On day four of our trip, we traveled to the East side of London to visit the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the site of multiple events in the 2012 Olympics. After hopping off the tube, we walked through the recently revitalized Stratford area of London. The area was filled with restaurants and stores that we later visited for lunch. We stopped outside of London Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the home of West Ham United, to talk about the site's history. Fun fact: the capacity of the London Stadium is 60,000, but it was actually close to 80,000 for the Olympics. After the closing ceremonies, an upper tier of seats was removed. These seats would be used if Chicago won the bid for the 2016 Olympics. We learned here that London became the first city to host the Olympics three times. When selecting London, the IOC revealed that they did this because of the tradition and experience London has had in hosting the Olympics. The Olympics before the London Games were held in Athens and Beijing, which were somewhat risky choices. Leading up to the Olympics, there were concerns that these Olympics would be successful and that there would be logistical hiccups along the way. The IOC felt this would not be the case with London.
The theme of the 2012 Olympics was “Inspire a Generation.” The IOC and Organizing Committee for London 2012 made it a priority to inspire the next generation of Olympians. This led to the Department for Education of England creating multiple initiatives to increase participation in sport in the country. After learning about the context of the 2012 London Olympics, we walked around the park. We visited the Olympic village, which is now an apartment complex. After this, we made our way over to the Olympic Rings, where Luke successfully climbed into one of the rings., Blythe had the opposite experience.
We then walked over to the arena that held the indoor cycling events. It is now used for a similar purpose, as well as for other recreational events that are held in the center of the track. Here, we watched a nail-biting pickleball match between four random people. The term white elephant is used a lot with regard to the Olympics. It is a term that describes venues used for the Olympics that are now abandoned; It is a real problem in places like Athens, but it is the opposite in London. All the venues we walked by are still in use, and truly fit in with the theme of the 2012 Olympics. These venues are now open for the next generation to train for the Olympics. We grabbed some lunch in the mall before heading into the London Stadium to catch an English Premier League match between West Ham United and Nottingham Forest.
Before the game, we heard the famous West Ham bubble song sung before each game. Everyone in the group loved the song and the spirit shown by the West Ham fans. Unfortunately, West Ham United came up short and lost 2-1. Despite the loss, the atmosphere in the stadium was Electric. During our time in London, I went to two EPL games, and the stadium environment is something you cannot see in the States. If you are ever in London or England, I highly recommend going to a soccer game. After the game, some of the group headed over to Din Tai Fung for dinner, where we enjoyed some soup dumplings among other things. It was a great way to end a fun day of exploring.
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