Olympics at Hyde Park

 I'm sure you've read about the LOCOG goof ups with the Olympics tickets, and how the website keeps crashing and telling people that tickets are unavailable but when the events get aired on TV, half of the seats are empty. I've had my fair share of frustrations, refreshing the website for hours every other day trying to get hold of tickets and then when something comes up it's either too expensive (300pounds for a 1 hour event!!) or at the last minute right when you're about to get hold of the ticket, the website tells you that there is none.

I thought I would miss out on the Olympics but then my day off fell perfectly on the day of the Women's 10k open water swim at Hyde Park. The best bit was that it was open for free viewing on the South Side of the Serpentine, so no ticket hassle for me! 

Of course, ideally I would have loved to be in the Olympic Park itself, watching either athletics or artistic gymnastics, but it was definitely worth it making my way through the crowd (there were thousands and THOUSANDS of people at Hyde Park!)-- the atmosphere was enough to make you giddy, especially since Britain's Kerry Anne Payne was competing. Malaysia's Heidi Gan fared pretty well too :) 

At the kick off/ swim off. 

Obviously being vertically challenged it was tricky at first trying to find the right spot. But because the Serpentine spans out up to nearly 2 kilometres it was enough room for all. (Plus, it's an advantage to be small so I manoeuvred myself through the gaps amongst these guys ;) 

I have to say despite roasting in the heat with the sun right on my neck, I had some pretty good views!

At the final lap I managed to find a little slope where I could spot the finish line (where the pink buoy is). During this time it was like a rock concert in there with everyone cheering for their swimmers. The best bit about the event was how friendly everyone was.. we were all strangers from all parts of the world but the Olympics made everyone seem like friends from long ago!

Well done to Eva Ristov from Hungary who won the gold medal!

I cannot imagine swimming non stop for 2 hours. And the Serpentine is not exactly chlorinated/ sanitized pool water either-- ducks and geese were trashing around with the swimmers and the water is apparently dirty enough to give you diarrhoea, eye infections and all sorts of nasties! =S

It's a little sad now knowing that the Olympics are ending tomorrow. The buzz and hype will soon die down in the UK and things will go back to normal, but I'm definitely glad that I got to be here when it happened.