A Day At The Olympic Park

Posted By Happy Homemaker UK

Headlines of yesterday's news

My first and last chance to visit The Olympic Park
during the Games...
A night to remember!

As if you were by my side,
here's 'our' highlights

Enjoy!

Walking Out Of Tube Station

Gates remain open for a speedy exit

Pink signage everywhere

Crowds flow out of trains to this 'end of the line' destination

All incredibly well organized

Walking To Olympic Park

Excitement builds as we see The Orbit ahead

Volunteers With Bullhorns

Along the route, volunteers with bullhorns

welcome us to the Olympics and thank us for being there

Wonderful customer service :)

Going Through Security

Airport-like security is fast and fuss-free

No liquids, food allowed, shoes on, X-Ray for bags, and walk-thru metal detectors

All with a military presence (and very friendly)

We've Arrived!

Aquatics Centre on left

Olympic Stadium straight ahead

The Orbit peeking at us

Once we are in the park

the space opens up and is not crowded

Food Vendors

Although controversial,

I'm dying to see the biggest and busiest McDonald's in the world

In its busiest time, it serves 1000 customers per hour

As it is a temporary building

most of the materials will be reused for other local building projects

after the Games

I am not sure if there is seating inside this two story building

but brilliantly there are hundreds of picnic tables on which to eat your food of choice

(picnics are very British)

This photo below shows the following:

a  non-English speaking customer pointing to what he wants to order,

items on the menu,

and 3 order stations just in this photo alone -maybe there are 100 total?-,

and the bustling kitchen behind them

Happy Meals include a plastic Olympic mascot toy

I have no wide angle lens to capture this monstrosity

Picture at least 5 images of this photo strung together to imagine its massiveness...

There are other food vendors too,

such as fish & chips, curry, sandwiches, and jacket (baked) potatoes

Inside The Stadium

Twisted fabric panels on stadium - clever

Selling programs

First View Inside

I don't think its enormity has been given justice on TV

It is GINORMOUS

and could be close to filling its 80,000 person capacity

The Events

When we applied for the tickets through the UK ticket lottery in April 2011,

we knew we would see medaling events, but didn't know which ones

We watch Women's Pole Vaulting finals

and are surprised how many competitors don't make it over the bar

I never see that on TV, and it made me appreciate how hard it must be

It is a long event that lasts the entire night

Jenn Suhr (USA) wins by clearing the bar at a height of 15'7''

Curiously, it is a male American voice announcing all the events
I wonder why
(he's actually pretty funny too)

You can bet they play the Chariots Of Fire theme often

And the crowd's cheering is deafening for the Team GB athletes :)

I really enjoy watching the Women's 3000m Steeplechase

Representing USA, Emma Coburn from Univ of Colorado - go Buffs!

Did you know those women run through water?

Doesn't that create blisters?

They hurdle too

You can see the media seats covered in plastic in background
(it was raining at times)

Funniest Moment

A cameraman runs behind the steeplechase winners in their victory lap

but quickly realizes he's being outrun and gives up

So another cameraman on a Segway takes over :)

You have to be an athlete to run a camera at the Olympics!
Yuliya Zaripova of Russia (gold) and Sofia Assefa of Ethiopia (bronze)

Cameraman in hot pursuit of winners in their victory lap

Running Events

Bins are placed at each mark
to collect the competitor's tracksuits
before each race

Here come the athletes
Some of them look so nervous, poor things!

Below we see Carmelita Jeter on the JumboTron
and on the track to the left

Look at all those people!

On your mark...

'Bang!'...

The red thingy makes the sound
I think the gun is just ceremonious

...and they're off!

Between Events
The audience does the wave

As BBC television commentators often say,
'Despite the cold and rain, the crowd's spirit cannot be dampened',
it is true!
It is cold and drizzly, but we don't care

Setting Up
Next up, the hurdles are laid out methodically

And double checked

Only detailed-oriented people need apply

I have no good hurdle race photos to share, so on to my

Biggest Surprise
which is seeing Bolt receive his medal for the race the night before
(I have no idea why he didn't receive his medal the night he won)

You can see the Olympic Flame here
Pity it can't be seen outside the stadium

The backside of the podium
Blurry - it's a big stadium and we are on the other side

There are many more races
throughout the night

But now it is 10pm
and time to go home

Goodnight, stadium

Goodnight, Orbit

Goodnight, beautiful rings backlit on the Aquatics Centre

Goodnight, lovely spectators from all over the world
with colorful flags I so adore

And goodnight to the police (in yellow) who helped keep us safe

SO. MANY. PEOPLE.

I am about to turn into a pumpkin,
so home we go via tube and then train
(2 hours, door-to-door)

And I fall fast asleep in bed
while visions of jumping, running sugar-plums dance in my head...

Nighty night ;)

- all photos by me -

Source: McDonalds, Olympic Stadium


More Summer Olympics Posts:
Olympic Beach Volleyball
London Dressed For The Olympics
Behind The Scenes: An Olympic Opening Ceremony Performer 
Summer Olympics: I Just Can't Get Enough 
The Summer Games Begin

The Olympic Torch

'Signs' The Olympics Are Coming

Let The Games Begin: An Olympic Tour in 2011