GOLD. OH, thank God. If Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins hadn’t delivered in the cycling, we feared Britain might feel obliged to declare a national day of mourning.
Another 24 hours without a podium top spot would have been too much to bear for our hyperventilating hosts.
As it turned out, it was a pair of rowers who initiated the G-day landing. The lunchtime sight of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning crossing the finish line at Eton College’s rowing facility was immediately heralded by relieved commentators as “the start of the gold rush”. They just can’t help themselves.
At least the historic female rowing first helped ease tension in Olympic Park, where thousands of fans gathered to watch Wiggins’s bid for a fourth cycling gold, thus sealing his place as the most successful Olympian in British history – with a total of seven medals in his saddlebag.
It was probably almost as good as being at Hampton Court, where the race ended, and maybe even better than a squashed spot along the race route watching competitors zipping past in a blur of lycra and aerodynamic helmets.
The Live Park at Stratford is where people come when they have a day pass into the grounds but no tickets into competition venues. They gather at the big screen and create their own Olympic arena atmosphere, augmented by those who have been or are waiting to go into an event.
Think Henman Hill in Wimbledon – the difference being that the fans on Wiggo Way knew their man had a very definite chance of winning.
It’s all very British: making do in a jolly, all-in-it-together fashion, having a great time sitting on damp grass while waving a little flag and snacking out of a plastic bag.
But a trip to Olympic Park is the next best thing to witnessing real sporting action. Tickets to get inside the heavily policed perimeter are very hard to come by – now available only on a daily returns basis. Their unique selling point is obvious: you get to say you were at the Olympics in London. You’ll have a ticket to prove it.
Bearing that in mind, this is where the organisers made a big mistake.
How, in years to come, when the photographs are dusted down, can you prove you were in the Stratford complex when the Games were taking place? Like, where’s the Olympic flame? If you go to the Olympics, you gotta have a picture with that cauldron burning in the background – it’s the crucial establishing shot.
We met Antoinette (Anto) O’Hara and her partner Joanne Price, both from Blanchardstown, strolling around Olympic Park. They were off to see the swimming and also have tickets for Katie Taylor’s fights next week.
Anto says she wanted to come to the Olympics for her 40th birthday, which is next year. “This is my holiday, better than the Maldives. We’ll never get a chance to see the games again,” she said. They both felt there weren’t enough big screens around the park. They didn’t know what was happening in the medal race.
“And the fact that you can’t see the cauldron is a huge issue for me,” said Anto. “It’s hidden in the main stadium, which is a shame.”
Meanwhile, you can’t have any great drama without a villain. London 2012 has provided one in the form of an entire country. China isn’t getting great press here. There is deep suspicion of their 16-year-old swimmer who swam a final leg in the women’s 400m freestyle that was faster than the fastest men.
This was followed by their slow-bicycle badminton race, when the top-seeded Chinese women’s doubles team “threw” a match in order to enhance their seeding in future matches.
They were disqualified yesterday, along with two pairs from South Korea and one from Indonesia, who followed suit.
Wicklow couple Niamh Murray from Roundwood and Ross Reynolds from Newcastle were at the match between China and South Korea, when the problem arose.
“After three or four points in the first game, it was obvious the Chinese wanted to lose. They sent nearly every serve into the net or foot faulted. It was absolutely scandalous” said Ross.
“We started to boo. Everyone was booing,” said Niamh. “All the people in the crowd thought they should have been disqualified there and then.”
In a way, they got good value for their £35 tickets. “It was a great night, we were there for over four hours and there were some really exciting matches. And we can say we were at the dodgy game as well.”
Meanwhile, it ended up being a perfect day on Wiggo Way – the double-sided big screen up on stilts in the river Lea and the crowd banked up on either side.
There was smell of suntan lotion in the air. The lawns gave way to swaying wildflower meadows and the union flag was worn, and interpreted, in any number of sartorial celebrations.
We saw men in fleece Union Jack onesies – they’re probably still being treated for heatstroke. We saw Union Jack dresses, scarves, hats, handbags, shorts, tee-shirts, trainers and the all-purpose flag – draped, rolled, wrapped, knotted, tied and used as a picnic blanket.
We found ourselves next to a very pleasant Goth, all black clothes and metal piercings, save for his pristine Union Jack kilt. He burst into tears when Bradley Wiggins won.
Then Britain’s silver medal-winning equestrian team was brought to the river stage under the big screen. The sight of Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips, sent the happy crowd into meltdown.
It almost made up for the lack of the cauldron.
