Thursday, August 02, 2012

The Olympics - 10m womens & mens shooting at Woolwich, 28 July

The Olympics are on here in London and luckily for us, Mr and I have snaffled some tickets. The funny thing is, you apply for them so far in advance, we barely remembered what we were scheduled to go to. Now that they are here, they have exceeded our expectations.

I think it's kind of embarrassing to gush, but the Olympic venues are fab, the traffic is light, all the volunteers are so nice, and well, it's like living in an alternate universe London. Where people help you if you're lost and are generally jolly. Where lots of things are painted in very bright colours, and where one-eyed cyclops dance around for your amusement.

On Saturday, we left Junior Gig in the capable hands of our babysitter Lizzy, and headed off to Woolwich on the bus. We didn't do the 8:15 start, as I'm not really a morning person. Chatted with the squaddies on security, and went into the grounds.

I thought the venue would've incorporated a historical building or two, but the site instead had these cool cubes as buildings. Big white marshmallows with different coloured spots. We looked around a bit and then joined the large queue forming outside the finals building. The biggest one with red spots.

Got inside, and then we waited. They shows these informational videos about the sport you're about to watch, which is helpful. I had no idea about shooting. Then a brass band came on, and then Wenlock the mascot did a bit of soft shuffle to the music. Luckily for me, the 10M air pistol is not a loud gun. Pop pop pop. I had brought some earplugs, which Mr mocked me for.

The Chinese contestant Guo Wenjun won, and we watched as they took away the shooting range, and put up the medal podium. Aw. It was nice to see. I always think of how proud their mums must be. It was also the first medal of the entire London Olympics. How cool is that?

There was a Chinese fan contingent and they went a bit mental, waving their giant flag and jumping up and down. Mr took a photo of them.

After the final we had a coffee and watched men shoot coloured clay things into dust while we ate our sarnies, during the break. Then, it was back to the queue, where the band came along and played for us while we read our papers. Got back into the cube, where we watched men shoot. South Korea won.

When it was done, Wenlock shuffled forlornly without the band to accompany him while we waited for the medal stand to be put up. It seemed whenever he was done, he would consult with a nearby minder. Nod, and then do a little more softshoeing. Poor fella. The men seemed to be worse shots, but Mr pointed out that they did it one-handed while the women did it with both hands.

Marks out of 10: 8, particularly for the dancing mascot