The Olympics are contagious

By Chris Longo

At the start of the games, Jacob Corrigan wrote a story about Olympic super-fan David Chin, who said: “This will not be someone’s first and only Olympics. They say you catch a bug. You have no choice but to come back.”

Olympic Stadium, Friday, August 10th (Photo by Chris Longo)

As the finals days of the Olympics winded down, I began to understand what Mr. Chin was saying. I can throw out a few sappy lines about having the time of my life in London, but instead I’ll give some concrete evidence. Everyday, whether it was at the venues, in the tubes or at Waterloo station, I found the red maple leaf. That’s right, the Canadians were one of the most visible fan bases at the games, even more so than American fans. Maybe the Americans are a little more discreet about showing their colors, but for Canada – a country who isn’t well known for their summer Olympic prowess – the turnout was unbelievable. I have to chalk it up to the Olympic fever spilling over from the successful 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. 

When I woke up in New York this morning, I had an Olympic hangover. I wished I could do it all over again. This time in my life, with an incredible group of people, in a city like London, truly once in a lifetime. As London 2012 passes the torch to Rio 2016, it’s tough to look forward because I have no idea where I’ll be at that point. If I get the chance, I’ll be there in Brazil cheering on the Americans, the Canadians, the host nation and all the athletes who sacrifice so much of their lives for one shot at glory.

With London still fresh in my mind, I think back to the Michael Phelps press conference I was lucky enough to get into. After Phelps took his final gold, he answered question after question about retiring, then left the future of U.S. swimming to his younger teammates. When the conference was over, Jake and I walked up to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, one of my favorite sports personalities, to get his thoughts on the London games thus far.

“After 10 Olympics they all start to mesh together,” said Wilbon.

He asked us if we were enjoying our first Olympic experience, then posed for a picture.

“Your first Olympics will be my last.”

With a half smirk, he passed us the torch and walked off into the sunset. Or at least that’s how I’ll remember it.

Watching History Being Made

View from my suite seats during the 2012 Olympic Men’s Gymnastic Team Finals

Kayla Hanley

London, England 

Who would have thought that on a cloudy, and rainy Monday I would walk with royalty, watch like celebrities, and see history being made all within 3 hours. Being at the Men’s Gymnastic Team Finals on July 30 allowed me to do all of this and made me experience the Olympic spirit first hand in a venue covered in pink.

China won gold, Japan won silver, and Great Britain won bronze causing the crowd to arise in chaos. Great Britain medalled for the first time in the past 100 years for the team finals within the summer Olympics. Originally they were placed in silver followed by Ukraine but due to a Japanese appeal they were awarded bronze. No matter what the place was every fan in the crowd was on their feet showing their support.

Seeing the reactions to the entire crowd was really indescribable. Flags from USA, Great Britain, China, Ukraine, France and many others were flying all throughout the arena in every corner around the stage. As I was looking down at some of the fans from my suite seat I could see fans with tears in their eyes knowing that their nation had just accomplished the task of medalling which is the goal for every athlete here in London.

I had chills and goosebumps the whole time that I was watching the athletes compete at a different apparatus because I couldn’t believe that I was actually at an Olympic event in person. This was an event that I have been watching from home at every Olympic competition since the age of 8 and not only was I a fan but a journalist which was more than I could ever dream of.

Everyone seems to know the importance of the Olympic games when they watch each event on their televisions at home. I thought that I knew the significance and that feeling of pride when watching the athletes walk to the podium yet being there to experience and first hand see their reactions really was priceless. More often than not when one watches the games from their televisions at home they do not get to see the reactions from the audience and to me that was one of the highlights of this event.

China-Gold Japan-Silver Great Britain-Bronze

Not only were the residents of London and those visiting the city supporting the men, but also Prince Harry and Prince William were in attendance. I could see them from my seat and they were directly in front of me and they were on their feet cheering and standing the whole time. I am not sure whether or not they were there the whole time but they were there to see their home country take the bronze medal which really was a great accomplishment for the entire country.

As I am writing this and looking back at being in North Greenwich Arena for this team finals around I am still in shock and awe at experiencing something that will be talked about for a very long time. Being from America it is unfortunate that USA only placed 5th but seeing the strength and drive that Great Britain had, as well as China and Japan, they deserved their places. History has finally been in the making here at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and I am proud to say that I am a part of it.