Our time is coming...

I’ve been in the Olympic village for almost a week and I can now say it is the best that I have experienced across six previous Games. It is compact and yet not cramped and there is a really relaxed atmosphere. Walking from accommodation to all main facilities is quick and easy and every volunteer, policeman and security guard is friendly and welcoming. A real triumph. My one and only regret is that the balcony on my apartment overlooks a noisy Stratford station rather than the Olympic Park and stadium, and I have to say that as much as I appreciate the elegance of the cauldron, I like my flame up high so that it can be seen by the many other athletes not competing in Track and Field.

Mood in the Team GB camp matches that played out among spectators at each of the venues. More medals from more sports has been the mantra, but could anyone have expected so many of them to be gold? The magnificent rowers including Lane4’s own Greg Searle have led the way, but for me, to witness British cycling once more dominate the velodrome after a summer spent on the roads  of France winning ‘Le Tour’ has been a real highlight. The velodrome is such a natural theatre with the action so close it feels almost like intruding on someone’s own private battle.

I spent Monday on a recce of Greenwich Park which is the venue for the show jumping and combined run/shoot events of the Modern Pentathlon. In the capable hands of the Equestrian Performance Director Will Connell I took in every aspect of that remarkable venue. When I pointed out the overhead TV camera cable which stretches down from the Observatory to the bottom of the hill, Will joked “Oh, that’s the death slide for the Performance Director who doesn’t win a medal”!  Well, with 3 golds, a silver and a bronze medal from his team, I guess it won’t be him on that slide then, but his humour did betray the reality of the situation after so many years of Lottery funding for our Olympic sports. It is not blind hope and optimism that has led to 50 plus medals with three more days to go. British athletes know they are very well prepared, want for nothing and expect to go on stage and perform. This is so far from my own experience of the 1988  and 1992 Games when athletes lost their ‘Dole’ money for being away for two weeks and team kit was being hawked on the streets s so as to earn a little more pocket money. I met the Prime Minister at the time, John Major, in Barcelona who was clearly sports mad and was just getting the idea of the National Lottery together at the time. It has been good to see him in the crowds here almost every day cheering on the British athletes.

Our pentathletes came into the village on Tuesday and have done well to settle in and realise that the hype that goes around the Games can be boxed away once you’re inside the Olympic bubble. They have had a really good final preparation period and now is the time to deliver the goods. De Coubertin invented the Modern Pentathlon as the test of the all-round athlete and a highlight of the Games. Being the last medal to be awarded in London before the Closing ceremony on Sunday gives us the opportunity to be so. Stay tuned!