Sights and sounds of London Olympic Games
- Paul Giblin
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E-mail Xinhua, August 12, 2012
by Paul Giblin
LONDON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Looking back over the past 16 days of the 30th Olympiad, it is hard to highlight one specific moment as there have been so many memories since July 27th it would be unfair to highlight one in what has been a kaleidoscope of pictures, sounds and memories.
London was a city that almost exactly a year ago saw neighborhoods burned in a series of destructive riots. Now it has united to present a magnificent spectacle to the world.
Everyone who has attended or taken in the atmosphere in London will have his own film of the Olympic Games in his minds, his own script and his own actors, so every look back over these Games has to be personal and individual: this is mine.
It begins with the opening ceremony: that whistle-stop tour through British history from the bucolic to the industrial to the digital, with James Bond and a parachuting Queen thrown in for good measure.
That was just the start: is it really only 16 days since those seven young athletes lit the Olympic cauldron, ending the debate over which British personality was the correct one to light to flame in delightful style?
Anyone who has been in London over the past fortnight will comment on the atmosphere with the streets packed with fans from different nations: orange clad Dutch, French with their tri-color flags, Chinese dressed in red and while clad Japanese clutching small versions of their national flag.. and all enjoying each other's company in a fortnight when impatience appeared to be suspended for the duration.
As the home side Team GB, which enjoyed immense support from the home supporters, bedecked in Union Jack flags, shirts, T-shirts, face-paint. You name it the flag was on it, but it was not the strident nationalism perhaps best (or worst) represented by the chant "USA, USA, USA!" that was head on occasions, especially in the swimming pool.
The British personality is still too reserved for something like that with the home chant "Team GB, Team GB," focusing on supporting the athletes rather than allegiance to a flag. That support was shown with a wall of noise whenever a home athlete was competing, inspiring some to hit the heights, such as Sir Chris Hoy in the Velodrome, while perhaps piling the pressure on others, such as Rebecca Adlington, who swam her heart out to win two bronze medals in the swimming pool.
And everywhere Jamaicans, or at least people with Jamaica flags: I saw middle class, middle England, English families with their face painted in the colors of Jamaica when Usain Bolt was running.
Bolt was again the face of these Games with his speed on the track matched only by the happy. Relaxed demeanor he presented off it. This is a man who was photographed with three female Swedish handball players celebrating at 3.30 am following his 100 meters gold. A man who did press-ups after his 200 meters victory and captured the celebration with one of the professional photographer's cameras.
But if Bolt was the star of the Olympics, he wasn't the only one to hit the heights and the headlines. It seems an era ago when we were talking about Ye Shiwen and her two incredible swims into the record books and un-merited controversy: a controversy which rebounded back against her accusers as voice after voice spoke out to defend her displays.
Michael Phelps also made history as he won medal after medal to end up with four more golds to his account and a total of 22 Olympic medals in his career spanning three Olympics.
Phelps retired from competitive swimming after these Games, which made his final swim in the 4X100 meter medley a historic moment. He didn't disappoint either, powering the US ahead in the third leg of the race.
The swimming pool also saw stellar displays from Sun Yang, who showed his enormous versatility by winning bronze at 200 meter freestyle and gold at 400 and 1,500.
For Britain, the Velodrome was the center of the action as the GB track cycling team hurtled to a total of 7 gold medals. A venue which intensifies speed and noise, the 6,000 fans helped provide a following wind for riders such as Hoy, Kenny and Pendleton.
Meanwhile the Olympic Stadium was packed to the rafters morning and evening with 80,000 people watching each session. The Games opened with controversy over empty seats at some venues as sponsors failed to take up places reserved for them, but the Organizing Committee acted quickly and events usually took place in front of packed stands, with queues to watch sports such as water-polo, handball and even Greco-Roman wrestling, which have never had much of a following in the UK.
It was if people realized that they will not have the chance to live an event like this again and were determined to be able to say "I was there", even if they were at a qualifying handball match between Estonia and Bulgaria or the incredibly photogenic beach volleyball on Horseguards Parade.
The place to say "I was there" was when Bolt ran 9.63 in the 100 meters or when David Rudishia smashed the world 800 meter record or that incredible Saturday for Team GB, when Jess Ennis, the female face of the Olympics for the British, lived up to the hype and claimed heptathlon gold, followed in short order by Greg Rutherford in the long jump and Mo Farah at 10,000 meters. For many home fans that was when the Games caught fire.
Farah in many ways deserves to be the face of the Games, arriving as an eight-year-old refugee from Somalia, his at 5,000 and 10,000 meters have made him a national hero in his adopted homeland.
Of course every country has its own experiences. I sat watching as my companions cheered on Chinese athletes in table tennis, badminton and in the diving pool and of course in the gymnastics.
But the shared memory of the Olympics will be the smiles, the friendliness of the volunteers, who worked tirelessly to ensure everyone was able to enjoy their events and reach their transport without problems.
The same can be said of the police: I lost count of the times I saw visitors posing with police helmets on or stroking the nose of a police horse, even the soldiers, called in at short notice to provide security cover, got involved with many doing their best to build up their Olympic pin collection.
I can honestly say, while in the Olympic Park I failed to hear an angry word, never saw an angry face and never saw anything less than friendship and smiles. That has to be the sign of a successful Olympiad. Enditem
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