I had been looking forward to the London Olympics for 16 years ever since we were living in Atlanta during the Atlanta Olympics – got tickets to the 100m mens final and then my son was born on the weekend of the opening ceremony! We said then that one day we would go… (we did say my son would be paying – but perhaps a little harsh at 16!)
So we applied for loads of tickets and were really lucky to get 5 events – waterpolo, handball, volleyball, football and Athletics. Now it is all over – and was it worth it?
The venues were amazing, the travel, no issue (3 hours door to door from Oxfordshire to the Olympic park) – the atmosphere was great. At all the venues we went to, the vast majority of seats were taken and Hungary vs Montenegro (waterpolo) was enthusiastically supported by all nationalities which was fab! My only disappointment was watching the GB football team at Cardiff in the quarter final – and that was due to the performance of the GB football team compared to the performance of every other team that we saw!
I loved the way that nationalities came together to support each other. At one venue, we were sat near people from France, Jamaica, America, Czech Republic and England – all with flags and all supporting each other.
The other thing that I loved was the positive vibe that was apparent everywhere. Not only at the Olympics themselves but also among other business owners at the networking meetings I went to during this time- let’s keep this up. Yes we all get knocks in business – some days are pretty hard – but if you talk positively and think positively then positive things will happen.
I really hope that we take this positive energy forward as a country as one of the many legacies of the games and yes for us it was worth it!
As a final note – thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the Olympics – it couldn’t have been done without you!