I am, I have to admit, one of those people who was thinking that the Olympics were a waste of resources and something the country could do without at the current time! With the recession biting, and keeping it's very unwelcome jaws clamped on us all for much longer than we would like, I just felt that the whole thing would be a flop! This was not helped by the ridiculous debacle of the security and the so called company who were supposed to be organising it! While we had the whole world watching us our wonderful (ahem) government decided that the cheapest would be the best, and put the security of the whole Olympics in the hands of a right bunch of muppets! Perhaps it is a bit of nepotism, because they must be related as neither seem capable of organising a p**s up in a brewery!
Not surprisingly the security was then handed over to our Armed Forces and Police. Go figure, the government had to depend on those people whose numbers they are planning on cutting over the coming months! Great, let's see you make sure the biggest event the country has ever organised is safe for all those taking part, visiting, etc., and by the way, at the end of it we will be giving you your P45! We have also had the most incredible volunteers who have helped at this fantastic event, and one of the things that has come across in the many many programmes covering the Olympics, is the fact that all of those who have been there to make sure that everyone is safe, gets to the right venue and generally helped, have had the most incredible smiles on their faces and have done their jobs in the typical way of us British - to the very best of their ability! We are a proud nation, and after this last two weeks I feel that we have a right to be, because from the Opening Ceremony to today, I have watched in awe as our fantastic team has won 29 Golds, 16 Silver and 19 Bronze medals, the most medals our country has ever won at a modern Olympics! Go Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland, you really have made me very proud to be British!
The Opening Ceremony I felt was incredible, from the fantastic rings that burned brightly as they were hoisted skyward, to seeing those future athletes lighting the flame of the incredible Olympic Torch, what a great way to ensure that the Olympic contestants of 2016, 2020, 2024 and beyond, will be sitting at home and thinking 'I want to be at the next Olympics'! Of course there were other highlights, seeing the Queen parachute into the stadium with James Bond aka Daniel Craig!! Seeing the wonderful Team GB and NI lead by Sir Chris Hoy in their incredible white and gold outfits coming into the stadium (and yes I cried!!), seeing David Beckham arrive on a speed boat with the flame, (that man is just so sexy!!), which was handed to Sir Steve Redgrave who then gave the honour to five future athletes, all picked by a famous Olympic medal winner, to light the incredible torch! The torch itself was a masterpiece, made up of 204 petals, one for each country taking part in the 30th Modern Olympiad, in London 2012!!! And of course there were the fireworks, and what a spectacle they were, absolutely incredible! Another note of interest for Great Britain is the fact that we are the only country to host the Olympics three times, 1908, 1948 and now 2012! What a great accolade for such a small country, and what an incredible job we have made of it!
The Olmpic Rings aflame and being hoisted into the sky!
The Queen (ahem!) parachuting into the stadium!
Sir Chris Hoy leading Team GB and NI into the stadium!
David Beckham on the speedboat with the flame!
The lighting of the Olympic Torch!
The Firework Finale, incredible!!
Thoughout the 16 days there have been some fantastic moments, there have been some not so good ones, there have been tears, tantrums and many a laugh! There have also been the odd mistakes, times when things have gone wrong, times when countries you wouldn't expect to win a medal have done so, and times when teams who were expected to win have not! As one athlete said, it is all about the day, no matter how many times you have beaten someone before, the Olympics is a whole different ball game!!
I sat this morning watching one of the many programmes showing the highlights of the games, I found myself welling up, but none more so than when Tom Daley got his Bronze for the diving! At 18 years of age, this for him has been a very tough year. His dad, a wonderful man who never complained about getting up at 5 a.m. to take Tom to the swimming baths, passed away last year from a brain tumour. He fought very hard to survive, but it was not to be. A recent programme about Tom and his rise to fame - which of course has nothing to do with the fact that he is a lovely looking lad with a great physique - gave all of us more of an insight into this very unassuming young man, and the tough times in his life. Losing his dad was the toughest, but he also spoke about the fact that he was bullied at school, mainly by jealous people who didn't like the fact that he was so popular! Sad sad people who cannot rejoice in the good fortunes of others, and not once I would imagine did it ever occur to these mindless idiots just what he had gone through with losing his dad after a very long illness, but also all that he had to give up to become the athlete that he was! To see Tom's face when he won the bronze, and to see the coaching team and his team mates pick him up and jump into the pool with him was the highlight for me! The happiness was palpable, I felt myself grinning from ear to ear and I just hope that Tom will now take some time out for himself and enjoy the next few months - by the sounds of it he will be partying and eating!! He said last night that he had at times got fed up with always having to say no to going out and not being able to eat what he wanted to, and I got the impression he was going to be correcting that pretty rapidly!!
Tom Daley being thrown into the pool by team mates and coaches!
Tom Daley with his medal!
I will be sitting tonight watching the closing ceremony, no doubt with tears, and I will have a few glasses of vino while I do! I am so proud right now to be British, a feeling I have not had about my place of birth for quite some time! So I am now an Olympic convert, and I hope that the closing ceremony will be as great as the Opening one, and I wish Rio all the best for the 2016 Olympics, and in particular I hope that Team GB and NI will have a successful games there too!
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