With only four days to go to the Games the countries excitement, drive and passion is ramping up after a great weekend of sport with the culmination of the Tour de France, golf Open, German F1 Grandprix and the start of the test cricket.
Read my Metro blog here - http://blogs.metro.co.uk/olympics/are-athletes-trying-much/
From now and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this year I will be blogging for the Metro. You will be able to read my pieces on the Metro site covering all things I love; sport, namely sailing, cycling, swimming in fact there is not a topic I won't cover.
Read the Metro Blogs from me here.
Happy reading and enjoy the Games!
Only a year
ago I could count on one hand the amount of times I had visited our countries
capital and the majority of those visits were to any of the London airports to
fly out of the country.
It’s fair to
say that I am not the city’s biggest fan and when I do go there I feel like a
tourist. Getting the tube literally can fill me with fear and dread, and I am
not of a nervous disposition. I can honestly say that I don’t know where I am
going and find the tube maps utterly confusing and the locals that are au fait
with the system are not the most helpful. I have been hustled and bustled
around as I haven’t been fast enough in moving forward or knowing where I am
going and the ‘Londonites’ scurry around looking on with distaste like I shouldn’t
be there. Similar to the feeling you get when you are not wearing your best and
find yourself in Ralph Lauren or Dolce & Gabbana being eye-balled by the
immaculately dressed and coiffured woman behind the counter who has already
assumed you can’t afford anything.
Then there is the public transport code of rules; don’t make
eye contact, don’t start conversation and generally keep out of the way. No one
talks to anyone or offers advice if you are clearly lost or even helps if you
are struggling with bags that have got trapped in the doors. I have previously
made the mistake of asking someone for help once and literally got pushed out
of the way. Making eye contact is a prison sentence as the slightest twitch of
the eye or connecting with someone else is going to mean your intentions to be
polite are taken as a sign you are going to mug someone. When did we become
such a pessimistic and worrisome nation?
And not to forget that all Londonites can be distinguished
from tourists by the ‘commuter shuffle’. A touch like power walking but with
weapons; briefcases, umbrellas, laptop bags etc. If you happen to get in the
path of a herd of shufflers getting off the tube there is a high possibility
that you will get swept along with them like a gaggle of lemmings and either
get taken down or come out with bruises. The shuffler's weapons act as a
device to part the crowds and god forbid should you be innocently standing in
their path. Bruised, battered and over heating is how I left Waterloo after my
first solo tube experience.
There are 24 days to go to the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games and 23 days to go before I have to head off to Weymouth & Portland.
Along with 69,999 others from across the country, I will be working for the first 2 weeks of August with the LOCOG teams to help put on the third Games to be taking place in the UK.
The 30th Olympic Games is due to feature 36 different sports, hosting tens of thousands of athletes across the country. This includes Weymouth & Portland host venue of the Sailing events both for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
While I am not competing or taking part in the physical aspect of the sport itself it is a huge opportunity to be selected to be part of the Games and I know it will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.
To be there in the thick of things for one of the most exciting sports of the Games and to say I had a part in making it great is important to me and I feel that the other Games Makers will feel the same.
I am very optimistic for the Games and feel there is huge potential. Plus I do feel very lucky as I could have been a driver, working in admin or even on security detail, but not only am I going to be at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy for two weeks but I am working within the media centre reporting and interviewing the sailors. A real dream to be writing and working with the press for something of this scale, who knows where it will lead!
Watch out for my bylines or you can follow me @emmalyork for up-to-the-minute news.
Read the very latest from me on the Olympic Metro Blogs page.
