Day 3- Guest starring Paul Walker!

Our busiest day yet, and what a day it was! Let's just jump right in. 

I only had about three hours of sleep last night (only one of which was good, solid rest), but was too excited to see women's gymnastics today to care. My alarm clock was set for 6:30, but I was awake and in the shower at 6. With a full day of gymnastics starting at 9:30 AM, Amy and I set out for the tube around 7:30. We stopped for breakfast at the McDonald's around the corner from our hostel, and then boarded the tube to return to North Greenwich Arena. 

Whereas yesterday, North Greenwich absolutely amazed me, today it felt more familiar. Amy and I settled in for the morning session which included the teams from France, Italy, Australia and various athletes in what are called "mixed groups." You get put into a mixed group when you are an athlete from a country that does not have enough athletes to fill out a team. The mixed groups had athletes from countries not typically known for gymnastics such as Finland, Czech Republic, Puerto Rico and even Kazakhstan. The morning sessions were interesting in that we got to see how up and comers such as Italy and Australia looked, but for the most part was quite uneventful. 

The fact that I only got three hours of sleep the night before came back and bit me in the ass within the first rotation of the first session. Even with a coffee in hand, staying awake during the morning session was difficult. I believe I even nodded off a few times in the second subdivision. :-/

When we initially arrived at the arena, I turned on my camera to find out the battery was low. I didn't take any pictures in the morning session so that I could save my battery for the USA session that afternoon. I did make one exception, however. 

Between subdivisions, I thought I heard somebody behind me say that they were from Austin. I turned around thinking I had just found another Texan. I was wrong. The person behind me was from Boston, but she was no stranger:

Alicia Sacramone- TWO ROWS behind me! 

After the morning session, we hung around the arena for an hour until the doors reopened for the second session. The lobby of North Greenwich Arena was absolute CHAOS at this time. A thunderstorm had positioned itself right over London- so the people with tickets to the afternoon session were starting to arrive while the people leaving the morning session were staying put. Our original plan was to get something to eat at one of the restaurants and kill time before the second session, but that didn't happen as there were mile-long lines EVERYWHERE. We ended up waiting for the doors to reopen, and then purchased lunch from one of the concession stands. 

I was amped for the afternoon session as the ladies of Team USA were in subdivision 3. They looked absolutely fantastic through the first three rotations. It wasn't until floor went things went absolutely insane. 

 The girls line up before vault.

McKayla damn near sticks.

Kyla rocks bars.

Jordyn on beam.

Well, floor comes around and three of our four girls go out of bounds. Aly comes in and does exactly what your anchor is supposed to do- hit- and the meet ends. All the US fans figured that the meet was over. We were ecstatic; Team USA was in first place after four qualifying sessions and as we all expected, Jordyn and Gabby would be going through to the all-around. 

Then Aly's score came in. 

Aly's floor score flashed on the screen: a 15.23. The jumbo screen in the arena panned over to Mihai, who was hugging Aly and telling her something. We could clearly make out Aly say, "I did?" and then proceed to look absolutely shocked. The screen switched over to the final results, and shocked was an understatement. 

If you don't know gymnastics, the top two athletes from each country go on to the all-around. On Team USA, the top two are almost ALWAYS Jordyn and Gabby. Jordyn is the reigning all-around World Champion. I studied the screen for a second, and the thought process went something like this. 

"Does that say Aly is in first?"

"ALY beat Gabby and Jordyn?"

"DID ALY JUST KNOCK JORDYN OUT OF THE ALL AROUND?!!?"

I look down on the competition floor and Gabby, Kyla and McKayla are walking off like its no big deal. Aly is crying her eyes out. Two seconds later, the camera cuts to our girls talking to media and hugging and talking to other gymnasts. Jordyn is standing off to the side crying tears of a different kind as gymnasts from other countries come up and hug her. 

Every USA fan in the arena stood in stunned silence in the time after that subdivision- myself and Amy included. None of us could believe what had just happened. Jordyn Wieber- our rock, our reigning World Champion and our best shot at a USA three-peat failed to qualify for the all around. It still doesn't compute in my head. I don't think ANYBODY saw that coming, not Martha, not Mihai, John Geddert or even the gymnastics Gods themselves (I was about to make a real tasteless Anna Li joke, but I caught myself). It's just one of those absolutely insane things that sometimes happens in gymnastics, I suppose. It's something so crazy that even I said post-meet that I was curious to hear Tim Daggett's opinion.

The subdivision after the USA included powerhouses Russia and China. It was awesome to see gymnasts like Deng Linlin, Aliya Mustafina and Victoria Komova in person.  

Team Russia marches in. 

Anyways, qualifiers ended with the United States still in first place. Victoria Komova is first in the all-around standings with Aly and Gabby in 2nd and 3rd, respectfully. My take on this Jordyn and Aly situation is that this might hurt us. Vika is a force to be reckoned with. We know that Jordyn can beat her because she has done it before. I feel like Gabby has the power to beat her, but Aly does not. Part of the reason Aly never qualifies for all-around is her bar routine and overall lack of finesse. I feel like the all-around will all come down to Gabby, and we all know that while Gabby has many assets, consistency isn't one of them.

Anyways, enough gymnastics talk. 

After gymnastics, we headed straight from North Greenwich Arena towards Horse Guard's Parade for the evening session of beach volleyball. To get to Horse Guard's Parade, we had to take the tube to Westminster. 

How this picture happened:

We climbed the stairs at Westminster, got outside and Amy said, "Hey Gina! Turn around!"

So cool. We're gonna have to come back and do some exploring, but for now, this was pretty freaking awesome. 

Horse Guard's Parade is right outside Buckingham Palace- so we had to walk quite a bit to get there. When we arrived on Friday, Amy told me that I was in charge of keeping an eye out for celebrities. On the walk to HGP, I did my job. We were crossing a street when I spotted a man who looked very familiar. 

"AMY! Celebrity, RIGHT THERE!"

Paul Walker, y'all! It's a terrible picture, but still! 

The most hilarious thing about this encounter with Paul Walker was that he, too, was en route to beach volleyball at Horse Guard's Parade. We found out the USA was playing only after chatting with him for a few seconds. He didn't want to be bothered, but he wasn't a dick to us by any means so that was a plus.

What was not a plus was the walk to Horse Guard's Parade. Amy and I have been doing A LOT of walking in and around London, and on top of that had just come directly from a full day of gymnastics. We were tired, hungry and freezing cold, yet walked about 2 miles just to stand in a huge crowd waiting to get through security. Once we were finally through security, there were still two or three more sets of "ten to fifteen minute walks" just to get near the damn stadium. At this point we were really cranky, and I wasn't even looking forward to it anymore just because it was such a damn pain to get into the area. Once we were inside, however, we had a lot more fun than we thought we would. 

 Netherlands v. Brazil. Netherlands got their asses kicked, but seriously, is there a sport in this world that Brazil sucks at?

The atmosphere in beach volleyball is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the atmosphere in gymnastics. In gymnastics, everyone including the crowd is focused on the athletes and them doing their best. In beach volleyball, they want the crowd to be rowdy and participate and have fun.

Horse Guard's Parade Dance Crew. WTF?!!? They were so random- it was hilarious. 

After the Netherlands/Brazil game came two consecutive USA games. The first was USA women against Brazil, the second USA men against Japan. The USA won both games, but the more the night went on, the colder it became. After the third game, with the temperature somewhere in the 50's, we opted to head back to the hostel and warm up and call it a night. We grabbed a really late dinner (11 PM late) from one of the food trucks outside the stadium and got back to the hostel around close to midnight. 

Tomorrow is tennis at Wimbledon! Can't wait to see it in person. We're hoping to maybe catch the Men's Team Final on TV at some point, too. 

You guys know the drill- leave me comments either on here or on FB! I miss y'all, and will update you more tomorrow!