It was called Super Saturday, and we were there. When we entered the ballot for tickets, we thought that we had more opportunity for a morning session. And with Jessica Ennis competing in the Heptathlon, it promised to be something special. Earlier I had found the Stadium seating plan, and our seats were just above the long jump pit, absolutely ideal to watch Jess in her event.
We boarded the 7.15am train from Watford. Unusually for that time on a Saturday it was packed. It looked like everyone was going to the Olympics. At Kings Cross we took the Underground to West Ham, avoiding the long wait at St Pancras for the Javelin train to Stratford. It was a twenty minute walk to the Olympic Park along The Greenway, an old footpath/cycle path that has been upgraded for the Olympics.
There was no wait at security as we had a choice of empty lanes. Inside the park, we looked for a water station to fill our bottle but we had to wait a long time in the queue, probably the only fault we found during the whole day. We took our seats with half an hour to go before the start and were entertained by our commentary team on the big screens.
This is a picture of the lighting tablets that were used for the opening ceremony. There was one between every seat.
The start of the session saw Jessica Ennis competing in the long jump, the fifth of the seven disciplines in the Heptathlon. She came in leading the event, but she had experienced problems with her run up in the long jump all year. She started with a safe but short effort, but then had excellent jumps of 6.40 metres and then 6.48 metres, only 0.03 behind her personal best. When none of her challengers did anything special, she had increased her points lead to a massive 258. I think we knew then she had won gold. I will always remember the standing ovation she recieved as she walked back from that last jump.
It only got better in the next discipline, the javelin. Jess threw 47.49 metres, a personal best. And although this is one of her weakest events, she took a lead of 188 points (or a distance of 13 metres) into the final 200 metres later that evening.
There was so much going on at the same time. After the men's 100 metres preliminary heats, there was Round 1 of the 400 metres going on at the same time as the long jump and pole vault where GB's Holly Bleasedale qualified for the final.
After the heats of the women's steeplechase came the main event on the track, Round 1 of the men's 100 metres. And of course it was Usain Bolt most people wanted to see.
The morning session actually concluded with the Heptathlon javelin, so that all other events had finished and all eyes could watch Jessica Ennis and her rivals. Leaving the Stadium, we made our way to the Orbit where we had timed tickets for 2.30pm. However, so had everyone else and we had to wait half an hour in a queue. But we were luckily under cover for the two heaviest showers of the day. Was it worth the wait? Definitely. We had great views over the Olympic Park and the City and Canary Wharf in the distance.
It was mid afternoon when we descended the steps form the top of the Orbit. We grabbed a coffee and a cake (no queue) and sat on our mats in the sunshine. Refreshed, we set off for a walk around the Park. It was so impressive. The planting is great, and the various venues look good. But it is the atmosphere that has to be experienced. It is brilliant.
It was just before 5pm that we left and this time we headed for the main gate and Stratford International station. The route out was very quiet and our carriage on the Javelin shuttle train (6minutes to St Pancras) was almost deserted. It was the end of one of the best days ever. Little did we know what would happen in the Stadium that evening.
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