It's No Medal Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling weirdly underwhelmed today - not at our lack of Gold medals today but our lack of ANY medals. What is Gabby Logan gonna fill out her programme with tonight???
Oh well we cannot really complain - we gained 4 Golds 2 Silver and 2 Bronze yesterday -can't be bad. We saw 2 of our cycling legends bowing out of Team GB - firstly Victoria Pendelton who , possibly harshly, left on a silver medal run after being relegated in her first run on the final and being beaten by her arch rival Anna Mears from Australia. The we had THE MAN - Chris Hoy - whether he now gets Key to the City, becomes a Saint or even King Hoy we know what an unbelievable athlete he really is and a Team GB and Scotland Sporting Icon.
We gained another Gold medal down at Greenwich park in the Dressage and also back in the velodrome the effervescent Laura Trott won Gold in the Omnium after looking like she had lost out with 1 element to go.
It was a golden. golden day for us yet my ass was firmly taking up roots on Jude's sofa. I did leave it for a short time purely to leave and feed myself. In this time i did break the record for the "Kebab Shop Shutters are Closing 200m Dash" - still waiting for my Golden Post Box.
Today I met friends back in Greenwich where we decided to watch the individual showjumping on the big screen. It was sunny and we had plenty of sociable beers - shame we won nothing but Nick Skelton is still a living legend of the sport.
We then headed to docklands to the German beer house for a few beverages before heading to Potterfields by Tower Bridge to watch athletics on the big screen under the stunning scenery of the bridge. When it lights up it truly is spectacular. We won no medals today but to be fair we are still guaranteed 5 boxing medals and a sailing medal so all is not lost,


Tomorrow I head for my first and only experience inside the Olympic arena - it is Decathlon day and although the GB guy has pulled out there is plenty tottie (sorry talent) left in to keep me entertained.
My final blog may come to you from Birmingham as after the athletics tomorrow we have our Eurovision Retro Fest so I unlikely to be fit to write to you good people.
I hope you have enjoyed my journey - it has been everything i hoped and more. I am still walking on air and hoped you have enjoyed my journey. Catch up with you all at the weekend when I draw a line under my dream life experience xxx

I Got a Golden Ticket!!!!!!!

Well the excitement of Greenwich started on Sunday afternoon, whilst from the Hub of Jude's couch, I managed to pick up a cheap ticket to the following day's showjumping event. My friend Juha had posted that he had picked one up and i chanced my luck and was successful. Then i realised we were sitting in joint 2nd place and would be in with a chance of a medal - how fabulous.



We met up at Waterloo at 10.30am with the idea of heading up to Greenwich on a riverboat. Unfortunately i think a few thousand people had the same idea so we took the tube then the Docklands Light Railway. En route the rain came on but when we reached Greenwich the sun was splitting the sky.
We had loads of time so took our chance to have a pleasant early afternoon - (yes the sun was over the yard arm just) drink and got prime spot in front of a screen for the athletics.


We then headed off towards Greenwich Park. We found a quaint little pub called The Gipsy Moth, where on our way through the door we were looked up and down and advised there was a Weatherspoons pub round the corner!!!! How cheeky is that? I could not stop laughing as we headed into the middle of their dining room to sit and have our drink in all our Union Jack glory.
We finally reached Greenwich park and it was beautiful. There were big screens where you could sit and watch the action without a ticket.

There was also The Royal Navy on security - a nice little treat for me.
We got into the arena and climbed up to our seats and could not believe how good they were. Very very central and close to the final jump. It was so exciting. The jumps all looked fabulous and we were treated to an explanation of each one and of the rules of the competition. We were advised to keep the applause the same for all teams, not because it would give an unfair advantage but because we might spook the horses lol. e were allowed to shout and scream all we wanted once they had finished their round.

The action started with the individual jumpers then began the team jumpers. It was very tense with Saudi Arabia out in from with 4 teams including Team GB in 2nd place. We started with a clear round from the magnificent Nick Skelton then had a round with 4 faults in our second round. Scott Brash from Peebles then jumped clear to massive applause. The Netherlands were out closest rivals and they also jumped a couple of clear rounds. With a round of 4 faults from Team GB we were left with The Netherlands left to jump. A clear round would win them Gold, 4 faults would put us tied in 1st and more than 4 faults, Team GB would win. It is a difficult situation to watch as when The Netherlands knocked down their first fence there were small yelps of joy, not at their misfortune but the fact people knew the Gold was not out of our grasp. It ended in a tie meaning we had to have a jump off. Basically the we were faced with the Penalty Shoot Out of the Horsey world. These were the rules - shorter course, all 4 jumpers jump, 3 scores count, time comes into play if scores are even - got that? Off we go.

Team GB jumped first - CLEAR!!!!! Then The Netherlands - CLEAR!!!!! Team GB - CLEAR!!!!!!!! The Netherlands - 4 Faults - yikes this is exciting. Team GB jump - 4 Faults!!!!  - aaaarg but not a disaster. The Netherlands jump - 4 faults!!!! - wow this meant we were left with the situation that if Team GB jumped clear in their final round we would win gold - the first showjumping gold medal in 60 years!!!!!! Peter Charles came out to as low an applause as we could possibly muster. The 12 000 strong crowd jumped every jump with him. We lightly gasped as he cleared every fence. Held out breath as a couple of them wobbled then went ballistic when he came over the final fence in a clear round - What An Amazing Feeling. We won Gold!!!!! I witnessed Gold!!!!!! I cried!!!!!! We hugged strangers!!!!! I cried some more!!!!!!

I recovered just in time for the victory ceremony which was magical. The horses were all written round the arena then stood as the jockeys took to the podium. I stood as the National Anthem played and have never been prouder - all the time thanking my lucky stars that I managed to get my golden ticket so cheaply and last minute just the afternoon before.

What a day it was. We headed off to Heineken House - the Dutch party house where they really know how to celebrate medals. The set up is you go in, you put money on a pre paid card and off you go spending. I enjoyed beer and food whilst playing on the rowing machine and getting out photos taken lighting the flame. There were big screens showing different sports and the whole of the Ally Pally was bathed in a sea of Orange. It was a stunning spectacle. The 4 show jumpers were brought down a ladder from the rafters of the beautiful Alexandria Palace to rapturous applause, dancing and music. The don't look on silver as a lost gold. Their athletes don't apologise for only getting a silver. They celebrate every medal as they should be celebrated and many a Team GB performer and members of the GB media could definitely take a leaf out of their book.

Red Sofa Olympics Hub!!!!!

Well after the exploits of Team GB yesterday and my exploits in and around Soho we decided that today was to be spent on the sofa keeping our fingers on the pulse of all the action.
Between us, we had a TV, 2 laptops, an I Phone and an I pad. There was no way we were gonna miss any of the action - especially early on as there was medal action everywhere today. We could not stop laughing as we kept catching sight of ourselves. All we were missing were a pair of head sets and a connection straight through to BBC Head Quarters. We did a sterling job though bringing the stats and results to you as quickly as we could.

The excitement started in the sailing as the Star class boys Percy and Simpson were in Gold medal position with 200m to go then it all went wrong. They agonisingly missed out and had to settle for silver. They were visibly gutted and Jude and I were stressed to the max. Straight away the Finn class then started with Ben Ainslie going for gold. It is a hard sport to follow anyway so the lack of knowledge of what was happening mixed with the emotion of what had happened in the previous race made me physically sick. The nerves were unbearable but at last Ben Ainslie crossed the line in gold medal position. It was fabulous and his celebration with flares was something to behold. Ben Ainslie rules the waves and we salute you. I doubt a knighthood will be far off.
All the stress of the sport called for some chocolate as we then set out various media forms to tennis, gymnastics and cycling. I think we hoped more than expected that Andy Murray could finally conquer his nemesis at Wimbledon. He played an outstanding match and the scenes as he won the gold medal will stay with us for a long time. He emulated Pat Cash as he climbed up the gantry to embrace his friends and family. A thoroughly well deserved Gold medal and another match to play in just over an hour. During the last few games of the tennis we also had the men's pommel horse final and at one point Andy was serving for the game whilst Team GB were performing in the gymnastics. Way way too exciting and we just missed out on a Gold medal in the pommel. Louis Smith finished equal on points with the winner but was relegated to silver due to his execution mark.He was a little disappointed but he performed the best routine he could and we also picked up a bronze medal after a brilliant performance from Whitlock.
Jude and I were being overcome with excitement once again. Ed Clancy did not perform well in the omnium points race but then had a belter in the sprint and elevated himself from 5th position to bronze medal just as Andy Murray was out once again performing with Laura Robson and narrowly losing out to the Belorussians - Silver for Team GB. All these medals in such a short time was exhausting. We cheered, we cried, we cheered some more.

We still had the athletics to look forward to culminating in the 100m men's final - who would prevail??? Well unfortunately we never got the medal we hoped for in the triple jump and all our men went out in the 100m semis, the 1500m semis and the 400m semis - quite disappointing but on the upside both our girls went through in the 400m hurdles heats and Perrie Shakes-Drayton won her heat easily whilst easing down. Robbie Grabbarz qualified in the high jump and then Chrissie Ohurugu had the stadium on their feet as we thought she was going to repeat her dramatic win of 4 years ago but it was not quite meant to be. She left herself too much to do but came back brilliantly for a silver medal. We were treated to the 2 gold medal ceremonies for Greg Rutherford and Mo Farrah - more tears were shed. Seriously I'm on and off like a tap this week. Then finally we had the 100m final. Tension was mounting, swaggers were swagged and false starts were avoided. As if there was ever any doubt, Bolt romped to a win in 9.63secs - a new Olympic Record. Blake was second and Gatlin 3rd. Poor Tyson Gay ran 9.80secs and didn't get a medal - that proved how high quality a race we had witnessed. Bolt proved that yet again he was the man.

We finished off the day adding 2 Golds 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals to the overall total. To add to this I managed to pick up tickets to the Show Jumping at Greenwich tomorrow so I am pretty excited about that and we are in medal contention. Let's hope the horsey set are ready for me and my outfits :-) I will be armed with plenty tissues as this is vast becoming one of the most emotional times of my life. Luckily there are many crying with me. Tomorrow is another day - keep em coming Team GB









And to finish off today's blog I give you my highlight of the day. Look at the photo below showing the results of the first heat in the women's 400m hurdles. Now look at the name of the woman who fell over and did not finish - could not make it up!!!!!!!

Saturday so Super it need Seconds..............

Well when i left so briskly at 3pm today after our wonderful 2 golds and a silver at Eton Dorney, whilst predicting a bit of a Gold rush for Team GB, i did not imagine i would be writing to you now of the day we won 6 gold medals!!! An unprecedented amount of bling for our team in the 1 day,
Whilst i was trawling the bars of Soho, Team GB were planning a performance far above what anyone could have predicted.

I met up with some old friends, saw a few sights (literally) and also made some new chums as we watched the great sporting moments that were about to unfold.

The women's pursuit team smashed the world record and almost rode their bikes up the backside of the USA team to clinch another gold in the velodrome. They must be the smiliest 3 girls ever and were beaming as they collected the medals on the rostrum.

Into the Olympic Arena and who could have predicted what would unfold there? Well me actually. I left word with a friend saying i felt there was a major gold rush on today for our team. Obviously Jess Ennis had performed wonders in the earlier events of the heptathlon to make the 800m almost a demonstration event but wow what an achievement. After the disappointment of Beijing it must have felt amazing to win in front of a home crowd. She got a rapturous reception which brought more tears from me - yes i still have more to give.
Mo Farrah then stormed to an amazing 10 000m title which we probably hoped for more than we expected. We thought he had made his move too soon and there were loads of athletes still around him but he still had an extra kick to give at the end.

Meanwhile in the background our long jumpers were making small in roads into the competition and from nowhere Greg Rutherford of Team GB won the gold medal with a jump of 8.31m - it may have been the shortest winning distance in years but you can only beat the people in your competition on the day.
3 medals in the Olympic Stadium in one night - we could only have dreamt of it!!!!!!!

Now it leaves Team GB firmly in 3rd position in the medal table with 14 gold medals and 29 in total. Phenomenal. Think I may have to go to bed now and sleep off the excitement (and the cider) x

Oh and I almost forgot to day. Well done to the Jambos. A 2-0 win over St Johnstone leaves us top of the SPL - woohoo!!!

Something a bit different for Super Saturday

Well today is so full of exciting action i feel a rolling blog may be necessary. I am watching from home so I can try and keep up with every piece of important action.
First up was Jess Ennis in the Heptathlon. She started 2nd day in 1st place and was looking for a solid long jump to keep her in contention. She had a tentative first jump of 5.95m compared with the huge jump of 6.44m of one of her big rivals Shernova. Ennis came out for jump 2 with a determined look on her face and soared out to 6.45m It pretty much stamps her authority on that Gold medal and her final round jump of 6.50m was the icing on the cake. She has an average Javelin throw to come up compared to the others but her 800m should be more than enough to grab her the Gold. Exciting times. Meanwhile defending champion from Ukraine Dobrinska had a terrible long jump and failed to record a distance. Disappointing way to lose your Olumpic Title.

The wome's triathalon was also held this morning and Team GB's Helen Jenkins was up with the leading group for most of the way but faded towards the end of the run and finsihed in a very respectable 5th place.

Whilst this has been going on, Jason Kenny qualified for the men's 250m sprint in an Olympic record whilst Ed clancy won the first discipline in the men's Omnium. It looking great down at the Velodrome and I can not quite cope with all this excitement.

Now the women in the lightweight women's skulls and Team GB have just won the GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really don't know what to do with myself. Unbelievable scenes from Eton Dorney. That is the 3rd women's Gold medals for Team GB rowers!!!! Pass me the hankies please!!!

Excitement now at Eton Dorney as the GB men in the lightweight double skulls have a disaster as their seat breaks. The race has been called back but the issue now is, Was is within the 1st 100m of the race? If so they can restart the race with Team GB in it. Ooh could be some deliberation now. The umpire will make the decision.

Team GB allowed to restart in the race due to a breakage in the boat. Seems slightly harsh on the other crews who raced a fair bit further than they did. Would be interesting to see if there are any complaints put in at a later stage. And wow what an exciting race. GB in the lead for most of the way but did not quite have enough to hold off the charging Danes who pipped them at the post. Silver medal for Team GB to add to our 2 earlier Gold Medals - fab day - keep them coming.

Excitement today on centre court at Wimbledon where Andy Murray and Laura Robson have made it through to the semi finals of the mixed doubles. Good championship end for Murray after the disappointment of going out in round 1 with his brother in the men's doubles.

In the main Olympic Stadium there have been more good results for Team GB. All 3 men are through to next round of the men's 400m and also all 3 of our 100m guys are through to tomorrow's semi finals. Dwain Chambers ran a seasons best in 10.02 to qualify 4th fastest and also World Junior Champion Adam Gemili qualified in 2nd place behind Asafa Powel.
Holly Bleasdale has qualified for the women's pole vault final after clearing 4.55m and unfortunately Kate Dennison did not make it through after slipping on the run way and injuring her foot.
Jess Ennis is continuing to line up the Gold Medal with a steady performance in the javelin with 2 throws over 45m and the a PB on her final throw of 47.49m - unless a complete disaster happens in the 800m the gold is hers :-)

Ok off to the pub for the rest of the evening to hopefully see some more flashes of Gold :-) enjoy peeps !!!

The Day I Lived my Dream!!!!

Well I have done it people. I have finally BEEN to the Olympics!!! Another gold rush of a day for Team GB with wins for the outstanding Katherine Grainger and her partner Anna Watkins in the double skulls. Finally after 12 years of trying and 3 silver medals Katherine finally got her evasive Gold and the pictures of the hug she received from Sir Steve Redgrave needed no words. Only he really knew what it must have meant to her after all those years of trying. This was followed by a brilliant start in the Heptathlon by Jess Ennis - a massive PB in the 100m hurdles which actually would have won the 100m hurdles event in Beijing last year. She also ran a pb in the 200m at the end of the first long day to keep her in 1st position.
Unsurprisingly the Men's pursuit team won gold in the velodrome and smashed the world record and then Victoria Pendelton made up for her disappointment of yesterday by winning gold in the women's Keirin.
There were also bronze medals for the men's coxless 4's and the men's single skulls with Alan Campbell and also for Karina Bryant in the judo. Andy Murray had a brilliant win over Djokovic to set up a gold/silver medal match with Roger Federer who was involved in the longest game in Olympic history when the final set went to 19-17.


You may have notice I have skimmed over a lot of today's results as I want to bring you my thoughts on the swimming this evening whilst the emotion is still raw. Today was such an important today and in celebration of that i decided it was time to bring out the big guns in the costume department. Let's just say it caused a few raised eyebrows on the train but also caused a rather hot squaddie, who was security on the main gate, to award me outfit of the day lol.
Even as I crossed the bridge to the aquatic centre I had goosebumps. I entered through section 410 and climbed the several flights of stairs up to the "nose bleeding heights" of the cheap seats but fear not my view was brilliant. I was exceedingly high up but pretty much over the start/finish line and could see everything that was going on. The noise was like nothing i have ever heard before. You hear the term "wall of noise" banded about but that is exactly what it was. The first race was the women's 200m backstroke and the arena went wild for Lizzie Simmonds who started very well and at one point looked as if she would medal. Alas it was not to be but the terrific Missy Franklin took the gold in a World Record time. You really have to experience that kind of atmosphere to truly understand what I'm talking about but believe me it is EXCITING!!!

A nice little treat for me next with the uber talented Michael Phelps and the young pretender Chad le Clos - this was certainly not a chore to watch and everybody in the arena was willing Phelps over the line so we could witness history - his 17th Olympic Gold Medal - that is just unreal for someone who is still only 27.

Next was the race everyone in the aquatic centre had come to see. Rebecca Adlington in the 800m freestyle trying to retain her Olympic title. When she stepped out onto the blocks the roof nearly came off. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as they appeared to do for everyone.


It became obvious from the start that the race was not going to be easy for Rebecca as 15 year old Katie Ledecky from the USA took an early lead which never slipped the whole race. If the crowd could have got in a pushed Becky on they would have. The noise was deafening and everyone was out of their seats almost swimming every stroke with her. She came in 3rd for bronze medal and obviously there was a little tinge of disappointment that there was no gold medal,  but the crowd could not have been prouder of Becky.
It was heartbreaking to see her coming out for her medal ceremony, seemingly inconsolable. She kept wiping away the tears and for all those cynics out there would will say they were tears of pity or tears of disappointment for herself could not be further from the mark.
Those tears were because she felt she had let down the amazing support of all her family and friends but the sound of "Becky Becky Becky" reverberating around the arena proved that nothing could be further from the truth. People sobbed as they cheered. Folk were wiping away tears on sleeves, flags and handkerchiefs handed to them by strangers. The disappointment was from not witnessing a home gold but certainly not with the effort and determination of Rebecca Adlington.
As I left the arena it was a strange feeling. It felt as if I was sad but I knew I was not sad. I felt as if i was flat but again knew i did not feel flat. I think I just realised that I had finally done what i had always wanted to do and attend an event at the Olympic games. There had been a tidal wave of emotion and as corny as it may sound i was emotionally drained. I headed home on the tube trying to commit all the memories of today to memory so that i do not forget them and  will sleep tonight with a smile on my tear stained face :-)

From Feeling Rough to a Gold Rush!!!!

Well i woke up on Thursday morning cold and upside down in my bed with my head on the computer - appears I attempted to write my blog during the night after one too many Caipirinhas at Casa de Brazil!!!! It meant for a particularly fuzzy start to the morning when i barely lifted my head off the pillow - luckily for me my park tickets were for a 4pm start so i was not missing anything and in fact my sluggish start resulted in me catching another "Olympic Moment". Gemma Gibbons was competing in the judo where we had not had a medal for 12 years. She beat the French world champion to get through to the final and guarantee herself a silver or gold medal. She threw her opponent for a win, punched the air then broke down into tears on the mat then looked sky words and said "I love you Mum"!!!! - powerful stuff and totally what I love about the Olympics - you would have to have a heart of stone to not be moved by this!!!!

I then got myself together and made the tube and train journey out to Stratford. I have to say so far i have been very impressed with how easy it is to get to the park. 35mins from door to gate and that is using 3 different trains. They are frequent and quick and the security queues have caused no issues at all. Quite an achievement when you see the amount of people milling about. I met up with Mandy and we headed for the big screen down by the velodrome. What a day we had!!!!! We got there to discover Team GB had already started the Gold Rush with a gold in the shooting and then a gold and silver in the canoe slalom - brilliant achievements.

We watched Pendelton and Varnish qualify for the women's sprint in a World Record time - the first World Record I have ever watched live at a venue and we held it for all of 5 mins until those pesky Chinese came and took it away ha ha. The atmosphere was electric and I have never ever heard such a loud gasp when our men's sprint team came out and Phillip Hines wobbled and fell off at the start of heat 1. Luckily for us there was a restart and as you will all now know, they went on to win Gold in a World Record time - I am not ashamed to say there was tears. It was just awesome. I was surrounded by thousands of people all cheering and waving flags and I felt so so proud. We had sat through the disappointment of the women being disqualified for a technical infringement and also witnessed the awesome Chinese women being relegated to silver medal for the same thing. The Team GB men's pursuit Team had come on and smashed the opposition in qualifying posting another World Record. We just could not believe what we were witnessing all day and it was magical.

Finally at the end of the day in the velodrome them men's sprint team came out for their medal ceremony. The noise was immense and then as we saw the final medal being hung around King Hoy's (that's the next step up from a Sir is it not?) neck, the link to the big screen cut off!!!!!!!!! A collective scream of NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO by 10000 people is pretty powerful stuff and as they frantically tried to fix the link we missed the anthem. Gutted gutted gutted - luckily the replayed it for us later.

Having got over the emotion of the day we headed for food and were en route for fish and chips when we saw a commotion outside BBC headquarters. Now still remembering the stupidity of "changing a light bulb gate" - see yesterdays blog - we tentatively walked towards it. We then saw gold medals being hung over the balcony so we ran - yes ran - over and found the Canoe Slalom boys Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott displaying their medals for the crowd - Fab Fab moment!!!!!. They applauded the efforts of all the crowds and you really get the feeling that our Team GB athletes can not quite comprehend the support they are getting from the home crowds. They knew it would be good but the noise has been phenomenal.



As our day at the Olympic Park came to a close we decided to go into the Coca Cola Beat Box - an amazing structure containing the brain child of Mark Ronson who has composed the Olympic Song from the natural noises of people partaking in Olympic events including table tennis, archery, 100m hurdles and 400m. There are sound cushions all the way up which you activate with your hands to hear the different elements of the musical piece and you are instructed all the way by the very enthusiastic Future Flames who were all torch bearers on the Torch Relay through Great Britain. The surprise at the very top was our opportunity to have our picture taken with the Olympic torch with the stadium in the background. A superb way to finish off a great Golden day for Team GB.

I am pleased to say this experience is shaping up to be everything i thought it would be and more. Friday is my big big day where I have my first ticketed event. I will be at the aquatics centre for the Swimming where Rebecca Adlington will be going for gold in the 800m freestyle and I cannot wait :-)