I had one more 2012 Olympic sporting experience at the Olympic Park Stratford on Friday morning August 3rd and in some respects it was the best. I knew nothing about handball but my selection had worked out that the first of two matches at the Copper Box was between GB and Angola. The British team were only able to compete because of being Olympic hosts and lost all their league games. There are Handball players of International standard in the UK but these have to play for clubs in other parts of Europe where the sport flourishes. It is interesting that handball appears to be one of the sports which young people in the UK are not seeking to take up.
Because of my first experience going to the Olympic Park I ensured that the alarm went off and I arrived at East Croydon Station sufficiently early to take the train to St Pancras and the Javelin train to arrive at half past seven only to find that the Copper Box did not open until 8 and with huge queues for coffee and all other drink and food outlets I had to wait patiently outside finding a makeshift seat.
The Copper Box together with the Swimming, Athletics Stadiums and the Orbit are grouped at the main Stratford entrance and will continue in various forms after the Games end. It is called the Copper box from being clad in copper panels and has a capacity of 7000 and will be used as a multi sports arena for small to medium events and for local community use.
Because of its size there are only two levels of seating with entrances for the ground and first floor spectator seating plus an upper level with food and drinks outlets and toilets are also located plus a balcony between spectator floors used by spectators with mobility disability. In the four corners there were also four blocks of six seats and I was allocated one of these. Noting as the hour progressed towards the start of the first match that the disability seating was unoccupied I enquired of a games maker if I could use one of these seats and he went away to inquire returning well before the commencement of the match to say that it was arranged. What he did not make clear is that I was allocated a specific seat of the two available closest to my position as about half time a young French woman arrived to claim the seat I was occupying so I had to move to the other. France was playing in the next match which I explained I would not be staying to experience as there were events I wanted to see on the Live big screen.
Although I had enjoyed a Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwich with coffee for breakfast on waking I was ready for another coffee and a Pain au chocolat and did not wince at the price of £4.90.
I knew nothing about handball which has a simple and basic format. A player cannot hold a ball for more than three seconds without bouncing it or throwing it to another player. Nor can they take more than three steps while in possession is frequently moved up to the opponents goal area which has a 6 metre radius from the goal posts. A player can enter this area from the momentum of having taken a shot at the goal. It is essential that any attempt at goal is successful because if it is missed then this provides the opportunity for the other side to rush to the other end without their opponents being in a defensive position and good players will always make this a score.
Because the GB team frequently failed to take a score opportunity they were quickly two to six points adrift and there were times that it looked as they would badly beaten however they rallied, especially in the second half losing by only 17-15 after a 14 to 10 first half loss. The GB girls were physically smaller than their opponents which in game where height and reach as well as individual strength are important factors and this weighed against them together with their international competitive inexperience.
It is not a sport where I feel inclined to follow should the opportunity arise again. It is unlikely the sport will be granted elite Olympic status and therefore will not receive further finance in an attempt for a UK team to become eligible to attend the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This will only happen if there is an upsurge in interest at grass roots levels with sufficient participation for the creation of self financed leagues, leading to the re-emergence of sufficient players and public interest to create semi professional participation.
I had planned to leave in order to view events on the Big Screen. I had visited this area on the first day of my visit to the Park, There are in fact two screens back to back with a Green room facility and the technical equipment in between to one side of a river. There are rising banks if grass some of it artificial on either side as well as some areas of wooden staging. On my first visit the area was crowded and I had to stand but had discovered a single seat. Similarly on this occasion because I had come to the location while the majority of spectators were attending event I was able to find a seat. The facility is provided by British Airways but there is a BBC camera team who provide shots of the crowd as they have in Hyde Park. It an important part in the creation of a sense of being part of the experience in contributing in some way to it.
I will take the opportunity of this writing to mention my visit to the Orbit. This is a contemporary art structure and viewing platform created for the Olympic Park as a commissioned structure. It was the idea of Tessa Jowell the Olympics Minister in the Blair and Brown Governments who wanted a lasting feature which would add to the Sky line in the East End in the same way that the Angel of the North is now a Gateway symbol for the North East of England. At the time around 2008 it is said that some five artists were short listed/invited to submit their ideas for the project including Antony Gormley the creator of the Angel.
Funding for the project was provided by the steel company Arcleor Milltal who were first under the impression that they were to provide a quantity of steel for the project up to £15 million but then realised they were being asked to participate in the creation of the full project which came to include the viewing platforms of which there are two. The original conversation with Mayor Boris Johnson is reported to have lasted 45 seconds.
The winning design was by a well known construction artist Anish Kapoor who created a temporary project at the former Baltic Flour Mill at Gateshead on the banks of the River Tyne and Cecil Balmond who a Professor of Architecture , designer and artist and in addition to the £16 million gift from the owner of Mittal’s £3.1 million was provided by the London Development Agency. The structure is stable and permanent but has a form of instability and in part in appeal of the Helter Skelter in that it includes over 350.
It is about third of the size of the Eiffel tower and shorter than the Blackpool Tower but higher that the Statue of Liberty. The two viewing platform can each accommodate 150 people but on the day of my visit there were considerably less and it was possible to take time to gain a 360 view of London using both platforms provided a good sense of the size and scope of the Olympic Park and the London Skyline. This includes the Shard, the tallest completed building in Europe of over some 1000 feet and which also has a viewing platform at 66 to 72 floors with the rest of the 30 floors not designed for occupancy. It cost £7 to enter the Orbit and some £26 for the Shard although there are to be restaurants around the thirtieth floor level.
The viewing platforms each comprise two types of perspective, one behind glass which offers security and protection from the weather and one suspended in space and open to the elements which included wind and rain on the day of my visit. It is possible to walk down the 450 steps and gain an additional perspective on the London Skyline although because of the conditions at the time of my visit as well as my play for the day I took the lift to the ground level from the lower viewing platform. In general art critics and the media have expressed negative views with some suggesting it will eventually go the way of the 1951 Skylon which Winston Churchill insisted should be removed when he became Prime Minister rather than become appreciated icons such as the Angel of the North and the London Eye. Time will tell.
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