When the London 2012 Olympics ended a few weeks ago, I wrote a Blog post about my Olympics regrets. I regretted not having been able to be a part of such a momentous event. I'm delighted to say that I am both pleased and proud to have been a part of the Paralympics - an event which I have no doubt will be remembered as an inordinate triumph.
Yesterday, I spent a whole day at the London 2012 Paralympics, with my dad, and my sister. We had day-passes to the ExCel centre, and we saw a variety of events throughout the day. We watched the Wheelchair Fencing, we marvelled at the extraordinary Power Lifting finals, we cheered Team GB in the Sitting Volleyball (even though they got badly beaten by Brazil!) and we learned how to pronounce "Boccia".
The thing which struck me the most about the Paralympics was just how wonderful the atmosphere was at all the events we saw. Talking about it on the way home, Dad and I both agreed that the whole thing had felt like a big party - a party where you didn't really know anyone, but where you didn't need to, because everybody was so friendly and warm-hearted, you just instantly got along.
The organisers have done a great job of the event - everything is clearly signposted, there's ample space for queueing/eating/resting/whatever and the GamesMakers are helpful, friendly courteous, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable, and are always smiling!
The in-house presenters and commentators do a great job of setting the mood, and getting the audiences involved, and the result is that the crowds really get behind the athletes. Obviously, there was huge support for the British athletes, as the home team - hearing an entire ExCel Arena shouting itself hoarse for the Team GB's Sitting Volleyball Women's Team was quite an experience, and I shall never forget how the place erupted as one when the big screens (which are dotted all around the venue) showed a clip of British Paralympic Swimmer Ellie Simmonds from the Aquatic Centre. But even at the Power Lifting, where there were no British competitors in the events we saw, the crowd really got into it all, and you could feel that whole room of people willing on each athlete to achieve the best he or she possibly could.
The only bad thing about my Paralympic experience (and I do mean only) was the rapid resurfacing of my disappointment not to have made it through the final stage of the GamesMaker applications. As I've already mentioned, all the GamesMaker volunteers really are fantastic at what they do - I have so much respect for them.
Other than that, however, the whole day was brilliant. The Paralympics is an amazing event, and to be a part of that felt just as amazing - if you haven't got involved yet, I would absolutely urge you to do that when you can, before the opportunities to see it all are gone for good!
Showing posts with label volunteering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteering. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Sunday, 12 August 2012
My final #Olympics post: regret
A few short weeks ago, I wrote about the Olympic Games - I described how I believed that London 2012 would be a great event, and a very momentous occasion for Great Britain, and I expressed my hopes that the cynics and the grumblers would give it a rest for the next couple of weeks.
And I was right - the Games have been a triumph, and (for the most part, at least) the resentment and the scoffing has turned into genuine admiration and praise for these very special two weeks. The International Olympic Committee has heaped praise upon LOCOG, the city of London, and the people of Great Britain as a whole. If I'm honest, I'm very sad that, by the end of today, it's all going to be over.
But what makes me saddest, is that I never got to be a part of it all.
I have loved watching the Olympics on television. The BBC Olympics coverage has been second-to-none, and they have received many (richly-deserved) accolades for the quality of broadcasting. I have been amazed and delighted by the success of Team GB - such an enormous haul of Medals at a home Games, and third place in the Medals Table, is quite astonishing, and an extraordinary achievement which is testimony in itself to the quality of the sportsmen and women we, as a nation, have produced. (Not to mention our "behind the scenes" teams of coaches, trainers, nutritionists, organisers, promoters, and so on.) I am proud of every single one of them.
But this all combines to make this particular Olympic Games (the Games of the 30th Olympiad) all the more unique - and this, in turn, makes me even sadder not to have been involved at all.
It quickly became apparent that the 2012 Olympic Games would be the defining event of this generation. It is something which will be talked about, for years to come. It is something which people will look back on, and remember fondly. My memories of it will mainly involve sitting on a variety of sofas, watching a variety of television screens. When people ask in the future "what did you do at London 2012?" or "what events did you go to at London 2012?" I will have nothing to say.
Not through a lack of trying. Initially, I applied to be a Games Maker (one of the volunteers who did all the jobs which a huge undertaking such as the Olympics requires) and, although I got invited to the interview procedure in London, and made it through that, I never actually got offered a volunteer rôle.
After that, I tried, multiple times, to apply for tickets, so that I could at least go to an event, see the Games in action, and soak up the atmosphere. But I never quite managed to find anything - all the tickets were snapped up within seconds of their being posted online, and the London 2012 Ticketing website was set out in a confusing and convoluted way.
There will be other Olympics. Of course there will - the Games will be in Rio in 2016, as we know, and after that, goodness knows where else! And there will be other big sporting events happening in Britain. (The BBC presenters have often alluded to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 during the coverage of the London Olympics.) But that isn't the same, is it? I'm sure that going to Glasgow or Rio would be fantastic - as would many, many other things - but London 2012 is gone, and that special, unique feeling of having something so wonderfully all-encompassing as the Olympic Games here in Great Britain is unlikely to come around again for a long, long time.
I honestly feel like I have missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime experience - and, much as I have enjoyed every moment of the Olympics, I will always regret that I never truly got to be a part of it.
And I was right - the Games have been a triumph, and (for the most part, at least) the resentment and the scoffing has turned into genuine admiration and praise for these very special two weeks. The International Olympic Committee has heaped praise upon LOCOG, the city of London, and the people of Great Britain as a whole. If I'm honest, I'm very sad that, by the end of today, it's all going to be over.
But what makes me saddest, is that I never got to be a part of it all.
I have loved watching the Olympics on television. The BBC Olympics coverage has been second-to-none, and they have received many (richly-deserved) accolades for the quality of broadcasting. I have been amazed and delighted by the success of Team GB - such an enormous haul of Medals at a home Games, and third place in the Medals Table, is quite astonishing, and an extraordinary achievement which is testimony in itself to the quality of the sportsmen and women we, as a nation, have produced. (Not to mention our "behind the scenes" teams of coaches, trainers, nutritionists, organisers, promoters, and so on.) I am proud of every single one of them.
But this all combines to make this particular Olympic Games (the Games of the 30th Olympiad) all the more unique - and this, in turn, makes me even sadder not to have been involved at all.
It quickly became apparent that the 2012 Olympic Games would be the defining event of this generation. It is something which will be talked about, for years to come. It is something which people will look back on, and remember fondly. My memories of it will mainly involve sitting on a variety of sofas, watching a variety of television screens. When people ask in the future "what did you do at London 2012?" or "what events did you go to at London 2012?" I will have nothing to say.
Not through a lack of trying. Initially, I applied to be a Games Maker (one of the volunteers who did all the jobs which a huge undertaking such as the Olympics requires) and, although I got invited to the interview procedure in London, and made it through that, I never actually got offered a volunteer rôle.
After that, I tried, multiple times, to apply for tickets, so that I could at least go to an event, see the Games in action, and soak up the atmosphere. But I never quite managed to find anything - all the tickets were snapped up within seconds of their being posted online, and the London 2012 Ticketing website was set out in a confusing and convoluted way.
There will be other Olympics. Of course there will - the Games will be in Rio in 2016, as we know, and after that, goodness knows where else! And there will be other big sporting events happening in Britain. (The BBC presenters have often alluded to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 during the coverage of the London Olympics.) But that isn't the same, is it? I'm sure that going to Glasgow or Rio would be fantastic - as would many, many other things - but London 2012 is gone, and that special, unique feeling of having something so wonderfully all-encompassing as the Olympic Games here in Great Britain is unlikely to come around again for a long, long time.
I honestly feel like I have missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime experience - and, much as I have enjoyed every moment of the Olympics, I will always regret that I never truly got to be a part of it.
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