OK, I confess to being something of an Olympo-sceptic on the build-up to London 2012.
Various ministers trying to claim the event was under-budget, the seemingly totalitarian powers granted to LOCOG, the enforcement of Olympic branding restrictions to a stupid degree (Little Chef's Olympic Breakfast, available for many years, for heaven's sake!), latterly even the abject failure of private company G4S to understand what it needed to do to fulfil it's contracted security commitments...
I thought the Torch Relay around the UK was over-egged, but sitting on the back of the media bus showed me that plenty of people were really looking forward to the event, and my mood began to shift.
Then there was Danny Boyle's truly wonderful opening ceremony, Jacques Rogge's very generous opening speech, the Queen and 007 "parachuting" into the show and suddenly it was clear the bulls**t had stopped and London 2012 was going to be fantastic. Even the weather, pretty dire through spring and summer, largely cooperated!
And the medals started to come. Women's events are the biggest growth area of sport and fittingly it was the Team GB women who put the first ones on the board, with Lizzie Armitstead's cycling silver and Becky Adlington's swimming bronze. Then rowers Heather Stanning and Helen Glover won the coxless pairs for the first GB gold. The men stepped up, and Team GB ended in third place in the medal table, remarkable for a tiny island with a (still) relatively small population.
Then it was the turn of the Paralympians to take the stage.
And here, I actually got to see some London 2012 action, when I hadn't been expecting to do so...
More after the break.
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| Tuesday free practice, D3S plus 300 f2,8 and TC14EII (=420mm), pretty much the combination used for most of my time, unless it was a close-in shot or obviously a wide angle view. |
I must admit these aren't great. They are the end result of three separate visits to the Brands Hatch circuit for the Paralympic Cycling events, with perhaps a total of 90 minutes on-site from Tuesday free practice and the races on Thursday and Saturday. They are also in areas that the general public had free access to, on closed roads at the back of the circuit - no media pass required!!! There was a fair bit of walking to do, as I used Tuesday initially to scout where I could get to and park the car. Luckily I am familiar with the area, so I ended up parking at Fawkham Green and walking for 10 minutes up to Scratchers Lane and Fawkham Road.
With other jobs to cover on the picture list - and the inevitable "local paper" request for "spectators enjoying the show, cheering waving flags etc" I was always having to clock-watch, so in many ways these are OK but a bit unsatisfying, photographically.
But then I stop and think; I DID get to go see some of London 2012...
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| Tuesday practice. The lack of race numbers for practice meant I got no IDs for this day. I was pleasantly surprised by the official website, which gave entry lists and results (and mug shots!) on-line for the races, though. Captioning heaven! |
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| Tuesday free practice. |
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| Thursdays raceday. |
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| Raquel Acinas Poncelas (ESP) in the Women's Individual C 1-3 Road Race. |
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| Bahman Golbarnezhad, from Iran, head down. |
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| Mens individual C4-5 Road Race. |
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| The peloton of the women's Individual B Road Race (the blind cyclists with sighted pilots) on Saturday morning. |
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| The british pair of pilot F(iona?) Duncan and Lara Turnham, in the women's Individual B Road Race on Saturday. |
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| The eyes have it - spectator Vicki Adams... |
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| The Women's Individual B Road Race, at the Scratchers Lane junction with the A20. This was a looong hike, but did give me a turn and a different picture. |
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| Team GBs David Stone, in the mixed T1-2 Road Race and on his way to a gold medal. I got a gold medal winner! |
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