Team GB house 08/08/12

Last night I was scrolling through my twitter feed, when I saw a tweet from my old university basketball coach about Olympic tickets. 

Having searched for so long and click the refresh button on the Olympic ticket webpage an unhealthy amount of times, I messages him straight away.

I got a reply pretty quickly giving me a name and a number of a woman to contact. Just like that we were going to the quarter finals of the men's basketball! I couldn't believe my luck.

That morning I told the guys about the tickets I'd managed to get. We only had an hour between collecting the tickets and the start of the game so we had no time to waste. Unlike the previous Olympic basketball game I had been to at the temporary basketball arena, these games were being played at the North Greenwich Arena (the O2).

Despite getting off at the wrong station, we eventually got ourselves to the stadium in one piece. Kate was chasing leads connected the Equestrian events and Aaron tried to get into the media area using his BAJ press pass... He didn't manage it (you can see more about our lack of media accreditation in previous posts!) but did get some stories from fans in the stands.

First game up was Russia v Lithuania, two huge basketball countries who were fighting for a spot in the semi finals. 

Although Aaron had planned to conduct interviews inside the arena, things didn't go to plan as many of the people he spoke to didn't speak good English. 

I was intrigued to see Alexey Sved, who had recently been signed by the Minnesota Timber-wolves.  Lithuanian Linas Klezia has previously studied at the University of Worcester, getting contact with him would have been ideal but, despite emails and tweets I hadn't had any success and getting down to talk to players inside or outside the stadium at a quarter final looked almost impossible.

Neither team had a particularly star studded line up, but the stadium was (for the most part) full and the atmosphere was louder than any game that I have attended previously. Russia proved too much for the Lithuanian's edging a win.



Next up: Spain vs France. I had never seen the Spain team live before and was keen to get some good photographs. Sneaking down to the mid section, I found a few empty seats which looked uninhabited. I stayed there as long as a could, unlike in the basketball arena I didn't get caught so had plenty of time to settle and shoot.

When the basketball ended we stayed behind to soak in the Olympic atmosphere and complete a range of vox pops. We were tight on time as we not only had to go the the Team GB house for an interview but also needed to head to the Olympic Park to collect the tickets for the football match tomorrow night.


Katelynn led us to the Team GB house which was just a stone throw away from the Olympic Park. 


Upon arrival we had to wait in reception before being scanned in and given our press pass which gave us access to the whole house. 

Myself and Kate were allowed access, this was a real relief as it was not guaranteed. Stupidly, after reaching into my pocket, I realised I had forgotten or lost my dictaphone. I was kicking myself as soon as I got in and found myself having to transcribe with a pen.

We were taken upstairs and into a corridor which had  “Our Greatest Team” written across the wall. Signatures of every British athlete competing in the Games were written underneath in gold pen. Walking through the corridor to the next room we were instructed to wait for Sarah, our contact. 



The floor had been designed to mimic an indoor running track, the lanes made their way around the champagne bar, buffet, plasma TV showing the Games and the Olympic torch. Scattered across the room were signed pictures of the athletes who had already won medals for Team GB. The back wall was made of glass and overlooked the Olympic Stadium and Stratford station which was rammed with thousands of Olympic fans squeezing their way into the park.

The room was full of Team GB athletes, they included present, upcoming and former medallists. We had to wait a few minutes for Olympic bronze medalist and double world champion, Sarah Winckless, to arrive. She walked through the door, introduced herself and proceeded to introduce us to the athletes around the room.

Katelynn's agenda was slightly different to ours so we decided to split up.

Firstly we interviewed three young Taekwondo athletes: Ruebyn Richards, George Lee and Jamie Abley. They were all here under the ambition programme.

The three Olympic hopefuls had trialled but not made the cut for the 2012 Olympics and were aiming to star in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games. 

They told us that they had been training week in week out with the current Olympians despite not making the games themselves. Normally their daily routine consisted of two training sessions, with Wednesday being the day they were allowed to rest, but only for half the day! They still had to complete a session in the evening on their supposed day off.

Having competed in the martial arts sport for over 10 years they were nominated for the Ambition program through their respective National Governing Bodies. Although originally from South London, Durham and Nottingham the young athletes had lived together for a year.

 They came across very level headed and confident in what the next 4 years had in store for them, It's no real surprise considering Ruebyn beat the world No.1 in Manchester last October and George Lee was ranked world No.1 until recently when he was beaten in the World Championships. They had been watching the Olympic Games avidly commenting:

"Incredible so far and it definitely helps being on home soil as they've managed to get tickets to almost every Taekwondo event." 

After the interview we gave them our contact details and are currently following them on Twitter and Facebook so we can keep in contact with them on their journey to Rio. 

George, Ruebyn, Jamie, Kate, Aaron and Myself

With little time left, we then approached an Olympic Wrestler. Oleksandr Madyarcmyk was a 28 year old man that, although he was originally form the Ukraine, his coach had decided to move him to Britain for training purposes. Oleksandr has lived here for 4 years and therefore qualifies to compete for team GB. He lives in Britain with his wife and has obtained a British passport. 

After winning the British Championships to claim the No.1 spot in his weight category, he became eligible for the Games. He has chosen to wrestle for Team GB rather than his home nation which was intriguing, but sadly before we could ask him more about his reasoning, time was up and the athletes had to leave. Like the Taekwondo athletes, we exchanged details just before he left and will stay in contact with Oleksandr as he continues his Olympic career.

After a short wait and a catch up with Katlynn, Sarah Winckless entered the room and came over greet us. It was then that Aaron, Kate and myself decided our roles for the interview. Aaron chose to be the scribe and Kate and myself would conduct the interview alongside Katelynn.

She started by telling us about the ambition programme that she ran and told us it began at the Beijing 2008 Games. She was the chair of the athletes commission in London and wanted the young athletes to come to London to provide them with Olympic experience to help prepare them for Rio.

The athletes stayed in student accommodation in Loughborough. 

Earlier that day Dame Kelly Holmes had met the athletes on the program and after giving them a speech, had met with the athletes personally. 

Throughout this event the athletes involved had not only been training with the current Olympians but had Olympic torch pass through London and met members of the Royal family.

Sarah added “It's important for athletes to meet their hero. It's a hard journey where every story from past Olympians matter. It's not just about the podium.”

Sarah's focus was to help her athletes understand where they are in their respective careers and wanted to use this as a learning opportunity to prepare them for what is to come at Rio.

Her motto: “Nothing being a sacrifice but everything being a choice”.

The ambition program originated from her experiences as an athlete - she told us she would love to have the things that she now provides to these young prospects when competing herself.

The programme runs for 22 days and consists of 130 athletes and 57 coaches - they work, train and live together as an Olympic family.

After getting information on the programme for a story, we went on to talk about Sarah's personal life as an Olympian. I was surprised to find out she was a discuss thrower at the beginning of her career before taking up rowing. She emphasised how special the Olympics is and how during her career she kept the right mind set, as Olympic careers are short and vulnerable. 

Katherine Grainger, who won a gold in London in the Double sculls is a room mate of Sarah's and a good friend. She explained "we went through the journey to success together, nothing comes close to that feeling as the national anthem plays and your awarded the Olympic medal."

Overall I was really impressed with how much she cared about the athletes on her program. Those chosen are extremely privaleged to have someone like her working to push them on to the best of their potential - especially as she is drawing from her own experiences as an Olympian to provide them with the best possible chance. The Ambition program continues to grow as Team GB athletes continue to win more medals than ever before.

I would go as far as saying Sarah is a unsung hero and want to develop a feature on her work once the Games are over.

Here are Aaron's notes from the interview as we stupidly didn't have a dictaphone as I've mentioned previously.

Aaron, Me, Kate, Sarah and Katlynn

Athlete signature wall