Verbruggen and McQuaid shake hands on everything when it comes to “preserving” cycling’s integrity (Image by Cor Vos courtesy of Pedal Magazine)

The press conference, held at the mountain biking venue at the London Olympics and occuring during the men’s MTB race on the final day of the Olympics, comes after a tough two weeks for the current and past presidents of the UCI with charges of collusion and corruption coming from WADA and USADA in the Armstrong case.  The latest controversy arrived after Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda CEO Jonathan Vaughters admitted in the New York Times that he doped during Verbruggen’s reign as president.

“We will not let this attack against the good name of cycling stand,” declared McQuaid, “We have ruled cycling with an iron fist and defended our interests in the sport with unwavering authoritarian democracy. We have filed lawsuits against many, many, many, many others and Jonathan Vaughters statements will not go unpunished.”

McQuaid arrived at the decision of having the UCI sue both the New York Times and Vaughters after taking twenty phone calls from Verbruggen early Sunday morning in London, followed by a thumping at the door of his London penthouse, just after breakfast, from Verbruggen.

“Hein was the best UCI president we have ever had. He took road cycling from obscurity to being one of the best and most well-known sporting pursuits in the world. Road cycling is our entire focus of the UCI. Road cycling is what pays our bills at the UCI. We need to protect the integrity of road cycling in order to preserve the cycling brand overall and worldwide,” continued McQuaid as Verbruggen whispered in his ear.

When asked about the timing of the piece in the newspaper Verbruggen was candid, while McQuaid retired briefly to change from his clean shirt into another clean shirt retrieved for him by one of the Olympic volunteers.

“Vaughters has obviously come under the EVIL influence of USADA mafia don Travis Tygart and that man with no conscience David Howman who apparently runs the WADA people. These are all men who are conspiring to take away what we have tirelessly built.  Vaughters has embraced an anti-cycling agenda. He has joined those who have campaigned against cycling for the past fifteen years. I will NOT accept this attack,” asserted a visibly animated Verbruggen.

McQuaid revealed the lawsuit would be filed in Swiss court Monday or Tuesday, once he was done counting the Olympic money.

VeloNews editor-in-chief Neal Rogers, who attended the press conference and was rather stunned by the announcement, had this to say:

“It seems the only opinion that is allowed in cycling is either Verbruggen’s or McQuaid’s. Or maybe opinions they’ve approved. Glad to see that Enrico [UCI spokesperson Enrico Carpani] didn’t have to go searching for a desk chair after the lounge chair debacle from the other presser,” stated Rogers, alluding to the McQuaid press conference where the Irishman attacked the charges by USADA and WADA against himself and the UCI.

Eurosport pundit David Harmon weighed in with his thoughts on the situation.

“For an organisation and men who are preaching anti-doping messages, it is interesting that the choice of action is to attack, deny, and sue. This should cause the cycling public to pause and reflect,” concluded Harmon.

Vaughters, when reached for comment, had a short statement.

“This is only the beginning. If I were Hein and Pat, I’d be looking for an exit strategy rather than filing lawsuits,” declared Vaughters.

When reached for comment, the New York Times legal team had this response,

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hah.”

It remains to be seen if Vaughters’ admission is timed to coincide with the additional evidence requested by Judge Sparks in the Armstrong case. Vaughters refused to comment if he would respond to the lawsuit, preferring to wait and see if he was actually going to be served, as many alleged lawsuits by McQuaid and Verbruggen have never come to fruition.

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Olympics Day Seven

Don’t get me wrong, I am so incredibly grateful, honoured, chuffed and so many other emotions to have been able to work at the London 2012 Olympics. But I’m ready to move on now, no details now, but in a few days when I’ve got home done the massive bag of washing and got my head around the maddest week of my life I will write a blog of everything.  For now though, the last night of the London 2012 Olympic track cycling.

Ringer in the Comms box

Women’s omnium, Laura Trott, finished second to Sarah Hammer in the omnium individual team pursuit. She also lost out to her in the scratch race, Edmondson of Australia took the win with Hammer second and Trott third.

It all came down to the 500 meter time trial, it was going to be tight, my money was always on Trott. Smaller, younger and more explosive than Hammer she took all of her time out of her in the opening lap, Hammer always looking like she was fighting a losing battle to just hang on. The scenario was that Trott had to beat Hammer with at least one person between them. If they tied, it went down to final placings from the time trial. It didn’t, Trott won the event, Hammer fourth, Gold for Team GB, second Gold for Laura Trott.

Women’s Omnium podium: 1) Laura Trott, GB 2) Sarah Hammer, USA 3) Annette Edmondson, AUS

Women’s individual sprint up next, and as I always predicted, Guo vs. Vogel bronze ride, and Meares vs. Pendleton for gold.

I’m going to write a memo to Kristina Vogel, if you get beaten very easily by leading out and getting mugged in the home straight, don’t do it a second time! Bronze for Guo, sprinting lessons for Vogel!

Gold medal ride off, Pendleton leading out fast to negate the jump advantage of Meares, a very close-run thing with Meares running at Vicky coming out of turn four, and then it happened.

Did Meares elbow Pendleton, did Pendleton come out of the red line and Meares was merely (did you like what I did there?) having to nudge in to her to keep her line, did she do this, was this that…? We can speculate until Rio 2016, the commissaires reckon Pendleton came out of the sprinters line and impeded Meares. I for one, being totally impartial, tend to agree!! Correct that, I agree!

In the end the relegation sorted this one out…

So ride one to Meares, ride two, well lets cut the bullshit, there’s not much to say! The warning signs were there, Steve Peters (the emperor from Star Wars – go look and tell me that’s not him) was the only person talking to Vicky in between the heats, which tells me one thing, fragile Pendleton was in the building and about to take centre stage!

Meares leading out, clearly not wanting to be there, she slowed it down coming out of turn four with two laps to go, down to a momentary track stand and Pendleton blinked first, taking the lead. Meares allowed her a good twenty meters of running space, Vicky kicked it on and hit the bell at speed but going down the back straight Meares engaged the after-burners and breezed past Pendleton.

Anna Meares can’t believe she did it

This was less of a showing of superior physical ability and more of a mini emotional and psychological melt-down of an athlete who, it would appear, couldn’t wait for the end to come soon enough, and two more efforts, 1500 meters was just too much given the stress of twenty minutes ago.

And then to the big one, the final event of the Olympic track cycling programme, the men’s Keirin. The host city get to dictate the programme of events, no coincidence here then! Nijisane Phillip takes the win in the minor final to a roar from the crowd – almost as big as any that team GB received all week. This boy’s made some friends!

And over to Sir Chris Hoy, a man who has dominated this side of the sport with unquestionable integrity. There has never been so much as a question raised about his preparation. Indeed, I cannot remember him ever employing tactics that were anything other than completely and totally fair!

Derny cam

I said, as the event started, if you want to win, do not let Hoy lead out. After the seemingly redundant laps behind the Derny, Chris hit the front with two laps to go, with his usual power and grace, then coming around the banking for the penultimate time he was able to lift off the power and stall his effort, driving down the home straight, massive gasps and holding of breath. Max Levy of Germany takes the run at Hoy and actually gets in front of him, not enough to shut the door, however, and Hoy digs deeper than I think I have ever seen him dig, gets himself back in front, holds off the charge to around the back straight, around the final banking to drive up the home straight and take the Olympic Keirin title, again!

It amazes me how someone can be so consistent in events that have so many uncontrollables, to dominate in kilos, team sprints and pursuits, even time trials, fair enough, but a bunch race with tactics, other riders, so many variables, furthermore a Keirin with five unhinged nutters doing whatever they can to win, that’s class!

One last mention, well done to Simon van Velthoven and Tuen Mulder, having to share that medal won’t detract from it one bit, I know Tuen, just well done mate, you deserve it !

So! Sir Chris Hoy becomes The Greatest ever British Olympian, Trott becomes the new British cycling poster girl and Pendleton hands that baton over to her before sailing off in to the happy ever after.

British cycling, it’s a bloody good time to be part of it!!!!!!

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Olympics Day Six (6 August 2012)

Well, the womens omnium is in full swing, Laura Trott has won the flying lap, a great ride, I’m not entirely sure where she was for the points race, I think team GB put someone up in her place, maybe she was getting her hair done or something, all I know is she didn’t show up!

Clearly, she returned from her appointment elsewhere to dominate the elimination race. Flirting with danger hitting the front from the back to end up fighting it out for the win with Sarah Hammer of the USA, she defeated Hammer comfortably, but if it could have been anyone else, anyone!!! Tomorrow brings the pursuit, scratch race and the horrific 500 meter TT to finish.

In other unfinished business news, the women’s individual sprint seemed to continue at a pace only mirrored by the entire Olympics, with Vicky Pendleton and Anna Meares seemingly destined for a meeting in the final. If I had to pick the other I’d say Guo and Vogel riding off for the bronze.

Over the years the French have been somewhat successful at track sprinting – Morolon, Rousseau, Tournant to name but a few who have dominated, totally dominated their respective generations. Great Britain have not! Yes, Queally won the kilo at the Sydney Olympics, but Jason’s tactics in match sprinting and the Keirin were equalled only by his discomfort at riding within a mile of anyone else! Craig MacLean had some success, I think he finished second in the Worlds one year, but it’s not Until Sir Chris Hoy switched from the Kilo that we had our first real sprint superstar, and my god what a star! He has cemented his place in the list of greats at these Games; he was already there but now he’s smashed his way in to the hall of fame and pulled up a chair at the top table. Now, move over Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny has landed!!!!!

Having won the world sprint title in 2011 by default when Gregory Bauge was retrospectively banned for a “whereabouts” infringement I have lost count of the number of times I have commentated on a Kenny vs. Bauge final. But let me be very clear here, he’s no new kid on the block, a team sprint gold and individual sprint silver (behind sprint gold) from Beijing four years ago shows he is no newcomer! In fact the similarities between him and Philip Hindes are clear for all to see!

The other story line here is that of Nijisane Phillip from Trinidad and Tobago, who has got himself all the way to the bronze medal ride off, having said all he wanted to do was come here and ride a good 200 metre time trial. Now this guy rides with some heart, and a lot of balls!!! It wasn’t to be the fairy-tale ending of Rocky and Cool Runnings all rolled in to one, as Shane Perkins of Australia restored the norm and took the bronze in two straight rides.

No such norm being restored in the gold medal ride, Kenny defeated Bauge in two straight rides. Let me correct myself, Kenny annihilated Bauge in two straight rides, he showed him what to expect in years to come, and the rider that I have previously referred to as the Usain Bolt of track sprinting loses his crown. Don’t expect any shows from Jason Kenny, don’t expect to see him on TV, in magazines, doing cereal, hair shampoo or bread adverts, this is a very down-to-earth, almost shy young man, who’s feet are firmly planted on terrafirma. all I can say is, this young man has much more to come, and he deserves every bit of the success he has already, and that that awaits him.

It’s the last day tomorrow and I can’t bloody wait, men’s Keirin, the end of the womens omnium and women’s sprint. Official odds of three team GB golds, 7 to 2, worth a punt I think?

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Olympics Day Five (5 August 2012)

Track world cups last three days, occasionally four, the world championships last five days, and at those we have the five Olympic events plus a scratch race, individual pursuit, kilo/500 tt, men’s Madison. So why, why, oh why has the Olympic schedule taken six days! The sessions have been short, very short! I just think we could have had had it all wrapped up a bit quicker, and quite a few of the riders that I have spoken to feel the same!

So when I got to the track tonight, I saw the track manager, or at least I think that’s what he’s calling himself! I asked him what idiot decided it would be a good idea to kick Brad out the other day, he said that would be me! Well l that was an awkward moment!, anyway, we discussed it, he told me it was holding up worldwide TV pictures, I told him it wasn’t, we disagreed and walked away from each other, never liked him anyway!

So back to the bike racing, There was just one round of the sprints tonight, like I said, it all could have been wrapped up much quicker! But tonight belongs to “Red Clancy.” OK, so he had a howler in the scratch race, but Glen O’Shea far exceeded Ed’s troubles by at times looking like he had just finished the men’s triple jump, the size of the squares he was pedalling. Viviani and Coquard were head and shoulders above the rest in the Elimination, as they had been all year, but despite Clancy’s best efforts of taking out the Dane, Lasse Norman Hansen, by knocking him off he took a lap in the scratch and held his own in the Elimination, posting the fastest time in the pursuit with Clancy personal besting with a very close second it was all fairly set. The Dane held on in the kilo, Viviani went out very fast and parked in the bus stop! Coquard held his own for silver and Clancy produced a time only 2/10ths of a second outside Sir Chris Hoy’s winning time and Olympic record from Athens! With three team pursuits, and the rest of the omnium events in his legs in the last four days! Machine!

Men’s Omnium podium

In other news, GB admit that they have round wheels without magic dust in them, the French still accuse their own national wheel sponsor and French brand Mavic of colluding with GB to have placed 17 hamsters inside each disc wheel to run furiously when needed to assist in setting world records! Oh and the hot pants have been proven to just be Mclaren F1 tyre warmers painted blue!

And in other other news, and the highlight of my games so far, through furious blagging and copious … Sod it, i’ll just admit it – I lied through my teeth and wangled my way in to the 100 metres final! My good friend Will Carling was watching, so I made some lame excuse to the purple T-shirt on the door that I just wanted to say hi to Lisa, and then managed to hot seat my way around until 21.50 and see the most popular event of the games!

Waiting for the Bolt to crack…

Usain Bolt delivered,  but sod that, I was sat behind the queen… well Dame Helen, who was behind Steven Gerrard, and somewhat amazingly just across the stairs from the one and only Lionel Messi!

Everyone wants a snap of real royalty

With Dame Helen. Starstruck.

I have to admit, slightly star struck, only slightly though! Normality will resume tomorrow! Night, John boy…

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Olympics Day Four (4 August 2012)

This was always going to be a quiet day, I was so hoping – given my luck so far this week thanks to Mr. Wiggins and various stars of yesteryear rocking up – that Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Shurgar were going to put in a shift. No joy however!

I asked @matt9dawson for some hair but he couldn’t help! He only had camp looks in stock

So on the bike-riding front, Jason Kenny qualified fastest in the sprint with Greg Bauge second, a fairly distant second at 2/10ths off! To be totally fair however, it’s not until tomorrow that we will really see these guys’ teeth; both Bauge and Kenny have progressed without raising a sweat, both getting a free ride in the 1st round and then defeating their opponents in the 2nd round, with looks that questioned the inconvenience of having to get off the rollers at all!

The biggest news, Shane Perkins of Eastern New Zealand (a new province formerly referred to as Austraila) almost had a touch-down in his heat and having not regained his composure and losing, packed his kangaroo pouch and trudged off home! Robert Forstemann also had to come back through the repechage, having been heated by Nisanje Phillip and it was no fluke, he was just out dragged!!!!

The news didn’t get much better for the Austrailans in the women’s team pursuit, losing out to Canada for the bronze medal. Team GB won the event in their sixth consecutive world-record beating ride, lowering the benchmark for the event by six seconds in the last eight months!

Canada bests Australia to take the bronze in Women’s Team Pursuit

The USA have obviously been working hard at this event and pulled off an impressive second place.

Silver for Team USA

Forgive me if I don’t sound particularly gushing about the event and result, but I have two problems/issues … the GB girls are so good and so far ahead that it was almost a non-contest. I am NOT taking away from their achievement in anyway at all, the world records show just how special their efforts and how good as a team they are, but this was a nailed-on medal from day one!

Britain’s golden girls Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott

The men’s omnium is well underway, big red Clancy is doing very well indeed, more on that tomorrow! I do however think we need a sniper in the roof to ensure withdrawal when you are eliminated, the vibrating red boxes just don’t cut it!

So in closing, today’s little snippets for you, Paul McCartney was in the crowd singing Hey Jude, and Mavic have very quietly released a new version of the Mavic iO; there’s something tricky going on with the hub, but more significantly, the spokes are much thinner! No more news on Wiggins’ Security Breachgate!

Night all.

Sent from my iPad

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Olympics Day Three (3 August 2012)

Well no rubbish today about my trip to the track or my run in with a black cab driver, today is simply about the bike riding!

A gold medal and a song on her lips

Put simply, GB were unstoppable! Vicky Pendleton won the Keirin with a dominance I have never seen her show before, and with such power, speed and superior tactics it was a joy to watch as she moved women’s racing on to a new level today! Utterly fantastic, confirmation that retirement is just days away, yet while in this form it seems a waste, but understandable given the years of commitment.

In the men’s team pursuit, the Kiwis took a deserved Bronze medal over Russia, after a decade of roller coaster performances, but this night was all about the “old firm!”

As the Aussies and Brits lined up for the start the velodrome hushed with tension, then the six bleeps from the starting system, the longest ten seconds I have ever spent stationers on a bike! And then it was on, the Brits taking almost half a second out in the opening lap, they held it there for a few laps until the golden-clad quartet brought the gap back to mere thousandths, I sensed all along that this was to be their undoing. Despite mind games they tried to play in qualification and the rounds, deep down I think everyone sensed they were going to come up short, and eventually come up short they did, with a blistering new world record – 3.51.659 – [set by Team GB] who really cares!

Brad Wiggins was in the crowd with wife Cath and the kids, and he was good enough to come down to the track centre and give me an interview. He wanted to congratulate the TP boys; he had received a standing ovation earlier in the night, but all he kept saying was “It’s not about me, it’s about the lads.” I’ve said it before and I will say it again, a true true gent! What happened next will haunt me forever.

The medalled Modster hits the velodrome

In a flurry of branded t-shirt and tabard activity I was told that he needed to leave the track centre with immediate effect! Apparently his accreditation didn’t have the necessary number on it, really. “Yeah, but it’s Brad and he really just wants to say well done to the TP boys.” “I don’t care, we are not having the medal ceremony until he leave this area,” and yes, they were serious! Apparently he was presenting a security risk; I don’t now the name of the bloke that was with him, but going by the size of him and the ‘I’m a nice guy but I can kill you with a spoon’ look, I’m guessing he had all the high-level security he needed!

A last mention to the team pursuit girls who qualified for the finals. Another world record for Dani, Joanna and Laura and they aren’t done yet!

Roll on tomorrow I say. At this rate given how lucky I’m being, Elvis will be giving me an interview!

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Olympics Day Two (2 August 2012)

So it’s the first day of track competition, and I am buzzing! It’s all hit home, I’m here, at the Olympics; it’s weird, being so close knowing all the people involved.

After an early-morning training spin followed by late brekky, Dave wants to head to the track early and wants to try the javelin train from King’s Cross, so after a 20-minute walk in the sun, an 8-minute train journey, and another 45-minute walk through the Park we arrive at a very VERY warm track! Now, I understand why everyone wants it hot, but you walk through the first air-tight door and one of the 75,000 purple t-shirt brigade will not let you walk through the next air-tight sealed door until the first one is closed!

Anyway, all set, found our spot in a rather good position right by the finish line, had all my research done, paperwork with me so I started wandering around and saying a few hellos! Chris Boardman, Hayles, you know old mates:

With legend Chris Boardman (taken with my iPhone)

With sidekick Rob Hayles (taken with my iPhone)

Giovanni Lombardy, who is a good friend and a top top guy; Scott McGrory, who I took my one and only Six Day win with; Freddy Mange, Maurizio Fondriest, who Giovanni introduced me to, who is just such a nice down-to-earth guy and just wanted to know where and when we were going out in London, now that could end up messy!

With Giovanni Lombardy (taken with my iPhone)

With Scott McGrory (taken with my iPhone)

With Freddy Mange (taken with my iPhone)

So over to the track, a track is a track, it’s the people that make the atmosphere, and I have to say that the crowd here were simply stunning, applause and cheers just for GB riders warming up, and even the very first competitor in the women’s TS received a massive cheer as did every Olympic and World record regardless of nation.

The view of the Velodrome (taken with my iPhone)

So there were three massive talking points through the evening as far as I was concerned, firstly the disqualification of the GB womens TS squad. Now concentrate here, the start/finish lines for timed events are exactly halfway along each straight, for the team sprint there is a line 15 metres before and 15 metres after the start/finish line. When one rider is completing their lap in either the men’s or women’s team sprint, they cannot come out of the sprinters’ line before the first 15 meter line and must be out of it by the second line, 15 metres after the start finish/line, this just happens to be the bush race finish line. Additionally, the front wheel of the following rider cannot overlap the back wheel of the finishing rider before the first 15 metre line, sadly for Great Britain, they fell foul of both of these rules.

Pretty good seats, eh? (taken with my iPhone)

This, as you can imagine was met with boos from the crowd that you would not believe! So Jess and Vicky packed up and left, my heart goes out to Jess, it’s harsh, but that’s elite sport, the rules are the rules! It was somewhat welcomed in the women’s TS final when the Chinese team were relegated to second, after having beaten the Germans, for the same reasons. However, given that it took a good ten minutes for the judges to decide this while interviews were being given, high fives exchanged, etc. etc, by the way it still hasn’t been officially announced yet! I guess the medal ceremony was a fair pointer but a communique or announcement would have been nice! It’s fair to say the info, and distribution of it could be improved. Well Guo stormed the judged desk to such an extent that they posted three purple t-shirts on it immediately afterwards, and Daniel Morolon looked like he was going to start chopping heads off; he scared me and I was 75 meters away in the stands! Whether you or I agree or disagree, the rules are the rules and they have been implemented fairly and across the board!

So in the men’s TS, young Phil Hindes wasn’t happy with his start so he fell off! Now that’s quick thinking, proper sinister Doctor evil thinking, but quick none the less! Agree with it? No, not me, against the rules, no, against the “spirit” – well that’s for you to decide. So he dusted himself off and then with Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy had a pretty faultless run through to the final where they demolished the French to take another Gold for team GB. They were just up after one lap, I think 6/100s, then I think 9/100s after two laps and then the talismanic demi god that is Sir Chris Hoy brought it home by almost a quarter of a second. Now the French had a bit of a moan and tried to get GB disqualified but that wasn’t going anywhere and I think the crowd may have rioted!

So a fantastic first day for team GB, the world record in the TP qualifier only warrants a mere mention in closing because, quite frankly, it’s going to get beaten again. The Aussies didn’t really show their full hand, I don’t think they will go fast enough to beat team GB but it may be a bit closer than qualifying looked! Needless to say I got the bus home, seven minutes walking and done!!!

Olympics – Day One (1 August 2012)

So, the track cycling competition has not even started yet and I have some great stories! Eurosport, my very kind and generous employers for this particular gig, have booked me in to the Bloomsbury Hotel! Now, without meaning to bore you with logistics, I live a one-and-a-half-hour ride from central London. I want my bike with me so I can train, but I also have my warfare bike to get up there so I can ride to and from the track, and ten days worth of luggage and kit! So I decided to drive up at 1am on Tuesday evening, having Googled the hotel and checked that I could leave my luggage and lock my warfare bike up outside the hotel, I would then drive home, sleep, and ride in the next day. The gentleman on the front desk said that he could not find my reservation but that “we have lots of reservations with no name as the Olympics are on at the moment.” Oh, I’m glad you told me, I would never have known! Anyway, after leaving my bags with him I drove around for a while not too sure that I was “sorted.”  Turns out I wasn’t, bags at wrong hotel. Sounds a doodle to sort, well try driving around London normally, then try it with most of the junctions routed towards Stratford!!!! Anyway, went home, rode in the next days to a very plush hotel, expected weird looks at the sweaty mess clip-clopping through the marble reception of swanky hotel! Nope, the woman behind reception asked me if I would like a damp towel! Ah I see, Brad has just won the time trial, cue cycling in the UK hitting the big time.

Now I know Bradley Wiggins, I’ve spent time with him socially, not so much recently but in the past, I’ve raced with him and I have interviewed him at length for Eurosport – a piece called “The Sky’s the Limit,” though you wouldn’t know it as my brilliant work was, ahem, replaced! Anyway, all I know is that he is a top bloke, if you know him and know how to take his sense of humour, he is very clever, funny, engaging and passionate! A month ago he was a British cycling great, he is now truly a global legend and he deserves all he gets, a Sir-ship is a certainty, and if he is not 2013 Sports Personality of the Year, I will personally “Jarvis Cocker” the stage!

So after catching up with the time trial, I headed over to the Olympic Park. Up until now this was just another gig, one that I felt privileged  and honoured to be doing but that was about it. Let me tell you, on my ride to the track that all changed! But more of that in a minute, my ride to the track was trouble free, very trouble free, sadly however, probably through every fault of my own I locked my bike up, having finally found my way in, and then started walking, 45 minutes later I finally found the International Broadcast Centre, the IBC, a building so vast that I am sure you could build an airbus A380 in it, and in a few months time it will be torn down. How this place in temporary is beyond me! Anyway I found it via the OBC and then the BBC BC; confusing around here it is! Anyway I think managed to find the Eurosport office, then was shown to the Accreditation Validation Centre, another 20-minute walk, after all of this I decided to head off somewhat exhausted!

The Olympic IBC (taken with my iPhone)

She’s huge, ain’t she? Hard to believe it’s temporary… (taken with my iPhone)

The atmosphere however is great, everyone’s happy and cheery and sociable, no one’s rushing around to get anywhere, and there’s very little traffic apart from about two miles around the park. The games lanes seem to be working very well, so well in fact that I am going to use the busses rather than ride, this also has something to do with the army stealing my deodorant! Yes they thought it was as silly as me, but then don’t ask me to tell you the story about the police dog, Mercedes vans, and not being able to buy a simple plate of chips anywhere on the Olympic Park! Well, only in one retailer, anyway! Oh and if you want to pay for said “fries” cash or Visa sir, MasterCard, er no! Amex, er no!

Busy then, eh? (taken with my iPhone)

Off to bed, can’t wait for tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!