Why Are Our Women Athletes Good At Heptathlon?
I’m just watching the start of the Olympic women’s heptathlon and we had three in the field.
I do mind it strange that we do so well in this event, especially when it is compared to our performances in other athletic events.
It would be easy to blame Dame Mary Peters for her inspiring performance in Munich in the pentathlon. Did she inspire the previous generation, who are now the coaches and parents? But over the last few years, the good performers have just kept coming.
The Public Olympics
Because it’s in the UK, we are seeing much more about the home life of British athletes. And often their mothers.
The Games Of The British Underdogs
This is becoming very much a games where some of the British medals have been won by athletes who were not fancied and have had tremendous difficulty getting to the Games at all.
Outstanding is probably Gemma Gibbons in the judo, who won an unexpected silver after the death of her mother to leukaemia a few years ago, then had a difficult draw.
I know they haven’t won a medal, but at least they’ve won a match for the first time. But the trials and tribulations of the Volleyball team have been enormous, as detailed in The Sun, in the paper’s inimitable manner.
Remember what Mark Twain said, “It’s not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog”
Painted Nails
Many of the female athletes and even the Canadian men, are getting flags painted on their nails.
I hope the British get their Union Flags put on the right way up!
As to the Canadian men, perhaps Monty Python was right!
The Visitor Paradox
We have pointers that show that London is not as busy as it normally is at this time of the year.
- The buses aren’t full.
- Trafalgar Square is emptier than usual.
- The Emirates Air-Line isn’t busy.
- There is moaning about empty restaurants.
- I did try a hotel site and found there are rooms available.
- I bet too, the taxi drivers aren’t happy.
- I’ve not had any difficulty getting a seat on the Underground lately.
On the other hand, the public seats at the venues are generally full and I’ve been in two 70,000 plus crowds at Wembley this week. Some tickets too are unobtainable, although others are still to be picked up in small numbers on the web site.
We won’t really know until we see the full statistics for things like transport spend and bed occupation to know what has actually happened.
But could London have created a totally different type of Olympics to what we’ve seen in the past few Games?
- London has masses of free attractions like museums, galleries and parks. So have many visitors decided that a visit to the National Gallery is better than spending money on an expensive lunch?
- London is a day trip away from a vast area of Northern Europe. So have people decided to fly in or take the train for a day or so and spent the money saved on tickets?
- London has a vast expatriate community. It is for example, the sixth largest French city. So are many of the visitors camping on the floor of their friends and relatives homes? Let’s face it, if one of my sons was living in an Olympic city, that would be the time I’d go.
- It is said that a lot of the empty seats seen are those allocated to sponsors and the Olympic family. So have corporates decided that the sponsorship has been worth it, but allowing their executives to party in these times is not on?
As I said, we won’t know until we see the statistics.
A Big Red Taxi
This 29 bus was totally empty except for a postman going off shift and myself, as I took it away from Trafalgar Square.
A Big Red Taxi
But then it was mid afternoon. Afterwards, I went to Waitrose and Starbucks at the Angel and they were quiet too!
Even Trafalgar Square Isn’t Busy
I took this picture in Trafalgar Square today.
Even Trafalgar Square Isn’t Busy
I would have thought that it would have been busier. It could just be that most of the visitors have money and hanging round Trafalgar Square isn’t part of their itinerary.
No Shortage Of Litter Bins
There doesn’t appear to be to much of a shortage of litter bins.
No Shortage Of Litter Bins
This was one of many at North Greenwich
The Palace of Industry
The building in the picture is what remains of the Palace of Industry of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. Everybody passes it to get to and from Wembley from Wembley Park station.
The Palace of Industry
My father had a rather unusual snooker cue, that was exhibited in this exhibition. They were all in one piece in those days and the butt end was spliced with some very unusual woods. What happened to it, I do not know!
The old Wembley Stadium with its twin towers was built for the 1924 Empire Exhibition. The Wembley Arena was built a few years later.
George Dixon Lives
Television in my childhood is always remembered for the television police series; Dixon of Dock Green.
Cosy policing, like that portrayed in the series has long since gone. Or I thought it had.
However, today at one of the Olympic venues, I started talking to a Police Sergeant about the Olympics and my life since C died. He congratulated me on what I had done to raise money for cancer research and shook my hand as I left.
George Dixon would have felt that the Sergeant had done well. So did I and I hope that the best of old-fashioned methods are creeping back into modern law enforcement.
The Anonymous Widower 