The Unknown Sprinter
Unless you live in London and regularly watch the local BBC News, you won’t know of Adam Gemili. It appears too, that the Olympic Accreditation Department didn’t either, as they got his picture wrong on his ID.
He runs on Saturday morning in the heats of the hundred metres.
I don’t think he’ll be unknown for long! Even Tyson Gay thinks he’s very good.
Arise Sir Bradley
If after his exploits this year in the Tour of France (It’s the Anglo-Saxon’s now!) and then his untouchable performance in the Olympic time-trial yesterday, where he made a world-class field look like amateurs, he must be odds-on to be knighted in the near future. The web certainly thinks so.
Would he be the first Sir Bradley?
Searching the Internet only finds an anti-gay evangelical Christian web-site, a US wrestler called Sir Bradley Charles and a Sir Bradley Avenue in Sacramento, California. In my book only the last one has any credence. So who was it named after?
So I think he would be the first Sir Bradley!
There of course a lot of sites saying he should be knighted.
For different reasons, such as his part in bringing the Olympics to London, it can’t be long before Her Majesty corrects the mistake the Greeks made over David Beckham, by adding a knighthood to his name.
I Called It Right
I know a few Koreans and so I went with them to see them play at Wembley tonight against Gabon. We were a bit higher up in Club West.
Korea v Gabon at Wembley
The view was a bit better, than for the game last night.
It wasn’t an exciting game and the goalless draw was about fair. But it meant that Korea came second in their group.
When Great Britain won, it meant that the tickets, I’d bought on spec to see the quarter-final in Cardiff won’t have to be sold on.
I just felt the two teams might meet there. And I was right!
So it’ll be off on a High Speed Diesel Train on Saturday. What better way is there to travel to see your team?
Great Britain v Brazil At Wembley
I thought this would be a must-see event and as over 70,000 went I wasn’t alone in my thoughts. As ever I took a few pictures.
But there were empty seats as the pictures show.
The football was very good.
Perhaps to me, the difference between the two sides was that every time the ball went lose, the British team were on it, like a pack of hounds. Even the goal scored by Steph Houghton was after Brazil failed to clear a corner.
The one mistake Britain made was missing the penalty, but in the end that didn’t matter.
Beach Volleyball At Horse Guards Parade
Yesterday, I spent a pleasant afternoon at the beach volleyball on Horse Guards Parade.
Note :-
- The advert for New Zealand on top of New Zealand House.
- In four hours, we saw four matches. The Netherlands won two and Venezuela and Italy one each. Sadly the British women lost to the Italians. But the Dutch beating the Germans was probably very satisfying for them.
- The food was no better than at the Lee Valley.
- The weather wasn’t good, but everybody carried on regardless. Even the Italian and Australian girls, who obviously train in the sun!
- I’ve put most of the comments in the pictures.
In some ways the stadium itself is a star. It just shows how with careful design, you can build a temporary 16,000-seater stadium. How many other sports could put on a championship in such a stadium? It would be ideal for tennis, some equestrian sports like dressage, boxing and martial arts, to name just a few. The only problem in the UK would be the rain.
Canoe Slalom At The Lee Valley – Video
I made up this video to give a view of what it is like at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
It should be up later today. The trouble with video, is I can only make it on my old computer. And guess what M$ have upsexed the video maker, to make it more difficult to use. I want my old one back. When something works well don’t mess about with it!
Canoe Slalom At The Lee Valley – Food
Inside the venue, there was nothing I could eat, but I did bring a salad from Waitrose and I ate that outside in the Park, before I went in. These pictures tell the story.
There was a stand selling what they said was healthy food. But it was vegetarian and not gluten-free! And there were no salads!
So luckily, I got it right, but then I always assume there is nothing for me inside a venue. Soft drinks weren’t a problem and I didn’t feel that £2.30 for the standard bottle of diet Coke was over expensive.
Canoe Slalom At The Lee Valley
These pictures show the general view of my journey there, the venue and some of the competition.
I’ll post a separate one on the food and some video later.
I should say though that everything was very well-organised. Here’s a few points.
- My friend, who cycled all the way from Kingston, even found that the bike park had guards and was very secure.
- I only got my tickets on Sunday night, and it would appear that this was because, they did a nifty bit of rigging with the stands and created some more seats.
- There didn’t appear to be many unoccupied seats.
- The ticket collection worked very well and I was also able to collect my athletic and boxing tickets, I bought on Sunday.
- The view was excellent, as you can see from the pictures.
It was an enjoyable day and I’ might even go again in a couple of years time, as I believe they’re having a World Championships here.
Olympic Travel Directions
They do seem to be written for those, who have no idea where they are going. I’m going to the Canoe Slalom today and they recommend going to Cheshunt and then have a 28 minute walk.
In May 2011, I did a recconaissance and found that it was just as easy to get there from Waltham Cross as from Cheshunt. Not sure yet how I’ll go, but I could go to either, as it is pleasant walk along the river from Cheshunt and I have tickets to collect.
The guy I’m going with, is actually cycling from Kingston. He’s also stopping off at his office in the city.
It does strike me though, that some of the directions they’re giving aren’t the best. They were talking on the radio this morning about going to the equestrian events at Greenwich through London Bridge. I would take the DLR from Bank to Cutty Sark station and walk up.
I was on the DLR yesterday at lunchtime and it wasn’t very busy. Cinderella is certainly going to be the star of this ball. Who’d have thought this stop-gap railway built on the cheap would perform so well? I did, but then I’m a fan of London’s forgotten railway. I’ve always said that no visit to London is complete without a ride on the DLR. After all it does go to some very important venues and tourist sites.
The Germans And A Few Others Have Landed
There were quite a few ships around Canary Wharf today.
The Deutschland came in last year. The Octopus is owned by Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of Microsoft.
Shouldn’t the latter have had a blue hull?
Note the floating gangway across the dock to the yachts. When I first saw it, I thought it was a version of a floating gangway, I saw some years ago in the South of France, which consisted of a series of hexagonal chambers linked together. I don’t think it was though.
The Anonymous Widower 