Here, then, are a few highlights of my Olympics so far - they've only been on for two official days, but we had the amazing chance to watch the Opening Ceremony dress rehearsal on Wednesday (two days before the real deal), so my Olympics experience has been going on a tiny bit longer. :)
Hello from Olympic Park!!!
(I need a "fringe" trim...)
The pastoral scene, before the Opening Ceremony rehearsal began...
Volunteer performers walking the "clouds" around the stadium.
One of my favourite parts of the Opening Ceremony - the smokestacks raising from the ground to represent the Industrial Revolution. Amazing.
Spotted a few of the 10,000 performers post-rehearsal, still in costume.
This dress reminded me of these two from Marc Jacob's spring/summer 2012 collection. No?
Source: Style.com
I also received a press membership to Omega House (St. Barnabas' House in Soho) for the duration of the Games, which is pretty amazing. Here are some photos of the front room, the "Omega Ladymatic", which I got a sneak peek of pre-opening. Omega is the official timekeeper of the Olympics, and Omega House officially opened on Saturday night, attended by brand ambassadors such as Nicole Kidman.
Omega has been good to me... during the Vancouver 2012 Olympics, I got to interview Cindy Crawford (another brand ambassador) for FASHION Magazine.
Me with Cindy.
My head looks about twice the size of hers.
Back to London 2012, here's a shot of the blimp that can be seen flying high above Olympic Park. I imagine it has a lot of cameras in it, capturing those aerial shots of the park we keep seeing on the BBC (CTV in Canada).
On Saturday, we headed back to Olympic Park for women's handball. I didn't do any research into this game before we went, but after watching two matches (Croatia vs. Brazil and Denmark vs. Sweden; winners in bold), I would describe it as a cross between hockey, soccer, and basketball.
Brazil in yellow; Croatia in red.
Seven people play for each team at once (including 1 goalie, who mans a net that's about half the size of a soccer goal). Like basketball, the ball can be dribbled across the court, although players can also run with the ball (I believe up to three steps).
When they stop running, they then have three seconds to pass or shoot the ball into the net. A few other rules: the offensive team can't enter the dark blue defensive zone (which I think is 6 meters from the net), although if they land in it after 'shooting' the ball, that's OK.
Like hockey, there are powerplays when someone fouls or gets a 2-minute penalty, which happen when someone holds another player unfairly; like soccer, there are yellow and red cards that are granted for certain types of fouls.
Maybe most interestingly, the ball is a bit sticky as a result of the weird resin-y substance that the players rub on their hands. They also put a glob of it on one of their heels, and during the game, you can often spot them rubbing their hands on it to make them tacky again. I imagine this makes dribbling a bit hard...
There are two 30-minute periods (with a 15-minute half-time), and as far as I know, there are only a small handful of countries that have teams (competing at the Olympics, anyway) - although apparently, it's a pretty big sport in Scandinavia.
I don't think there is a Canadian team... so if anyone wants to start one, I vow to join! What better way to get to the 2016 (or maybe 2020) Olympics?!!! (Sure, I will be O-L-D by then, but at least then we can say we went to the Olympics!)
Some keen Denmark fans.
A keen Netherlands fan in the crowd... wearing a shirt for another weird-sounding sport. Underwater hockey?!!! Seriously? Anyone know anything about this?!!!
On to a brief walk around of the rest of the Park...
Love this pattern on the floor. Reminds me of the Hay rug I apparently love blogging about.
Anyone who knows me knows how much of a recycling Nazi I am - so this recycling organization system throughout the Park really speaks to my anal side. I doubt everyone is taking it seriously, but at least the effort is there. Thanks, Coca-Cola.
The Orbit, which, if you have a ticket to another event at Olympic Park, you can buy a £15 ticket for. It's essentially an elevator surrounded by DNA-looking spirals, leading up to two viewing platforms.
View of the athletes' practice track. We saw quite a few people practising sprints and hurdles.
I wonder who they were....
A view of the cauldron on the inside of the Olympic Stadium, which is causing a bit of controversy for its central position (apparently, it is usually moved to one side of the stadium). It will be moved elsewhere in the next few days, I'm sure - before all the athletics (track and field) events begin.
A view of the City. The Shard (that triangular tower on the left) is the recently completed, Renzo Piano-designed, Shangri-La hotel-containing, tallest building in the UK.
The slightly phallic-looking building on the right is "the Gherkin".
And there's O2 arena, where loads of concerts are held. I saw Jay-Z and Kanye West perform there a few months ago. It was slightly controversial when it was built, as its intended exhibition, the Millennium Experience (which was open for all of 2000), had major financial problems—and then failed to attract the number of visitors it was supposed to.
Thanks for reading my London 2012 recap! More photos to come - I'm heading to the beach volleyball semi-finals next week!
