In the swim

Sunday 22 May 2016, European Aquatics Championship - Queen Elizabeth Aquatics Centre, London

Last day of the championship and what an afternoon of success for GB, a Bronze medal then 2 Silvers and then a Golden finish - With both the Mens and Womens 4 x 100m Medley teams winning Gold!

Plus I managed to visit another of the iconic 2012 Olympic venues. Hockey next!

Struggling on - but with a smile on their faces

Saturday 2 January 2016, Barking 1 Bowers and Pitsea 0, Essex Senior League - Mayesbrook Park

Up the road from Mayesbrook Park, West Ham were celebrating another win and counting down the games till they move to the Olympic Stadium at Stratford. But down in Dagenham, Barking are struggling on in a rundown ground and surviving only because they have a fantastic bunch of club volunteers, the same sort of people you will find at non-league clubs all over the country,

Clubs like this need help from the Government, local councils and the FA, but in most cases they get little help and have to do everything themselves - compare that to West Ham who seem to have been given the Olympic Stadium for peanuts by Boris Johnson (Karen Brady and friends in high places?)

But we should all join together and thank those club volunteers who keep the non-league game going and today we were rewarded with a good game on a wet day where many games fell foul of the weather.

Barking and Bowers were evenly matched in the first half but Barking took a deserved lead in the second half after having most of the ball but they still had to rely on their keeper to give them a win as he was called on to save a late penalty from Bowers.

So thank you the great football people at Barking and Bowers.

We all still love the 2012 Olympics

Saturday 7 November 2015, England 2 New Zealand 9, Rugby League International, Olympic Stadium - Queen Elizabeth Park, London

3 years after the fantastic 2012 Olympics, we still can't get over that great event and any chance people get to either return to or visit Queen Elizabeth Park for the first time - people take it. Cycling, hockey, athletics, swimming and now we have had both Rugby Union and League and next year it will be football dragging back the crowds.

I was fortunate to be able to watch the athletics at 2012 games and was keen to see how they changed the stadium and all i can say is I was very impressed, it was just a pity that the match was disappointing and England could not carry on the good work from last week in Hull.

I am sure both League and Union will be back - but what is obvious is that West Ham have got a very good deal, many will think they have been given a financial boost courtesy of the tax payer ( and a Tory back hander?). But at least the away fans will now be able to see their team play West Ham in comfort.

We dreamt - and it came true

Thursday 9 August 2012, Athletics at the Olympic Stadium (followed by a trip up the Orbit)

I was in heaven – a superb stadium, great athletics and though we only had one GB moment (great run by the 4 x 400 relay team) it did not matter- the fans just got behind everyone – the stadium itself just adds to the brilliant Olympic Park.

The Olympics – The Greatest Event in the World – and probably none have ever been better than London – we should bid again – we can do it.
Here are some of many pictures I took. Thank you London, thank you Seb (and Tony Blair)

The Olympic Journey

The Olympic Journey – The Story of the Games – Exhibition, Royal Opera House

The excitement of GB winning the medals, the superb stadia and the enjoyment of spectating at all the sports events has led many to forget that there is another part to the Olympic Games – The Cultural Olympiad. But if you visit London, there are a number of cultural events you can visit – and most are free.

Yesterday I visited the BP Sponsored event, a great location – The Royal Opera House, I had expected to just see some pictures and notes but found a much more interactive display. It started with a history of the ancient Greek Games, with a cartoon video of a chariot race, I predicted a Macedonia win- but they were caught out cheating!

The next room featured Baron De Coubertin and how he led the movement to start the modern games, Much Wenlock in Shropshire is mentioned.

The best bit for me was the history of the torch and the exhibition featured a torch from very games since Berlin in 1936. There was a further display of all the medals that have been issued and then the last room features items on some of the greatest Olympic athletes – the names you would expect are there, Redgrave, Owns, Korbut but also some who may have been forgotten but who were trailblazers in sport through both their achievements but also because of their race, gender or colour – step up the likes of Edoado Mangiarotti and Balbir Singh.

Get along to the Royal Opera House, well worth the visit – Convent Garden to the 12th August.

Glasgow - a football city

Wednesday 1 August 2012
Egypt 3 v Belarus Under 23 1 - Olympics - Hampden Park
Celtic 2 v HJK Helsinki 1, Champions League - Parkhead

The Olympics 2012 - my first visit and not London but Glasgow, only just over 8,000 turned up for a good second half but also a well organised event - which attracted many family groups. Being in Glasgow, I was able in the evening to catch the Celtic Champions League game, a real football match- but guess what? I enjoyed both.

Olympics

Celtic

Olympics and Celtic join together