The Olympics in Image and Video

rafster, clown and asim18 - Fantastic shots all round!! (I hate you for having better skills)

Here's a few from last night:

Heh.

V F said:

Heh.

Click to expand...

so true

Had to log in again after so long, to post this one:



I know it's a photo taken from the TV. But this is my little brother taking his first serve for the GB Volleyball Team - couldn't be prouder of him (tears were flowing!)

Really, really looking forward to going down to see them play on Thursday.

GB vs RUS

Damn, look at all the empty seats.

The place was actually quite full by the time the game got underway. When Argentina v Lithuania started it was crazy, they were louder than the GB fans.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning having just won GB’s first gold in the Women’s Pairs rowing final:

Wiggo the King:

I can't match some of the superb shots already posted (especially asim's lovely shot of the camera phone and all the event shots) but here's a bit of photo reportage copied from the "has anyone visited" thread.
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I got into London on Friday at about 10:30. Victoria was no busier than normal at this time of year.The Central Line was snarled up after a signal failure, but the District Line out to West Ham was busy at first, but tourists soon got off and there weren't too many folk going all the way to West Ham and the Greenway walk...



...of about 20 minutes (if you're slow) to the perimeter of the games gulag.





That's as far as us low life without tickets can go and I then spent about an hour wandering around that area trying to find some interesting viewpoints or a decent walk around the Park zone.

But this lot were the only ones with a decent view.



All the canal paths and side roads in the area were blocked by guards or barriers and I eventually gave up... though not after helping some puzzled tourists who were struggling with the roads given that half the walkways around the area were shut off. There were also a lot of people, including families, hanging around with signs asking for tickets. I think they had two chances... fat chance and no chance whatsoever. At least I knew I was heading for a dead end, some people clearly didn't.

I still really regretted not being able to get in. It was strange being so close and yet a million miles away. Never thought I'd feel like that about a sporting event, but maybe mass hysteria is infectious.

So I trudged back down the walkway heading for West Ham tube again. Which is when the heavens opened and for a few minutes I was in the heaviest rain I think I've ever experienced. And I grew up in Buxton, where we have more words for wet stuff than the Eskimos have for snow. This wasn't just any old rain, this was world class Olympic rain!



I wanted to take more shots, but water was pouring off my camera... and me. Even Berghaus' finest waterproofing gave up. But fortunately Transport For London make some fairly good drip drying apparatus.



I got off the District line at Tower Hill, and -- still incredibly soggy in the glorious sunshine -- made the fairly short walk over Tower Bridge...





...and went over to sit outside Boris's office with a relatively small crowd. This Potters Field site has no restrictions, and is probably on a much smaller scale than the big park (Hyde etc, not Olympic) Live events.



To be honest this wasn't too exciting. Two beach volleyball games dragged on, livened up by a party of Dutch tourists supporting their team, then they switched to the archery, which was more to my tastes. However they switched over from the end of the gold medal match to cover the GB cycling heats.

That finally got the crowd going a bit, but it was getting on for about five o'clock by then and I have to be at work for 10pm, so I called it a day.

On the walk back down the Thames towards Victoria there was a bit more ring action...



And a passable impersonation of the Olympic flame.



Oh, and I think I might have met some team members on Tower Bridge. They were either sight seeing or very lost. It was hard to tell because although they smiled a lot, they spoke no English whatsoever. For all I know they might have been Romanian pick-pockets with an elaborate disguise.

Or extras for the next Borat movie.

Rear tail fin painted up in honour of Group Captain Don Finlay who won silver in the 1936 Berlin 110 m hurdles and Bronze in the 1932 Los Angeles 110 m hurdles.

Neat!

My day at the Olympics part 1:

My day at the Olympics part 2:






I'm sure the size won't bother you.

My day at the Olympics part 3:


To be continued.........

simulatorman said:

My day at the Olympics part 2:

I'm sure the size won't bother you.

Click to expand...

Breaking your own threads rules eh?

Nice pics nonetheless

Muban said:

Breaking your own threads rules eh?

Nice pics nonetheless

Click to expand...

I'm allowed a minor indiscretion.

Cheers

My day at the Olympics part 4: