a session of weightlifting at the ExCel. That turned out to be a pretty amazing day. I’m planning to write that up in a moment.

I had managed to get my parents tickets to get close to the sailing action with entry to the Nothe on Monday. They tell me that they had a really enjoyable long weekend down in Weymouth.

Otherwise I’ve been soaking up the action via the BBC’s (far too) comprehensive coverage.

Next week i have some further chances to experience the Olympic atmosphere as I have some tickets for the women’s football. While I’m disappointed that the GB team have gone out in that competition, I’m very much looking forward to France v Japan at Wembley tomorrow.

This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.