Our only event today was field hockey, so I didn't bother setting an alarm and figured I would sleep until I woke up. Amy woke me up at 9:30 to let me know she was going to get breakfast. Eyes still shut, I acknowledged her and then promptly rolled back over. I crawled out of bed close to 10 and somehow found my way into the shower. At this point, it was raining the hardest I have seen it rain since I've been here (almost Texas-style), so I didn't bother doing my hair. We left the hostel close to noon and set back out to John Lewis to fix some issues with Amy's order from yesterday.
I resisted for as long as I could, but I ended up getting a Team GB umbrella almost out of necessity. You never know when or how much it is going to rain here. Better to be safe than sorry. I figure if I use the umbrella even once while I'm here, it will be a smart purchase. I also bought two coffee mugs that I saw and really liked.
Amy and I have been obsessed with taking pictures of the full-size Wenlocks (the Olympic mascot) around London. We went right into little kid mode at John Lewis when we saw that they had someone in a Wenlock costume socializing with all the guests.
After John Lewis, we got on the Tube and headed back to North Greenwich Arena for the first day of event finals: men's floor, women's vault and men's pommel horse. On the way there, we chatted with a British girl who had a Texas tattoo on her ankle. It turns out she studied abroad at UNT, so we talked about college and the Dallas area for a little while until we were about two or three stops up. At that point, the man next to me turned and told me his daughter-in-law is from McKinney. When Amy mentioned that she went to OU, he said that both his son and daughter-in-law were gymnasts there. It turns out we'd been sitting next to Jonathan Horton's father the entire time! We chatted with him and Jonathan's wife, Haley, about Oklahoma and how the men were doing until we got to security.
As I've said before, North Greenwich Arena is great for schmoozing. In the security line, we spotted Carlotta Ferlito, Elisabetta Preziosa and Giorgia Campana from the Italian team. They were nice enough to take a picture with us right after we got through security.
We got inside and took our usual spots at American Bar & Grill to watch the events. Kohei Uchimura started things off by being his usual, perfect self. I thought to myself in the middle of his routine that it wasn't fair to put the gold medal winning routine first, but then Zou Kai from China stepped up. I prefer Uchimura's routine, but Zou Kai outscored him and took the lead. Jake did great, but it just wasn't enough to crack the top 3. Zou Kai repeated as the 2012 Olympic floor champion with Kohei getting the silver. Jake placed 5th.
Vault finals were where things got real interesting. For the educated gym fans watching, we all just bided our time until McKayla Maroney stepped up to vault. She hit her Amanar with a tiny hop, which was just fine, but then the unthinkable happened. I don't think I have EVER seen McKayla Maroney miss a vault. She sat her second vault and only received a 14.33. It was enough to put her in the lead, but there was still one more vaulter to go.
Sandra Izbasa of Romania hit both of her vaults and edged McKayla out for the gold medal. Don't get me wrong here, Sandra Izbasa is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL gymnast. But she is not the best vaulter in the world. And I think everybody knows that. I'm not trying to say Sandra didn't deserve gold; McKayla fell and Sandra was clearly the best vaulter in the competition, but still. It sucks. Gymnastics is cruel like that sometimes.
The last event was pommel horse finals. There were no United States men in this final because- well- we suck at pommels, so we got to sit back and just enjoy the gymnastics. Team GB had two men in this final, and they were amazing. I love seeing how Team GB has risen to the occasion of hosting the Olympics in their home country. It has pushed them to be the best they have ever been, and they are seeing a lot of medals as a result.
Hungary's Krisztian Berki got up and put on a pommel horse clinic for the world. His set was difficult, but smooth and gorgeously executed. With a 16.066, it cemented his place in first. Team GB's Max Whitlock hit a beautiful, clean set that put him in second place. Team GB's Louis Smith went last, and while he performed a set equally as difficult and gorgeous as Berki's, the stupid tiebreaker rule reared its ugly head once more.
Berki and Smith scored the exact same, but gymnastics likes to suck the joy out of everyone's lives and dictates that nobody can tie. The tiebreaker is the execution score. Basically, whoever performs the routine the cleanest wins. I have now seen three gymnasts completely screwed over by this rule- Nastia Liukin in 2008, Aly Raisman last week in the women's all-around, and now Louis Smith. Berki and Smith's routines had a one-tenth difference in execution. Because Berki scored one-tenth higher, he won gold and Smith got silver. Why can't they just tie? If they received the same score, why tell one gymnast that his or her score wasn't as good as the other gymnast's? It's just... mean. But... whatever. Gymnastics is cruel like that sometimes.
Once the meet was over, John Geddert and Liang Chow (Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas' coaches, respectively) walked into the bar. They were nice enough to take a picture with us. Amy tried to trade pins with John, but he- just like us- is out of Team USA pins.
We left North Greenwich and headed back to Olympic Park for Field Hockey at 7 PM. Our original plan was to walk around and explore the park before our event, but the sheer amount of people and all of the energy exerted on navigating the crowds and waiting in lines and making sure we didn't get separated sucked out all of our energy. The only thing we could really do was walk to Riverbank Arena and patiently wait to be let in so we could sit down.
I don't want to sound ungrateful- I'm at the freaking Olympics, for God's sake, but the crowds and "queues" get REALLY old after a while. I was pretty tired of it by the time we got to the Arena; I really just wanted to get to our seats and make like Victoria Komova and pout.
Our seats were in the back row, so it was quite a climb up the stairs to reach them. Once I reached my seat, however, legs burning, I was treated to a pretty view of both the arena and Olympic Park.
That's the basketball arena in the top left corner.
The view of Olympic Park from my seat.
Our session of field hockey had two matches: Great Britain v. Australia followed by Argentina v. Spain. There were pockets of yellow, green and blow-up kangaroos throughout the crowd, but the majority was of course Union Jacks and Team GB deely boppers (yes, deely boppers. I have one, too!). There was a band on the opposite end of the arena from us with trumpets and everything- so they kept the crowd going with songs that everybody would cheer and sing to. It was much like a soccer game, actually (side note: .
Remember how I said that the weather here is on a different level of unpredictable? We've worn jeans everyday since we weren't sure what the temperature would be. The past two days were really warm, however, so I decided to rebel and wear shorts. It wasn't a bad decision as I was really comfortable during the day. It didn't become a bad decision until I sat down at the top of Riverbank Arena. I was about as cold as I was the first night at beach volleyball. Miserable, and realizing I was going to have to sit through two full field hockey games with bare legs, I had to bite the bullet and buy a Team GB blanket. It wasn't a full solution, but it made things bearable.
We've been fortunate enough to see the Aussies a few times now (gymnastics, water polo, volleyball), but they unfortunately haven't been very good. They're apparently REALLY good at field hockey as they are currently first in their group and also came out with an early lead. By halftime, it was 3-0 Aussies. In soccer, if FC Dallas is down 3-0 at halftime, we typically throw in the towel and start asking around about our postgame plans. Team GB was not okay with the 3-0 lead, and ended up tying the game with about four minutes to go. The crowd went NUTS as Team GB celebrated.
The second game up was Argentina v. Spain. If this were soccer, I can guarantee you the stadium would not have cleared out as quickly as it did. The stadium went from completely full to about half full in the twenty or so minutes between games.
Where England v. Australia was entertaining, Argentina v. Spain was the complete opposite. Completely scoreless throughout the first half and much of the second, our attention turned to the large video screen over my shoulder in the middle of the park. Down the path at Olympic Stadium was a crazy, suspenseful night of track, and they were broadcasting the races on the screen. Amy and I (fully wrapped in my blanket), along with the two American guys next to us (one of whom happens to live in The Colony. Small world!) split our time between paying attention to the field hockey and watching the races. Perfect timing struck when the halftime whistle of the field hockey game blew just as the 100 meter dash was about to begin. By this point, about twelve people had gathered in our back corner of the arena to watch the screen. When security realized that nobody was moving, they decided to show the race on the screens in the arena.
The screen from my seat.
Usain wins!
We spent the rest of the game chatting with a young British couple in front of us. Spain FINALLY decided that they, too, were bored and started scoring towards the end of the game. I believe it ended 3-1 Spain. After the match, we braved the cold and trek back to Stratford station (no fooling us into Westham this time!). We were almost there when we noticed a crowd gathered taking pictures. As we got closer, we discovered the reason for the crowd. A group of cops were posing doing the "Usain Bolt" pose.
This is why I freaking love the Olympics.
We traded pins with the cops (yes, we traded pins. With the cops!) and then continued on towards Stratford. We got back to the hostel about midnight. As y'all saw, I tried to blog, but failed miserably as I was just far too tired.
I'm about to blog Day 11's entry so sit tight! You know the drill. Leave me comments! Miss y'all!
Amy and I have been obsessed with taking pictures of the full-size Wenlocks (the Olympic mascot) around London. We went right into little kid mode at John Lewis when we saw that they had someone in a Wenlock costume socializing with all the guests.
As I've said before, North Greenwich Arena is great for schmoozing. In the security line, we spotted Carlotta Ferlito, Elisabetta Preziosa and Giorgia Campana from the Italian team. They were nice enough to take a picture with us right after we got through security.
We got inside and took our usual spots at American Bar & Grill to watch the events. Kohei Uchimura started things off by being his usual, perfect self. I thought to myself in the middle of his routine that it wasn't fair to put the gold medal winning routine first, but then Zou Kai from China stepped up. I prefer Uchimura's routine, but Zou Kai outscored him and took the lead. Jake did great, but it just wasn't enough to crack the top 3. Zou Kai repeated as the 2012 Olympic floor champion with Kohei getting the silver. Jake placed 5th.
Vault finals were where things got real interesting. For the educated gym fans watching, we all just bided our time until McKayla Maroney stepped up to vault. She hit her Amanar with a tiny hop, which was just fine, but then the unthinkable happened. I don't think I have EVER seen McKayla Maroney miss a vault. She sat her second vault and only received a 14.33. It was enough to put her in the lead, but there was still one more vaulter to go.
Sandra Izbasa of Romania hit both of her vaults and edged McKayla out for the gold medal. Don't get me wrong here, Sandra Izbasa is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL gymnast. But she is not the best vaulter in the world. And I think everybody knows that. I'm not trying to say Sandra didn't deserve gold; McKayla fell and Sandra was clearly the best vaulter in the competition, but still. It sucks. Gymnastics is cruel like that sometimes.
The last event was pommel horse finals. There were no United States men in this final because- well- we suck at pommels, so we got to sit back and just enjoy the gymnastics. Team GB had two men in this final, and they were amazing. I love seeing how Team GB has risen to the occasion of hosting the Olympics in their home country. It has pushed them to be the best they have ever been, and they are seeing a lot of medals as a result.
Hungary's Krisztian Berki got up and put on a pommel horse clinic for the world. His set was difficult, but smooth and gorgeously executed. With a 16.066, it cemented his place in first. Team GB's Max Whitlock hit a beautiful, clean set that put him in second place. Team GB's Louis Smith went last, and while he performed a set equally as difficult and gorgeous as Berki's, the stupid tiebreaker rule reared its ugly head once more.
Berki and Smith scored the exact same, but gymnastics likes to suck the joy out of everyone's lives and dictates that nobody can tie. The tiebreaker is the execution score. Basically, whoever performs the routine the cleanest wins. I have now seen three gymnasts completely screwed over by this rule- Nastia Liukin in 2008, Aly Raisman last week in the women's all-around, and now Louis Smith. Berki and Smith's routines had a one-tenth difference in execution. Because Berki scored one-tenth higher, he won gold and Smith got silver. Why can't they just tie? If they received the same score, why tell one gymnast that his or her score wasn't as good as the other gymnast's? It's just... mean. But... whatever. Gymnastics is cruel like that sometimes.
Once the meet was over, John Geddert and Liang Chow (Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas' coaches, respectively) walked into the bar. They were nice enough to take a picture with us. Amy tried to trade pins with John, but he- just like us- is out of Team USA pins.
I don't want to sound ungrateful- I'm at the freaking Olympics, for God's sake, but the crowds and "queues" get REALLY old after a while. I was pretty tired of it by the time we got to the Arena; I really just wanted to get to our seats and make like Victoria Komova and pout.
Our seats were in the back row, so it was quite a climb up the stairs to reach them. Once I reached my seat, however, legs burning, I was treated to a pretty view of both the arena and Olympic Park.
Our session of field hockey had two matches: Great Britain v. Australia followed by Argentina v. Spain. There were pockets of yellow, green and blow-up kangaroos throughout the crowd, but the majority was of course Union Jacks and Team GB deely boppers (yes, deely boppers. I have one, too!). There was a band on the opposite end of the arena from us with trumpets and everything- so they kept the crowd going with songs that everybody would cheer and sing to. It was much like a soccer game, actually (side note: .
Remember how I said that the weather here is on a different level of unpredictable? We've worn jeans everyday since we weren't sure what the temperature would be. The past two days were really warm, however, so I decided to rebel and wear shorts. It wasn't a bad decision as I was really comfortable during the day. It didn't become a bad decision until I sat down at the top of Riverbank Arena. I was about as cold as I was the first night at beach volleyball. Miserable, and realizing I was going to have to sit through two full field hockey games with bare legs, I had to bite the bullet and buy a Team GB blanket. It wasn't a full solution, but it made things bearable.
We've been fortunate enough to see the Aussies a few times now (gymnastics, water polo, volleyball), but they unfortunately haven't been very good. They're apparently REALLY good at field hockey as they are currently first in their group and also came out with an early lead. By halftime, it was 3-0 Aussies. In soccer, if FC Dallas is down 3-0 at halftime, we typically throw in the towel and start asking around about our postgame plans. Team GB was not okay with the 3-0 lead, and ended up tying the game with about four minutes to go. The crowd went NUTS as Team GB celebrated.
Where England v. Australia was entertaining, Argentina v. Spain was the complete opposite. Completely scoreless throughout the first half and much of the second, our attention turned to the large video screen over my shoulder in the middle of the park. Down the path at Olympic Stadium was a crazy, suspenseful night of track, and they were broadcasting the races on the screen. Amy and I (fully wrapped in my blanket), along with the two American guys next to us (one of whom happens to live in The Colony. Small world!) split our time between paying attention to the field hockey and watching the races. Perfect timing struck when the halftime whistle of the field hockey game blew just as the 100 meter dash was about to begin. By this point, about twelve people had gathered in our back corner of the arena to watch the screen. When security realized that nobody was moving, they decided to show the race on the screens in the arena.
We spent the rest of the game chatting with a young British couple in front of us. Spain FINALLY decided that they, too, were bored and started scoring towards the end of the game. I believe it ended 3-1 Spain. After the match, we braved the cold and trek back to Stratford station (no fooling us into Westham this time!). We were almost there when we noticed a crowd gathered taking pictures. As we got closer, we discovered the reason for the crowd. A group of cops were posing doing the "Usain Bolt" pose.
We traded pins with the cops (yes, we traded pins. With the cops!) and then continued on towards Stratford. We got back to the hostel about midnight. As y'all saw, I tried to blog, but failed miserably as I was just far too tired.
I'm about to blog Day 11's entry so sit tight! You know the drill. Leave me comments! Miss y'all!
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