Dress Rehearsal of Olympic Ceremonies

First off, I should apologize for not updating this in over a week. I have been bouncing around the Olympics faster than Usain Bolt just ran his 100m. But now, as I leave in two days back to my homeland of America the Beautiful, I have a moment to begin documenting my emotional, inspirational, absolutely spectacular week. I'll start from the beginning....

July 25th, 2012. This is the day I fell in love with the Olympics. Due to our studies with Coventry University, our group received tickets to stand on the field at the Dress Rehearsal to the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games. You may be saying, Logan, how cool can a dress rehearsal be? 

Mind Blowing.

The Golden Ticket!

For those of you who watched the army of Chinese drum players at the 2008 Olympics, you may be thinking about the regimented production that appeared, at least to me, void of emotion. This was nothing like it. I'll try to take you through my experience.

So, to get to Olympic Stadium, you must pass through Olympic Park, and to pass through Olympic Park you have to go through the mall and before that you have to ride the Tube....you get the idea. But once we arrived into the Mall we walked around and took in the commercial appeal of the Olympics and created our own ice cream bars (that were incredible).

The Olympic Mall (70 restaurants!)

I found myself wandering around until I unexpectantly walked down some hallway to the athlete entrance of Olympic Village. So I took a picture, got yelled at by security, and then scurried away back to the mall. I have to imagine security was very tight throughout the Olympics, especially since Munich.

The Olympic Village.
You can see the flags from each country draped over the sides of the balconies!

Finally it was time to go to the park. I followed the massive signs that even a blind man could see, and found myself beginning the walk to where dreams come true, where the world watches intently, where training for one's entire life comes down to a 10 second sprint.

Most of the people who attended the dress rehearsal were volunteers from other venues who were simply there to fill seats and to reenact what the true fans would be like. Here I thought it wouldn't be too busy, however it was packed. Trying to get through security was like the airport terminals where you curse under your breath as you take off every piece of metal attached to you, and then rush to get it back on by the time....well it was a similar process. However lengthy, it was comforting to know the security measures the London Committee was taking to ensure safety.

The Swimming Arena

Finally we arrived inside, and I started taking pictures....of the awkwardly designed Orbit structure. No one here understands what the architect was thinking nor what it means, but it has become a staple in all of my Olympic Pictures...so enjoy?

Literally the moment you step into the Olympic Park, you can see the Olympic Stadium. Holding around 80,000 fans the stadium is constructed using Kinex like pieces that can dismantle into a small stadium of around 25,000 capacity. Quite fancy if you ask myself.

Olympic Stadium
Opening/Closing Ceremonies and Track and Field held here.

The Water Polo Stadium...impossible to get tickets to this.

The biggest McDonalds in the World...yes I ate there....later in the blog posts

I had no idea what I was about to see

The group finally wandered inside to the stadium that had hills, a river, a windmill, a huge tree, and livestock roaming around. I questioned what I was about to experience. But being inquisitive, I decided to spark up some conversations with volunteers who worked there to snag the best 'standing' seat in the box area.

A tree?

Clouds?

Livestock? 

Right after they brought the livestock, a singer named Frank Turner came out and started the festivities with some great folk music. We were handed flags and told to sing along. (No one knew the words) But if you want to hear what he played check this out! The whole stadium joined together and prepared for the immense production they were about to witness.

Sadly enough about 40 minutes into the ceremonies...my camera died. So I only have a couple pictures from the actual ceremony. If you want to see some professional pictures they are posted here.

I'll try to explain the ceremonies from my point of view:

As I stood there on the field, watching thousands of volunteers dressed up on the field working together in unison, all for the same purpose of showing their country off to the world...I was in awe. Never in my life have I felt such pride from being a part of not only America, but this world. I mean, the world was watching, and I got to be a part of it. Out of every American sporting event, any musical, any type of event I have ever seen, nothing came close to this spectacle. The emotion of the British people poured out in song, dance and it brought a nation together....and this was a dress rehearsal. Combining sport and culture together, The Olympics showed me what I have been working for all my life: To put meaning and context behind sport. To make it a tangible being that can actually move people, inspire them, and bring together both a nation and a world.

For the first time in my life I thought...

There is no place in the world that I would rather be, than right here.

What a night...