Our Own Marathon

On Wednesday, friends and I did a little marathon of our own. Three events in one day--all around the city of London. It kept us moving and on our toes!

We started out the morning with beach volleyball, which deserves a complete blog on its own (coming next) and then our second activity of the day was back to the Olympic Park when the Women's Australian Basketball team played the Brazilians.

Kirsty from Australia watched the game with us and we were happy to cheer for her home team and help wave her Australian flag.

Have you noticed that the Australians wear yellow and gold in their sporting events? I thought that was unusual that their colors do not correspond to their flag, but Kirsty explained that they represent the landscape of Australia. They were a force to be reckoned with, and they pushed past Brazil 67-61.

In the four basketball games that I've seen, we've been entertained each time by really talented dancers, cheerleaders and jump roping teams.

It was a simple matter of a few quick folds of the flag, to create a Great Britain flag for the next game, when Team GB played Russia.

The game was close for most of the duration, 

but much to the dismay of the hometown crowd, the Great Britain team came up short against the Russian women.

The stands were packed: the Russians were there supporting their gals,

and the Team GB fans were plentiful and loud! One of my favorite things about the Olympics has been how friendly everyone is--no matter where you sit, you strike up conversations with the people around you, and you find yourself meeting people from around the world.

We loved this cute British family who had traveled in from Stratford-on-Avon for the day and who sat in front of us during the game!

Sitting beside us was this cute family from Mexico,

and a few other of their fellow citizens were big cheerleaders when it came to doing the "Mexican wave," that I've seen circle every stadium I've been in over the last week.

From the Olympic Park, we scurried over to Earl's Court over an hour's journey away, to see the volleyball match between the Chinese and American women's volleyball teams.

Other than the Opening Ceremonies, this match was definitely the most exciting thing we saw. Two powerhouses meeting face to face,

the Americans took the first two sets, and then it was a real battle for the third set. It took 6 match points before the American girls could wrap it up with a 31-29 victory over the Chinese gals.

Celebrating their win, and anticipating the matches ahead, the girls are hungry to be the first Olympic gold medal-winners for the USA in indoor volleyball. They are generally favored to take the gold, so stay tuned and cross your fingers.

I leave you with the Cath Kidston slogan for the Games, and a promise to tell you all about the party beach volleyball that we watched at Horse Guards Parade next time. Certainly the most fun event in town!