Well I didn't think I'd be blogging again so soon, but day 1 of Olympic events has been so super that I want to record all about it.
We set off just gone 8 and it took a couple of hours to get to the Equestrian Centre, or I'm thinking of adopting the Brazilian name which seems more fun: Centro Olimpico de Hipismo. We were in time to see the first Brit performing. I remembered pretty quickly, that I don't really know a thing about Dressage. When the scores came up at the end of a routine, it was always quite a surprise to me to see how they scored - I couldn't tell at all whether a routine looked good or not. I was just happy marvelling and wondering how you ever teach a horse to dance! We did comment that we could have done with one of the two Emma's to improve our horse knowledge!
It was very hot in the stadium and we were imagining how unpleasant it will seem if it's the same for the triathletes on Thursday. Sadly for the competitors, the stadium was pretty empty. But the fact that it was unreserved seating meant we were able to move around and choose our seats where there was a bit of a breeze. We also moved sides of the arena just before the end to get a good view of the medal ceremony.
We had an entertaining moment when we got our the Union Jack we had been carrying around South America... only to find it was actually a New Zealand flag!! Whoops!
The tension increased as the final 6 competitors took the arena, including Charlotte Dujardin on Valegra. I thought her routine looked more ordinary, but as I said I knew nothing as she leaped into the lead with an amazing score!!
There were four competitors after her so we had a nervous wait to see if and what medal she would get and it was absolutely fantastic that she got the gold! I really enjoying the medal ceremony and we're pleased the horses were there too. It was great to hear and sing along to the national anthem at our very first event. I almost got teary when they did their lap of honour.
We were dashing out of the stadium to get across the city to the Barra Olympic Park to get to the Velodrome. But we were stopped just outside and asked if we could do an interview for Sky Radio. We obliged and apparently Sky Radio is used by several commercial radio stations - anyone hear us?!
We just had time to eat a sandwich before heading in to the cycling. It felt wonderful being in the arena and seeing just how steep the track is. Again it wasn't full which was a shame. I remember hearing that the velodrome at London recorded one of the highest decibel crowds but for much of today's event the noise and atmosphere was pretty low. It didn't stop is having an amazing time in our incredible seats - four rows from the front very close to the start line and next to the press. I could even see the stubble of Mark Cavendish as he came past - that's how close we were! All so exciting.
Some Brits came to sit next to us. We got chatting and they turned out to be the friends and family of Richard Hounslow, silver medalist from the Canoe Slalom. Not long after he turns up and sits behind! He seems a very nice man and I had a very interesting time eavesdropping as he talked about 'partying with Bradley!' At the end of the session we plucked up courage to ask for a photo and he kindly obliged:
The first several events we watched all seemed very calm and we were chatting away to our new neighbours. But then the final of the omnium came - Mark Cavendish's chance to get an Olympic medal at last. It was the points race which turns out to be the most stressful thing ever. I'm glad it was 160 laps as it took me a while to understand just what was going on but oh was it tense and then there were the guns and bells! Fortunately we had a performance of the UCI behind us who was explaining to her neighbour what was going on! There was a horrible crash and the Korean athlete was stretchered off in front of us. It was quite horrible and made me feel so much worse for the rest of the race.
After this some new people came to sit next to John and he started explaining to them what goes on in a Points Race. I half listened and thought, 'he sounds quite like Matt Baker'. A while later John managed to sort of whisper to me, 'do you know who that is' and it turned out that it was indeed Matt Baker himself!! He said he was having a break from the Gymnastics where he'd spent most of his time. We cheered on together to the end of the race: 'don't let him catch you, lad', being our favourite Yorkshire phrase!!
I was absolutely delighted that Cavendish got his silver medal. We got to see our second ceremony of the day featuring a Brit. What a great start to our Olympic experience!
A funny thing about today was not knowing what else was going on all day at the Olympics and not knowing whether we were still ahead of China in the medal table!
After the cycling we just had time to wander across the Olympic Park and get an ice cream before arriving at the Future Arena for the handball. We didn't know who would be playing but we had heard the atmosphere was great when Brazil were playing. We had... Croatia vs Tunisia. But I was still really pleased to be there and I think it's quite fun to learn about a sport while watching it be played live. It was interesting to see how the two referees worked and the rolling substitutions were fascinating to watch, especially when the goalie was subbed off when the team was attacking and then had to run back to his goal as the ball went up their end!
My limited match report: Tunisia made it much more interesting in the second half but couldn't overcome the deficit they created for themselves in the first half.
Then it turned out there was a second match. And it was the next best thing to Brazil - it was Argentina vs Qatar which meant all the Brazilians in the audience were cheering crazily for Qatar!! I wonder if they've ever had so much support?!
There were many chants of: O-lay, olay olay olah... Qatar... Qatar!! And plenty of booing for Argentina, although they had many of their own supporters so it made for an incredibly lovely atmosphere - quite different from our first two events. I was anxious when the anthems were sung before play, but fortunately the loudest and most raucous section of Brazilians next to us managed to shush the booing during the Argentinian anthem.
So it has been such a brilliant day at the Olympics. I've loved it all and am home just before midnight. Quite incredible. Thanks Rio and Team GB!
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