We travelled again to London on the 31st August, only a couple of days into the paralympic games. I have to say we didnt get as in to the opening ceremony as we did with the Olympics but going to the park the atmosphere was the same. This time we all went, grandparents included and going into the park had the same magical feel.
We were thrilled to have tickets to the Velodrome, the best tickets in the park!! Despite being warned about the heat in there, nothing really prepared us for the humidity and heat when the doors opened. We had to wait to get in large groups at a time so that the environmental temperature wasn’t disrupted too much. The velodrome is SUCH an amazing building. I took my fish eye lens with me but to be honest the design of it with its curves and long continuous lines it almost does a fish eye without the lens.
The excitement was tangible. We had flags and we were ready to shout. We had great seats and looking down into the warm up area of the stalls we could see all the athletes going through their stretches, massage and slowly cycling their warm up bike round while keeping an eye on the action unfolding on the track. We knew that there was a lot of British interest and we also knew we would see a couple of finals and some medal ceremonies. The velodrome had this very cool system of getting people quiet which involved the faces of some very famous celebrities appearing and shhhhhhhing the crowd. The kids absolutely loved it.
The first event was the time trial…knowing that there was a British guy lying first in the qualifying rounds increased the excitement for everyone and we waited and waited to see the last rider to go.
But then disaster struck as Jody Cundy slipped coming out of the gate and stopped for a re-start but wasn’t given it and was disqualified. The downside of not watching on TV was that we had no commentators warning us what may happen and we suddenly realised he had been disqualified as the loud speaker pronounced the athlete who had raced before Jody as the Gold medalist. A brief stunned silence followed by gasps and then the inevitable boos resonated around the capacity crowd. Then the pressure cooker just blew for Cundy and in the athlete waiting area, things were thrown, shouts, swearing and we all watched, feeling a little bit like we shouldn’t. Such a powerful and poignant display of disappointment, the anger at years and years work thrown away. Fortunately we were up in the second balcony so could only hear shouting and not the exact language he used, one of the good things about not being camera close!. He did return at the end of the session and apologise to the crowd. Something which was met with warm applause and appreciation but i think most people understood anyhow.
The pursuit final we saw was exciting and inspirational. So many times i was staggered at how strong, able and bloody fast these disabled athletes could go. At one point my OH looked over the kids heads at me and mouthed ‘that guy has one leg? how is that fair?’ when the competitor seems to have two legs. I shrugged my shoulders as we watched the rider with one leg power past and win the pursuit and then ultimately the gold. It was remarkable.
We watched David Colbourne win his gold medal. I can safely say im not sure all of us could have shouted any louder. At one point i found myself yelling ‘GO FASTER!” over the metal barrier in front of us. That moment i remembered an interview with one of paralympic team GB when they said they would love it if people would not see the disability but just get behind them as an athlete..job done. We were all behind him as he started to gain time on his competitor. The noise was awesome, the force of noise following him around the track like a tidal wave must have felt incredible. His lap of honour was met with banners, flags, flashes and him being chased by press photographers along the track. Superstars being made.
Singing the national anthem when he got his medal with the kids and the giant choir in the velodrome is a memory that will stay with me forever…
It truly was inspirational, the athletes, the atmosphere, the achievement.
We left, back through the park. Stopping to dance at a brass band and watch the words in water fall from the bridge. Walking away from the stadium felt like closing a book after the most exciting story you have read for a long time. Now we knew the ending, we had walked it, experienced it, photographed it and written our own small part of history…
Its time to see what happens next.
