London 2012: From Floaties to Fastskins: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

T-shirts

This is for anyone who asked me to get them something at the village shop. The pictures are of most of the shirts, but not all. I only took pictures of the ones I thought people would choose, but if you don't see anything you like, let me know and I'll take more pictures. Also, if you would like something other than apparel, let me know and I can take pictures of the other fun trinkets around the store.

NOTE: Double-click on the pictures to enlarge them.

PRICE: Multiply the price in pounds by 1.65 to get your dollar amount.

**Facebook inbox/text/whatsapp/email me with your requests and I will see what I can do!

Not a close up - cause they're not as cool.

20 pounds = $33.00

25 pounds = $41.25

23 pounds = $37.95

24 pounds = $39.60

28 pounds = $46.20

*Women's T-shirt only

28 pounds = $46.20

*SWIMMING T-SHIRT!

**They have this shirt in other sports as well.

27 pounds = $44.55

Keeping it Classy in the Village

It's quite odd, but I've noticed that almost every single car in the village is a BMW. I'm not sure if that's protocol, or what, but it's quite classy.

Rows and rows and rows of BMWs in the village.

Barbara Streisand

The race went well!! I go a personal best time by over 2 seconds, so I am very happy with the results. During the race, though, I had the song 'Barbara Streisand' stuck in my head because that's what they had playing before my race... at least it was a pretty quick tempo!

After completing my race, I went out on the town with my family.

I drew a British flag for Kayli on her cheek.

When athletes exit the Olympic Village, they exit by a huge mall so there are a lot of people that stand around by the gate and wait for athletes to come out. Well when I left to see my family, there were a whole bunch of Mauritian families that wanted by picture and autograph. And once it starts, it doesn't stop. Other people from London who had no idea who I was asked for pictures and autographs as well just because it looked like I was someone important. So after all of that, Kayli wanted to wear my badge because she thought it was so cool how people who approach me and ask me if I'm an athlete in the games.

We went shopping at the market! We didn't end up finding anything, but it was fun anyway.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Competition Pool

Today I went to the Aquatic Center for practice, as well as to watch Rachel Bootsma and Missy Franklin swim. I snapped some pictures and a few videos:

Early in the morning, during warm-ups, the stands started to fill up. This was what the stands looked like about an hour before the first event started.

This is what the pool looks like from the stands. I took it from the spectator section that many of the family members sit.

Before the competition started, the announcer wanted to get the crowd excited and ready to cheer:

...the crowd was MUCH louder during the actual races - especially when Great Britain was in the water

More Pins!

I've been trading more and more of my pins. It's actually really exciting, getting new pins! Here is a look at the new ones I've received:

US Track

Brune Darussalam

El Salvador

Mexico

New Zealand

USA "GO FOR THE GOLD"

Atlanta 1996 "100 Year Olympic Anniversary"

Belgium

Guatemala

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life and I'd like to share it with everyone. You may have watched the games on TV, but this is what the Ceremony looked like from an athletes perspective:

It was a LOT of walking:

But I think you'll agree it was well worth it in the end....

All of the countries lined up in alphabetical order to walk through the arena. We began in the athlete village and walked a long way to the arena in our line.

This is one of the buildings we passed that lights up in different colors.

This is the Mauritian sign for spectators to see as well as for members of the delegation to keep track of where the rest of their country is.

As we walked toward the arena, there were school children lined up the whole way along a barricade to greet us and cheer us on.

The kids were all very excited too see us.

Everyone wanted autographs - in books, on T-shirts, etc.

They were all curious as to what event we were participating in and what country we came from.

I met a lot of young swimmers and of course I encouraged them to continue with the amazing sport! :)

There were posters made for each of the countries and this is the one for Mauritius!

Me with the Mauritius poster and the kids that made it.

Another Mauritius poster! So many fans :)

The kids were chanting, "Mauritius, Mauritius...."

Before long, we could see the arena.

After we passed the kids, there was lots of media and other people who had come to watch us pass:

There were people in funny costumes. (probably to get the athletes attention for pictures)

There were policemen all over and I loved there hats!

There were LOTS of men in uniform so we got pictures with them all. Great guys!

They even let us try on their super cool hats!

As we approached the arena, we crossed over a bridge....

And at the end of the bridge, we received our country's flag. This is all of the flags lined up in alphabetical order. The 2 carts on the right side of the picture are empty because those countries had already gone through. On the left, are the flags of the countries who had yet to go.

This is the Mauritius flag and our flag bearer, Nathacha, who is a beach volleyball player. I think she was chosen at random to bear the flag.

As we got closer, the stadium started looking bigger and bigger and excitement rose!

Backstage, just before we entered the arena, we could hear the announcer and the crowd cheering. It definitely pumped us up!

It was such a thrill entering the arena. The lights were bright and the crowd was roaring!!

After the walk, we entered the center of the arena with all of the other athletes and officials. We explored a lot and took pictures with anyone in a cool outfit!