RUN

This is an interesting art instillation, situated outside the Cooper Box in he heart of the Olympic Park.

The Run Sculpture was created by Monica Bonvicini and is a 30ft steel and glass structure.

It is quite fitting to have the word “Run” made into a piece of art, in what is a park that was built with sport in mind. Each letter is made of reflective material, which gives it a living feel to it. It looks different every time you look at it, thanks to the reflection of the changing sky.

I am sure as time ones by, we will see many pictures of these letters with people posing, as if hey are running in front of it. Even I had a go at this. I will save hat picture for another day. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of Run:

Mandeville

Mandeville is the official mascot for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In London at the moment, there is a mascot parade, with both Mandeville and the Olympic Mascot, Wenlock, showing up all over town in different guises.

This Mandeville, found outside the Lloyd’s Building in the City of London, was designed and painted by the artist, Julie Dodd:

Check out Julie’s website for more examples of her work: http://juliekdodd.moonfruit.com/

Patriot Games

At long last, as Brits seem proud to fly our flag. It all seems to have started with the Golden Jubilee earlier in the summer, and now with the success of the Olympic Games as a whole, and the ever growing success of Team GB, patriotic fever seems to have reached new hights. Union Jacks, or Union Flags to give them there proper name seem to be everywhere:

I must admit, I do love the way people now feel they can fly the flag!!!!

Away From The Sport – After Dark

As the day moved into night, the Olympic Park took on a different guise. The light and colours some how became more vibrant, and more interesting. Despite not having a tripod, I am rather pleased with these images:

The Orbit:

I think this was some kind of generator, hidden from view:

The Coca-Cola Beatbox:

Finally, quite fittingly, the Golden Stadium:

Even Graffiti Artists Have the Olympic Spirit

Even a walk around Shoreditch, East London, during the Olympics gave us some idea how much the Olympics had taken over the city.

Usain Bolt at first appeared to be the main attraction at the games themselves, but he also seems to be popular with the street artists of London, with a portrait and a tribute to the athlete:

Just around the corner from these, I bumped in to a street artist at work. It also turned out to be one my favourite artists as well. Meet Paul Don Smith, who is busy at work:

He told me that he had started a project of painting all the British Gold Medalists. At the start he didn’t realise how many there would be. When I met him, Team GB was already up to 19 Gold Medals. In the picture above, as you can see, he was immortalising TeamGB’s most successful sailor, Ben Ainslie, and below is his portrait of Jessica Ennis:

Away From The Sport – Street Entertainment

There is so much going on around the Olympic Park, that if you didn’t have tickets for an actual event, there would still be so much to keep you entertained. One of the biggest attractions is the big screen that was floating in the River Lea, which meant the river banks were full of people soaking up the atmosphere and watching live coverage of the games. This was a rather noisy area, especially when a member of TeamGB was doing well.

However, the big screen was not the only attraction. Every now and again, just walking around you would find singers and dancers. The dance show I witnessed was rather strange, in the way it started. I was walking along, when all of a sudden someone walking nearby switched some music on, and then other people in the crowd I was walking alongside, began to dance:

They were highly entertaining, and quite infectious, as people around them, including me joined in.

Then there were the buskers. This first chap, I actually know his name, after seeing him a couple of days earlier busking in Greenwich, this is Daniel Wilson, who is now known as Dawson:

Finally, a barber shop choir was randomly performing on one of the many bridges in the park:

ALl helped to create a fantastic atmosphere, and helped make a wonderful day out that I will never forget.

Away From The Sport – Horticulture

A visit to the Olympic Park, is just not a visit for the sport. The park outside the sporting arenas is open to explore, and there is so much to see. First of all the gardens. Apparently the flowers have been picked and grown to bloom to coincide with the games, and the golden colours are quite fitting:

Then there are the “Wetlands”. These have give been designed to be a nature haven, to encourage birds and butterflies. It is also a quite oasis in the middle of the city. Standing in this area, it was hard to believe the huge circus that is the Olympics, was taking place a 5 minute walk away:

Olympic Triathlon

A free Olympic event!!!! It would have been rude not to attend, and also cheer on the Brownlee boys, Alistair AND Jonathan, who are hot favourites to bring more medal success in the Triathlon for TeamGB. The event was going to be based in Hyde Park, with the cycle route going outside he park to Buckingham Palace and back.

I decided to position myself outside Buckingham Palace to watch the cycle race. The athletes were due to pass this spot 5 times on the cycle leg of e race. The atmosphere was excellent. Unusually for London, complete strangers were talking with one another while we waited. I got talking to a couple of people who were on their lunch breaks, and we swapped stories of our Olympic experiences so far. All were impressed with my Opening Ceremony Technical Rehearsal story.

Then in the distance, you could hear the roar of the crowd, this was followed by
Police Motorbike riders, and as he noise built, the first cyclists were in view, and jut as quick, had passed us. I was quite shocked at the speed they were travelling at. This was straight after a 1500metre swim and with the knowledge they had 5 more laps of cycling to do and a long run before they were due to finish.

It was very difficult to spot either of the Brownlee boys on the first couple of laps, however as the race went on, and the field slowly split, it was great to see them at the head of the race.

There was still the run to complete, but I wouldn’t hear of the result until ingot home. It was great news Gold and Bronze, Gold for Alistair Brownlee and Bronze for Jonathan Brownlee. Congratulations to both of you.

Olympic Handball

Welcome to the Copper Box, the box that rocks, exclaims he announcer at the Olympic Handball event. Our event was due to start at 10am and I thought the claim of a rocking arena was probably a very hopeful claim. However, the organisers of these games had plenty of ways to get he crowd going,

First of all, they ha there own TV channel. A roving reporter with a camera crew in-tow, encouraged people to make noise. The music was also very upbeat, an they seemed to have a piece of music for every game situation as well. For example, when a player was sent to the sin bin for a misdemeanour, “Go Sit Down  Next to Me” by James was pumped out of the arena speakers.

As for the games, our session had two games scheduled Hungary vs Serbia and Argentina vs Tunisia. Not knowing to much about Handball, we were helped by having he rules simply explained on he big screens. However, I was not expecting such a fast paced physical game. I was hooked!

Penalty to Serbia:

But the win went to Hungary:

Argentina on the attack:

Tunisia celebrate a win: