A Full Day of Olympics

Sunday after the Opening Ceremony was a full day of Olympics for us. Our family was at three Olympic venues across London, attending three different sporting events and two awards ceremonies, and doing volunteer work at three beach volleyball games.

Shooting

We started the day at the Royal Artillery Barracks for the Women's Shooting event. This was new for us and we learned a lot. We saw Skeet shooting with rifles as well as Air Pistol target shooting. Kimberly Rhode from the USA won the Gold medal in Skeet and we were there to see it. This win made her the first American to win individual medals in five consecutive Olympics. She won her first gold at the age of 17. She now has three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze. Quite impressive.

American Kimberly Rhode

She seemed very relaxed as she successfully hit 99 of the 100 clay disks shot out into the air, tying her own world record. Some of the other competitors would face away after completing their turn, not wanting to watch the other contestants. Some would watch and raise their arms as if following the disk through the air, similar to a baseball batter on deck watching pitches and taking practice swings. Kimberly just calmly waited her turn in line, like the old pro that she is.

Note the Italian raising her hand following the disk. 

I learned that the rifles the athletes use are custom-made to fit the size of their bodies. The targets are launched both high and low, singles and doubles. The shooters progress through stations in order to shoot from various angles and distances. The idea is to simulate shooting at birds. It seems that every possibility of where that bird might be flying is covered.

Awards Ceremony

Here are the medals and flowers before being walked out to the podium:

Kimberly Rhode with Gold 

USA flag while National Anthem played

Air Pistol

The Air Pistol event was held indoors. The competitors shoot at their own targets and get points for how close they come to the center. We thought it would be like the old Westerns: Ready Draw FIRE! while pulling the gun from a holster on their hip. Nothing like that. They have about a minute to aim and shoot at their own pace.

Some would fire right away while others would wait and then raise the gun to aim and fire. It helps to be relaxed so the athletes stood very still between rounds, looking almost like limp rag dolls. The cameraman would go down the line and zoom in on each face while the score for that round was announced. The athletes showed no emotion and even tried to face away from the camera. It seemed so different from other sports.

It struck me that the Olympic motto of "Faster Higher Stronger" does not seem to apply for Shooting.

We were lucky to get to watch the Finals round for both Air Pistol and Skeet and then see the Awards Ceremonies. The theme from Chariots of Fire played while the medalists made their way to the podium. So cool.

Beach Volleyball Volunteering

Lexi close to the action

While Chris and I were getting educated on Shooting, Lexi was performing her first official volunteering in the Beach Volleyball games as a ball retriever. She was thrilled to be a part of the action and right there with the athletes. She said the Czech men were very intense and a little scary during their game. But the Czechs were the team that carried umbrellas and wore Wellies (rain boots) in the Opening Ceremony as a humorous gesture. I guess once the games begin, the humor is toned down.

Football

We met up with Lexi after her volunteering shift and headed to beautiful Wembley Stadium for two Men's Football (Soccer) games. Great Britain beat United Arab Emirates 3-1 and the mostly British crowd was lively, loud, and pleased.

There we are enjoying our third Olympic game of the day