Saturday August 4th

Day 8 – We are up at 6am, this Olympic Journey of ours is
harder than work itself in getting oneself out of bed. We are however like a
military operation now and we are ready with another variation on a GB outfit,
3 flags ready to go (Julie has managed not to lose any more). We join the
throng crowds heading for Olympic Park,
apparently this was going to be the busiest day there so far with over 250,000+
people there if not more.

As ever we are greeted by the volunteers and soldiers who
have also been great at every venue, yet more airport security and we are through
and in. We are ushered into the park with singing and high five’s encouraged.

We have two events today some water polo and the athletics later
(what a night it’s going to be!!!)

We have something to eat and decide to buy some Olympic
merchandise. Julie decides to go for a water polo t-shirt, Miss O for a white
polo shirt (why white I hear you ask, she will need a bib at meal times). The
nice girl takes payment then realises she has put an item through twice.
Apparently they have a convoluted process for refunds so we buy more items to
the value of another t-shirt, we go for
an Olympic rubber duck, a GB Wenlock mascot who will now be coming everywhere
with us and an Olympic cap. The poor girl could not be more apologetic and we
tell her not to worry but we will tell the rest of the park to watch out for
the dodgy sales people at the water polo. We then have something to eat and
drink, that must be £100 gone already today and it’s only 9am.

We head into the water polo, fab seats only 3 rows back.
Trudy there is a volunteer who has to dive into the pool and place the ball in
the centre, not much of a uniform but perhaps you should have got that role!!!!
Not sure what to expect but the games are very fast and furious, the players
have to tread water and swim for the duration of the game, there seems to be
much ducking under the water. We watch Montenegro beat Romania and Croatia beat
Australia. The uniforms for this sport are swimming trunks (so we think we have
found something for everyone with the photos this time as even if you don’t like sport you may like the men’s bottoms in
their trunks). The other part of their uniforms are rather less flattering
bonnets they have to wear with large ear protectors.

After the water polo we have time to fill before the athletics
later. We wander round the vast Olympic Park, it is huge and crowded and we don’t
do crowds well so once done with wandering we take a breather in a quieter area
to the edge of the park near the hockey arena, think this will be our base on
future visits. We struggle for a while with the scale of the place but
eventually settle and have a chat with a family who are also going to the
athletics.

Miss O finally gets her Thai, they were running out most
places she tried but she got some eventually. We enter the stadium. As it steadily
filled the atmosphere built and anticipation mounted. We were hoping for a
least one gold, maybe two, who could ever believe we would get three,
especially after such another awesome day in the rowing and cycling.

We watched the men’s 400m hurdles semi and the woman’s 40m,
as well as the woman’s 100m heats, the woman’s discus was also going on. The
long jump started part way through the discus.

As we waited for Jess to take to the track the stadium
seemed to come together as one to unite in its support for Team GB and the face
of the Olympics. She didn’t let us down, she ran in an assured and confident
manner and crossed the line to scintillating applause and glee from everyone in
the stadium. The whole group of athletes in the heptathlon do a lap of honour
and they were all cheered round on a mutual lap of honour.

In the meantime Greg Rutherford had been in the lead for
most of the long jump. Mo Farah then entered the arena for what was to be an
epic 10,000m. The noise in the stadium swelled for every GB athlete and bought
a tingle to the spine and gave you goose bumps. A few laps in and Greg has won
the long jump, the crowd goes ballistic again, can we win three, can we believe
we are here seeing this unfold and happen in front of us. Miss O has taken a slightly
better vantage point by this time for photos and is nearly in with the camera
man, yes we were quite a way back.

As the race builds (we cannot believe how quick they run
this distance, it is amazing to witness), the final couple of laps approach,
the wave of noise intensifies, I will have absolutely no voice tomorrow. The
final lap is under way and the noise ups again and the whole 80,000 people are
cheering on Mo Farah, the final bend and straight approached and the noise bellows
him home. His wife and daughter rush to congratulate him.

Everyone around us is amazed, elated, and unable to explain
quite what it feels like, to be here while that happened will stay with us
forever. Another lap of honour for team GB.

The woman’s 100m is the last race, it seems like a non-event
to some extent even though the speed those girls run at is amazing to behold.
After the discuss victory ceremony we wait for Jess to come back to receive her
medal. Seb Coe is there to present it with other Olympic officials; the crowd give
him a huge ovation

Then to the most emotional moment of the evening – the
heptathlon medal ceremony – you could not even hear Jess Ennis be announced as
gold medal winner for the noise in the stadium. 
What a wonderful end to someone who has worked so hard and overcome so
much and coped with the pressure of being the ‘face of the games’ – the very
least that the crowd could do for her was sing the national anthem!!!!!!!! You just can’t put into words the amazing
atmosphere in the stadium. It was like
watching a highly charged football match with everyone in the stadium
supporting the same team with a pride and passion for their country.......

What a fantastic day the athletics was just amazing and
incredibly difficult to put into words.  
Our athletes were amazing this evening. 
Jess Ennis what an amazing woman with all that pressure to succeed did she buckle did she
hell, as she ran around the stadium all you could hear was a Mexican wave of
noise to a massive crescendo at the end. 
Mo Farah again the wave of noise followed him around each lap of the 25
around the stadium again to a crescendo of noise when he won.

Greg Rutherford won gold in the long jump which as far as we
were concerned was a wonderful surprise.

We leave the stadium after chatting with others, who all
agree you cannot put into words what we have experienced. We decide to stay and
have a beer afterwards to wait for the crowds to ease, crowds gather where the
TV interviews are held and more cheering for Jess, Greg and Mo continue. A chant for Ennis and a chant for Mo which
went a bit like Farah, Farah, Farahdise (yes there is a song there somewhere). We chat to more fans and no-one wants this day
to end.

Eventually we wander out of the park, get on the tube back
and sit there quite in awe of what we have experienced. We get back and have a
glass of wine to celebrate, we are tired and weary but also buzzing with a
feeling we cannot explain, we watch highlights and interviews and eventually
crash.

We have been so, so lucky to get tickets to such an amazing
event, this to date has topped the lot.

No tickets tomorrow, bit of a chill day, hoping to catch up
with friends, washing (we can’t run out of Team GB kit!) and our sleep!!