I’ve been looking forward to this day for nearly a year now since I knew I had tickets for one of the biggest nights of athletics at this year’s Olympics… and it didn’t disappoint..
Firstly, the Olympic Park is MASSIVE… we got there a few hours early but such was the amount of people there and distance between vensus added to temperatures in the 80s, we didn’t really manage to get a good look around…
Never mind – the action inside the stadium made up for it… with a world record 800metres for Kenyan, David Rudisha, who led from start to finish in 1:40:91 in a what is being hailed as the best 800m of all time followed up by a stonking men’s 200m won by the incredible Usain Bolt in 19:32sec - followed home by his two compatriots, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir making it a Jamaican 1, 2 and 3..
Notwithstanding that – there was also the final of the men’s triple jump (won by American Christian Taylor) final of the women’s javelin (won by Czech Barbora Spotakova), and men’s decathlon final (won by American Ashton Eaton) plus semi-finals of the women’s 800metres and semi-finals of the women’s 4x100 metres plus a number of gold medal ceremonies held over from the previous night (incidentally all were US gold medalists…)
As the athletics ended, we noticed the security folk were a little off guard and took advantage to slip into the players/coaches enclosure and made our way down to track level at the end of the 100m straight and joined in with the Czech and German javelin throwers celebrating their gold and silver medals with the families and team…
Brilliant night which ended with us wandering around the park until 1am before heading over Westfield shopping centre, scoffing some noodles ande bumping into Spanish synchronised swimming, Ona Carbonell Ballestero, who was walking around with her silver medal around her neck..!!
Sounds like you had a fantastic day Andy , ... Had to laugh at the thought of that guy wandering around with his silver medal on ... " risky" I would say lol. Nice shot too
when i saw you FB pic of your stadium position I was only just a tad jealous you were close to the flame!! Glad you had a great night - It is such an awesome place isn't it? So glad I got to go inside too - and gutted it's nearly over!! Love this shot
This is so amazing. I saw it on my phone or IPAD...small, so I could not see what exactly it was! I thought it looked like a painting at the top. now I see what is going on with the heat waves and the crowd! This is terrific! Sounds like you had a good night!
I love your capture of the flames!
(wow)