London 2012: My Olympics and Paralympics

Now the Olympics and Paralympics are over its a good time to look back over this summer's posts and report on JP's London 2012, hopefully without using words like "journey":

• My first Olympic moment was watching the torch relay on the streets of south London
• I then soaked up the atmosphere on the tall ship Maja as it went underneath Tower Bridge the day before the opening ceremony
• The following day I watched the torch on its final journey (oops, sorry, it just slipped in there) on the Gloriana up the Thames
• Living in London I couldn't help notice all the preparations and take pride in the Olympics coming to our great city
• The Red Arrows roaring over London signalled the start of the stunning Olympic's Opening Ceremony
• The first weekend I saw the two cycle road races flashed over Putney Bridge, the men's with Wiggo on Saturday and the women on Sunday, winning one of Team GB's first medals.
• Of course my main interest was the sailing, watching online and on the web site
• Much better than either were the three trips down to Weymouth, sitting on the Nothe soaking up the great atmosphere as posted here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
• By then nearly everyone was getting Olympics fever so the official web site was melting as people tried to grab those last minute release of tickets
• I managed to get a ticket to see the Beach Volleyball where we were joined by some of Team GB's rowing medallists
• Medallists were beginning to appear everywhere, including Tom Slingsby with his Laser gold
• The Olympics even reached up to Nelson's hat
• There was a parallel cultural London 2012 with events including art installations (not all equally good)
• Across London there were the National Houses and I visited those of Brazil, France and Denmark
• The Olympic Closing Ceremony wasn't that great so I made up my own
• No problems with the moving and inspirational Paralympics's Opening Ceremony
• The cauldron was lit again in the Olympic Stadium as I saw when went to see the Paralympic's athletics
• I also managed to get a ticket to the amazing Paralympics Closing Ceremony
• Finally I was in the City for the parade of Olympic and Paralympic heros and then in Trafalgar Square for the Red Arrows fly by (below)

It's become a much repeated truism that the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were a once in a lifetime event.

For that reason I'm glad I didn't hold back, but enjoyed as much as I could of both the Olympics and Paralympics

Not available in the US

Suffering like so many over here from Olympic and Paralympic withdrawal symptoms I found myself wondering what other nations have made of this summer of sport.

There was good stuff in Australia and on Al Jazeera, but what about across the pond in America? What did it say, for example, in the NY Times article on the Paralympics Closing Ceremony?

....er.... where is that exactly? And is there really only a handful of blog posts about the whole Paralympics?

Now this isn't some local London derby, this is the second largest sporting event in the world.

I heard that NBC didn't show anything live and is condensing the whole Paralympics into a few extracts, but then this is the station that cut the tribute to the victims of the 7/7 attack from their broadcast of the Olympics Opening Ceremony (not cool guys).

But it does seem to me to be a shame and I've got to ask those American readers, what is going on?

Why so little coverage of the Paralympics in America?

London 2012: Paralympics Closing Ceremony Photos

London 2012: I was there

We are heartbroken, for it is finally over.

A moment in time, unrepeatable, uncapturable, unforgettable.

We thought it had finished after the Olympics but the Paralympics have been more than just an after-thought but an inspirational event, a demonstration of what humans are capable of.

Its changed how people see the disabled but also how Britain see's itself, a positive image of ourselves.

The weeks seemed to flash past, and the greater the event, the faster it seemed to pass. Last night's key moments were over far too soon; the great stadium thumping songs we could have sung all over again, to hear again 80,000 voices backed by a megawatt sound system.

The fireworks explosions images and sounds crescended again and again, saturating the mind, creating a sublime moment. Nothing you see on television compares to what it was like to be in there.

It was the final moment of the evening, and almost of the entire summer of sport.

Today there was the parade when a million Londoners crowded those ancient streets that go back to the Romans, streets where walked Samuel Pepys and William Shakespeare, to watch the modern heros make their way to Buckingham Palace.

The real ending was as it began, with a flyby, the Red Arrows streaking across the skies of London, their crackling roar causing all in Trafalgar Square to look upwards.

We will never forget the summer of London 2012 or the spirit of London 2012.

And I can say "I was there"

The Paralympics Closing Ceremony

Wow!!!

... more to come, tomorrow.

London Rowing Club - during and after the Olympics

Tomorrow evening's Paralympics closing ceremony will be the final hurrah of what today's Times called "the greatest summer since records began."

Now the buzz word is legacy and the question of how the huge positive energy of the last few weeks and months will be harnessed.

I've got gigabytes of photos to go through but two caught my eye. The one above is of the London Rowing Club during the games when it was host to the Serbian National Team.

Now those colours and shields have been taken down and replaced by this one:

Yup, rowers from here in Putney got gold and silver medals.

Hopefully this, and the success in all the other sports, will see clubs around the country go from strength to strength as new members are encouraged to follow in their hero's footsteps. 

Photos from the Paralympics

The Paralympics Flame

Woo hoo!!

Had a great day at the London 2012 Olympic stadium watching the Paralympics, amazing atmosphere and a gold medal for Team GB (paralympics) in the discus.

Woo hoo!!

London Paralympics: sold out success

After the brilliance of the London Olympics (watch it all again here) its on with the Paralympics and its already a whopping success.

The Opening Ceremony was amazing (sorry if you haven't seen it), a whirlwind of science, literature, music and ideas, including a boat made out of a umbrella taking Miranda from The Tempest through storms, whales and on to the stars, led by one of the greatest of all minds, Stephen Hawking.

So am I going to the sailing? you might be wondering.

I have a ticket the stadium to see the athletics but the sailing along with everything else is sold out.

But there is another sailing event in the UK this weekend....


Images from: 4OD