I was very excited going into work today, as tonight was the night we’d all
been waiting for, as NOC Assistants were to take part in the dress rehearsal
for Friday’s Opening Ceremony.
I met Shernaz in the break
room and we went to lunch together.
There I met up with James, who I met at Venue Training and is an
assistant for Cape Verde, and his team-mate.
I hadn’t seen him at all yet, so it was lovely to catch up with him and
hear about his team. There are
considerably fewer athletes from there than from Venezuela. I’ve met several people who are with teams
of, say, 20 or less. I imagine those to
be even more personal than Venezuela.
We hadn’t been at the
Venezuela office for long when Christina arrived. With nothing to do, and the office too hot to
sit in in this glorious heat wave, Shernaz decided to go to practice driving,
and Christina and I left our numbers with the Venezuelans and went for a walk
around the village with her friend, Mark, who’s with Mexico. We casually witnessed a Welcome Ceremony and
walked past Team GB’s residence. We
enjoyed/ envied the very well-toned athletes walking past, although the heat
made it difficult to enjoy anything for very long before moving on to a new
place in search of shade. I just want to
say, we are very, very lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful people every
day!
Right before we were due in
the meeting hall we were called to the office to deliver some luggage to the Venezuelans. Then the fun of the evening began. With the final train from Lewisham to
Bexleyheath at twenty past midnight vaguely at the back of my mind, I joined
all the other NOC Assistants for a quick meeting before joining Dominica to
emulate the first ‘wave’ of athletes walking into the stadium. We were excited – it’d probably be the
closest we’d get to being famous and waving at a whole stadium of adoring
fans. Enthusiastically we joined our
group and waiting at Dominica’s starting point.
With an hour to stand there and wait – D being towards the end of the
wave – Carlos, Christina Shernaz and I played a flag-identifying game on Carlos’s
smartphone. It was hilarious fun, and
surprising how much the Olympics, and seeing all the flags on all the residences, helped. We’d just identified (or misidentified) all
204 flags when it was time for us to head to the stadium. At 9h09 precisely (not even 30 seconds
before) we headed off, walking past puzzled athletes and Games Makers, and
exited the Village. We were joined by
half a dozen soldiers who had been roped into helping us out. There were a lovely group of lads with a
typical ‘army’ sense of humour, enjoying being surrounded by girls. They managed to make the walk to the Stadium
go really quickly, even though it was a lot of stopping and starting.
As we waiting to go in, many
of the marshals were getting everyone hyped up by cheering, helping be the
performers from the ceremony, dressed as peasants (Aha! There are peasants in the Opening Ceremony!),
who cheered even louder. As we neared
the stadium we were amazed by the lights and music, excited to be going in and
seeing the stadium for the first time.
Then, to everyone’s horror,
people started to pile out of the stadium: our moment of glory was not to be
shared! For what seemed like hours we
waited for the stadium to empty, cheered up by the few spectators who, curious,
leant over the barriers to take photos, resulting in more cheers from the NOC
Assistants and soldiers. Finally,
slowly, we walked through the tunnel and out into the stadium, led by our flag-bearer
(wearing a hen-night sash instead of the real thing!) and a performer wearing a
dress and carrying a wonderful plaque on sticks bearing the name of the
country. The stadium was empty but
breath-taking all the same. With our
route lined with dancers swaying – even some doing Usain Bolt’s classic pose –
and drummers, we walked. The seats in
the stadium had flashing LED lights, On
the far left was a grassy mound and a beautiful, massive tree, around which the
countries’ flags were ‘planted’. It’s a
magnificently fresh, symbolic idea, and I respect Danny Boyle and his team so
much for thinking of it. Fireworks and
artificial things are wonderful, but it’s always nature that does the best,
most inspiring job.
All too soon our moment of
glory was over. I was disappointed not
to have a crowd, but, really, I wouldn’t have traded that moment for
anything. We joined the crowds trying to
get out of the Park and onto the train.
Luckily mine wasn’t terribly busy and I didn’t have to stand for very
long. At Canary Wharf two drunk guys got
onto the train. As with many people,
drunk or sober, my uniform attracted attention and made me a target for
questions. It transpired they had no
idea where they were, but luckily were on the right train for where they wanted
to be. I explained where they were and
where they had to go several times before an elderly woman told me she was
getting off at the next stop and offered me her seat before moving further down
the train. She must have been lying as I
saw her standing at the door further down the carriage a couple of stops later,
so, thank you kind lady! The Games Maker
next to me, who works for Syria, and I watched the drunk men almost get off
early, running back on the train at the last minute. I felt the carriage explode into laughter as
they, in the end, got off a stop too soon.
They seemed happy enough, though!
Thankfully I arrived at
Lewisham with time to spare, and the other Games Maker gave me a lift
home. I was so grateful not to have to
walk from the station in the dark!
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