Thursday, August 09, 2012

Olympics 2012 Diary of a London Ambassador

Day 3

Anticipating the crowd forthe evenings USA and Japan women's Olympic final I arrived at Wembley Park a little earlier for my shift, mainly thanks to a kind hearted gentleman called Nawaz, who picked up this random stranger and dropped me off at the station. Community spirit at it's best.

The gymnastics had finished and after briefing we headed back up towards Wembley to welcome the world.

Our group consisted of Michael, me, Francesco and Megha. We formed a four person cordon on Wembley Way,before the ramps and walkway to Club Wembley.

And the crowds just kept streaming in. We greeted, smiled, gave directions togates, box office, Club Wembley and disability access points.

A good lady said I was an okay Ambassador and gifted me a pin badge. "5th IOC World Conference on Women & Sport- Los Angeles 2012" it read. I was mightily chuffed.

With Wembley as a backdrop we took plenty of pictures for requesting visitors.We starred in some, including a few for a feature for the United Nations. Neverto pass up an opportunity I made good use of my camera too.

The atmosphere was surreal.I met my Sensei, Samurai Warriors, Geishas and Captain America asfantasy stepped fleetingly into reality. The Japanese were rhythmic - "Nippon," clap, clap, clap! "Nippon,"clap, clap, clap! Thereafter followed soon after by a thunderstorm - "USA! USA!" Nippon in Japanese is the sun's origin, translated toland of the rising sun.

The experience was simply amazing. I wasn't too bothered about getting in towatch the game, which the USAwon 2-1. We had all the fun outside.

Our manager Fazina topped of the cream on the cake by confirming that each oneof us would receive excellence badges. We have a new manager tomorrow andevents at Wembley arena to look forward to.

I trudged back to the station with Michael and Neil on the way home. Michael isheading for Maltanext week, whilst Neil is catching up with friends. All boring compared to myplans - "I'm going back to work," I added with a hop, skip andjump.

I broke fast on the train with home water and mineral water a very nice gamesmaker had given me at Wembley.

Can't wait for tomorrow. 











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