London 2012 - Blip 2 - Artistic Gymnastics

Having decided to try to get a ticket for any event, I did, of course, have some preferences. Artistic Gymnastics was one of them. With two weeks to go to the opening ceremony, a friend and myself spotted some tickets in suites at the North Greenwich Arena (normally the O2 of course). So we went for it, and set off very early - too early, given the opening ceremony went on until after midnight.

But, excitement ensured we were wide awake and raring to go - still stunned we had been lucky enough to book to see TeamGB men in their qualifying round.

The instructions from LOCOG said no long lenses, so I took a small compact. It turned out, "long" referred to physical size, rather than focal length, so I would have been fine with my DSLR.

But it didn't matter. What mattered was watching the beauty of the competition live, for real, right there. Feeling the atmosphere. Watching Team GB at the top of the leader board. Yes, we knew how special Louis Smith was (and watching him on the pommel horse was one of my Games' highlights) but the UK and gymnastics - not an expected winning combination.

Until that Saturday morning. This is them warming up on the parallel bars.