Football, Gold medal match

Yesterday we went to our final Olympic event at Wembley Stadium in West London.  A 40 minute train ride got us and 80,000 others to the game between Mexico and Brazil.  We cheered for Mexico and I believe that made the difference in the end with Mexico taking the gold.  Wembley is a unique open roof stadium with the stands all being covered.  Again the city did an outstanding job getting people to and from the event with plenty of security and assistance for the Olympic crowd.  It's been an amazing experience to be part of this.  Good Stuff!

Olympics, Beach Volleyball

Last night we watched the metal rounds of Beach Volleyball at Horse Guard Parade in the Westminster area of London.  There were no bad seats in this Colosseum type of stadium and it was really fun to watch an event we had never seen before.  The Netherlands won the bronze metal and Germany beat Brazil for the gold.  Most of the crowd was yelling for Brazil but we were a bit neutral.  The packed stands were kept entertained with constant music and dancing during all of the breaks, shown here.  Bottom pic shows Germany getting a shot past a Brazil block.  All of the Olympic crowds that I've seen, have been very patient and orderly so it's been fun to be out in the mix.

Olympic Stadium, London

 

Here inside the Olympic stadium Julie got to watch the Men's 100 meter final event.  This was the hottest event of the Olympic for ticket sales.  Gold metal winner Jamaica's Usain Bolt is now the fastest man in the world.   While poor Phil sat at home watching on TV, Julie had all the fun.  Shown here with her mates, she got to experience the packed stadium of 80,000 people and see many athletic events.

Olympics, Trampoline Final

We went to our first Olympic final competition yesterday at the O2 Arena.  It was the Trampoline final event and featured the top 18 men's competitors.  As usual, we did have fun fighting the crowds to and from the event. It was close to a full house like all the metal round events and we were lucky to get a private box to sit in. I was surprised to see several of the gymnasts miss their jumps and land on the side trampoline. China took both the gold and bronze metals as Russia won the silver. A really fun event to watch when you're seeing the best in the world. I saw a small percentage of empty seats at the event and yet no one can use them as they are already sold.  This has caused a lot of anger here in London with so many people wanting tickets.

Live jump video

Here's a noisy video of the jump I made last week from 12,700 ft. north of London.  I still can't believe that about 1/3 of the jumpers didn't get pictures or a video of their jump.  This does cost a bit more as it requires an experienced skydiver with a head mounted video camera to follow you down closely  The small pilot chute is used on tandem jumps to stabilize and slow the descent to the speed of a solo jumper.  This is a blast and I believe that all abnormal humans should be required to do this.  The normal folks have already jumped.