Opals playing for Bronze

The opals fought hard against the USA but went down in the semi, they played well in the first half up by 4 points with Lizzie Cambage playing well with 19 points, but she was shut down in the 2nd half with no points, USA end up winning by about 12, the Opals played really well, there younger players looked good and there is hope for the future. On saturday I caught up with Neil and Kerry Boden from Canberra whos daughter Lauren ran in the 400 hurdles, we had lunch at Waterloo station. Today I am off to see the Opals play Russia for Womens Basketball Bronze medal.

Boomers fought to the end

Yesterday I didn't get to the Boomers match against the USA, it was a hard ticket to get, I did my usual run in the morning and then in the afternoon I met Tony Gordon who I went to Uni with and I havent seen him in over 13 years. He was flying thru London from the USA on the way to Africa where he works 8 weeks and then heads back to his home in Colorado where he has lived since 1996. We went to a Pub near Paddington, we were the only people in the Pub, we had a few drinks and a meal, the publican was very upset about the lack of people round, the Olympics has had athe opp. effect for pubs not really near the Olympic area. Last night the Boomers lost to the USA, a tough game they played as well as they could.

Opals thru to the Semis

I did a 16km run along the thames before breakfast, I rang my basketball contact to find out if I coul get a ticket to the Opals quarter final against China this afternoon, he was going to text me when I could pick one up from him. I got a text about 10.45am, I had to meet him at a pub close to the Shopping centre at Stratford in about an hour, I caught a bus there and eventually I found him after he was a bit late, he had got me an A ticket for the B price, which was good value. Opals had a mixed game against China, they came out the blocks and lead by as much as 9 points in the 2nd qtr and then China just started to wheel them in, and lead by 3 to 4 ponits, by lead the opals by 1 point at the half, it was a tight 3rd qtr and I think we lead by 3 with a quarter to play, Liz Cambage was getting a few points under the boards, the points were getting spread around. The young brigade of Cambage, Jarry, Ohea, Bishop and the elder Harrower got them out to a 7 point lead by the middle of the last qtr, then the experience of Jackson & Batovic help finish off China with a 75 to 60 victory, now they also meet the USA but in the semi on thursday night.

A great win by the Boomers.

Today because I had the early start of the Boomers game at 9am, I decided to have a rest day from running, I had probably covered about 100kms in the morning runs along the Thames, I had breakfast at about 7am, the hotel had put on a good spread each morning, Cereal, toast, juice, coffee, sausages, eggs etc, so I could fill up and not need to eat until the evening. The past few mornings I have been catching the 25 Bus up the main road from the Hotel, it changes from whitechapel high street to Mile End road, then Bow road and not sure what it is when it gets to Stratford Centre whih is right next to the Olympic area, I am about 6-7 ksm from the Olympic area. It takes me about 15-20 minutes to walk to the Basketball stadium after getting thru security. What a game today, the best game I have seen the Boomers play in years, a great 2 point win over Russia after Patty Mills hit a 3 on the siren, I managed to video the last 5 seconds of the game. The guys played so well, even after Russia took the lead with a few minutes to go, it was a team effort. Matt Delevedova has played so well for his first Olympics, Patty was quiet this game but Joe Ingels hit 20 with some nice 3's and even the 7 footer Dave Andersen hit 4 3's. Russia played well and didn't just hand us the game. Now for the USA on Wednesday in the quarters, a very hard task.

Too much sport is barely enough

Saturday was a big Olympic sporting day, I went to HydePark and watched the Womens Triathlon, it was very well setup, with about a reporting 200,000 crowd, the swim was in the Sepentine lake and then the cycle was 7 laps of 6.1kms circuit that went around and thru Hyde Park and down to Buckingham Palace, then 4 laps of 2.5kms around the edge of the lake. Erin Densham was fantastic in getting the bronze, she stayed with the leading cycle pack that included Australian Emma Jackson, into the run she pushed the pace that lead to a group of 4, she was out run at the end by the swiss girl and another to get the bronze, 21 year old Emma Jackson finished well in 8th spot, she will be a threat in Rio. Then last night I saw agame of two halves in the Boomers basketball game against GB, down 36 to 51 after 2 minutes of the 2nd hald the Boomers went on a 30 to 6 run for the rest of the quarter , GB hit a 3 on the Buzzer (3/4 qtr time) to get it back to 66-60 with the Boomers in front, Patty Mills was every where, he shoots on volume and last night he hit 38 points and was just unstoppable, I had a chat with his Dad after the game, (I use to play against Benny Mills). The last quarer started well with the Boomers going on a 17 to nothing run, GB went from bad to worse, every Boomer was starting to score, Joe Ingles, Andersen, Newley, Mills finished it off well, we won the qtr 40 to 15, in the last 18 minutes Australia out scored GB 70 to 25. We now have a must win big game against Russia monday to try and avoid USA in the quarters. This morning I went down to Tower of London where there was a turn around point for the Womens Marthon which consisted of a 4.5k loop and then 3 laps of 12.5, where I was watching from approx 6kms from the finish, I watched them come thru twice, Australia had 3 runners, Lisa flea Weighmen, Tress my brother plays for the Demons Trengove & Benita Willis, there was plenty of rain early, then it fined up and the sun came out in parts. I left early to head off to the Basketball, the Opals beat Canada, after a great start in the first quarter, I think the score was 25 to 10, they were very ordinary after that, the Canuks got within 2 in the last quarter, but Lauren Jacksons foul shooting in the last 3 minutes won us the game. The match after could be the Gold medal playoff, USA were beating china by 12 just before half time but early on we're matching them, the Chinese look a better team than the Opals.

Back in the game

I have had a couple of quiet days just wandering around London, I just couldnt get tickets to the past few basketball games, but now I am back in the race, I am off to the Basketball which starts in just under 3 hours, plus I have tickets for the next 3 games afterwards, the last pool games for the Boomers and the Opals. I hope to watch part of the Womens marathon tomorrow, I will get a spot near where the course goes close to the Tower of London.

A day off

As reported in the media, it is really hard getting tickets to events where it is either sold out or you can't get the tickets that haven't been sold, this has been the worst Olympics ever for getting tickets, the system they have set up is terrible, I am lucky that I have a source that can get me a few basketball tickets for Australia games. Yesterday (tuesday) I did a wander around the city area, just taking in a few sites, this was after I watched the Australian men play Spain, they looked awful, scoring only 25 to about 50odd in the middle 2 quarters, loosing by only 12 was very flattering. I hope to get to see the last 4 games the boomers & opals play of the pool games, friday to monday, Opals play Brazil today, it will be a tough match. Interesting the British are getting very nervous they have got to Day 5 without a Gold, Australia I think will struggle to get to 10 gold, I think 8-9 is good as it will get.