Meet Jim

I wonder if he is Jim, or whether this Guardsman has a son called Jim. I took this picture on a recent Flickr Meet Up, and this chap caused quite a stir. Despite many people getting close, once his tattoo was spotted, he remained perfectly still and composed.

Here is a rear view of “Jim” and the view that confronts him while he does his job:

Games Makers

One of the highlights of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were the thousands of volunteers, who are known as “Games Makers”. It is widely recognised, that without these volunteers we would have had a very different games experience, instead of the “Happy and Glorious” games as Jacques Rogge, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, declared at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

My experience of the Games Makers matched that sentiment. They always seemed to have a smile on their face, which was infectious, and went about marshalling us spectators, as well as I guess the athletes themselves, with a friendly authoritative manor. Common sense reigned!!!! Here are a few pictures that I managed to capture during the games:

….and my favourite, this I think really illustrates how friendly, approachable and fun these people were:

Thank you to all the volunteers for making our Olympic and Paralympic Games the success they were.

Telephone Box Art

As well as all the venues at he Olympic Park, the organisers have also created a place for spectators to explore away from the sport. A short walk from the Olympic Stadium, you find yourself walking down a path, which leads you to a kind of wilderness. Despite only being a five minute walk away from all the sports action and the hassle and bustle of the Park, you could be mistaken that you were in fact miles away in he countryside.

Amongst the greenery of this area, there is an art installation, made of one of the UK’s famous old red telephone boxes. The windows have been removed, and words have been added to th window frames. These are to illustrate/reflect the recent history of where they stand:

This feature was designed by AOC Architects

Paralympic Games – Wheelchair Tennis

The second Paralympic Sport I went to see was Wheelchair Tennis. I had actually seen this before on TV, as it is played as an exhibition as the big Grand Slam Tennis tournaments. The rules for Wheelchair Tennis are basically the same, bar one rule. The ball is allowed to bounce twice.

Seeing Wheelchair Tennis “Live” is so different to seeing it on TV. It actually looked dangerous. When serving, the players rock their wheelchair, and as they are serving the ball, they are leaning over so far, that only one wheel of their wheelchair is on the ground. This is Team GB’s Gordon Reid serving:

This event, like virtually all the Paralympic sports was very popular, and a huge crowd was present on Centre Court. We were treated to a great game of tennis, and I must admit, as the game went on, I forgot their disabilities. This was two sportsmen playing a game. It seemed irrelevant that they were in wheelchairs.

The visit to the Wheelchair Tennis, resulted in one of my favourite pictures of the games:

I like how I managed to get the tennis player and the Paralympic symbol positioned just right, plus the shadow of the player. I hope you like it to.

Natalia Partyka

This is Natalia Partyka

Here she is showing off her Paralympic Gold Medal for Table Tennis. However, Natalia has a special and unusual story.

Natalia was born with out a right hand. She took up Table Tennis when she was 7years old, and was good enough to represent Poland at the age of 11 at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. However, by 2008 she also completed in the Olympics as well as the Paralympics in Beijing, a feat she repeated in London 2012.

In London, as well as winning her third Paralympic Table Tennis tournament, she also got to the last 32 of the Women’s Table Tennis competition. Congratulations Natalia.

Paralympic Games – Goalball

I had never heard of Goalball until I tried to apply for tickets for the Paralympic Games. The ticket I eventually got was a day pass at the Olympic Park, which included Goalball.

Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for blind athletes, originally devised in 1946 by the Austrian Hans Lorenzen and German Sepp Reindle as a means of assisting the rehabilitation of visually impaired veterans from World War 2..

Goalball gradually evolved into a competitive game during the 1950s and 1960s, and finally becoming a Paralympic sport in 1980.

The basic rules for Goalball are as follows:

“Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponents’ goal. Teams alternate throwing or rolling the ball from one end of the playing area to the other, and players remain in the area of their own goal in both defence and attack. Players must use the sound of the bell to judge the position and movement of the ball. Games consist of two 12-minute halves (formerly 10-minute halves). Eyeshades allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players.Eyepatches may be worn under eyeshades to ensure complete coverage of the eye, and prevent any vision should the eyeshades become dislodged.”

At the London 2012 games, Goalball was taking place at the Copper Box. In the Olympics, this was the “Box that Rocked”, but for Goalball it had a very different atmosphere. While in play, us spectators had to be very quite. This was achieved, believe it or not, with the help of Bjork, as they played “It’s So Quiet” over the sound system.

Our tickets allowed us to see two games. Sweden against Finland, and Team GB against Brazil.

There was plenty of support for Sweden in the first game, with one lady being very vocal in the breaks between the action.

It was quite interesting to watch, and even though they asked for silence from the crowd watching the game, this silence was not required of the competitors, who stomped around the court, to try and disguise where the ball was. Here are some pictures from the first game:

Team Sweden:

Team Finland:

This illustrates how the rules regarding eyepatches and shades is administered:

Team Sweden defending:

This game ended in a 4-1 win for Finland, who went on to win the Gold Medal.

Our second game was Brazil against Team GB. The noise in the Copper Box got very loud in anticipation of the appearance of the home team. When they appeared, the noise was deafening:

Here are a couple of members of the British Team:
Adam Knott:

Simon Goodall:

For Team GB, the game was a little disappointing, as Brazil, who went on to win the Silver Medal, ran out 7-1 winners. However, I got the real impression, that we were witnessing, the original ideals of the Olympic Games, it was the taking part and not the winning. Despite losing by such a big margin, the Team GB players seemed pleased to have been there, and were lapping up the applause they were receiving from the home crowd.

Finally, not the best of pictures – but it captures a moment. Team GB were taking a lap of honour, when the girl sitting next to me, started calling out one of the players names. Despite the noise, he heard her, and came running over to her, This was really was a magical moment:

I am so pleased I had the opportunity to see this sport. I found the whole event quite emotional, and great fun.