Olympic Fever

When I found myself glued to sailing of all things on the television a few days ago, was the moment I realised I had totally been sucked into the Olympics.

Don't even get me started on the trampolining. I have already found a place that offers sessions and I can't wait to try it!

I honestly fear that when this is all over, I may spiral into a post Olympics depression.

I was lucky enough to see 2 events this weekend: football at Wembley and synchronised swimming at the Aquatics Centre.

Football (Senegal v Mexico) started off rather slowly, with Mexico scoring 2 goals in the first half. However Senegal then equalised in the second half, and the match transformed into a full on, edge of your seat battle that went into overtime. Mexico won in the end (4-2).

As for synchronised swimming, I was SO excited! Not only did I grow up watching it on TV in the Olympics, but I also used to always try the moves in the pool and at the beach (to no success). My excitement was only stoked by the fact that the architect of the acclaimed Aquatics Centre, Dame Zaha Hadid, is a personal hero of mine.

As a woman, and a muslim, Iraqi born Hadid has broken many barriers in a field that is very much still a boys club. The first woman to ever win the Pritzker, she is also the holder of the RIBA Stirling Prize, for the second year in a row.

The centre, which loosely resembles a wave shaped space craft from the outside, is flanked by two wings which extend the seating capacity for the games (these will be replaced with glass once the games are over).

Unfortunately for us, our seats were in the nosebleed section of one of these wings. The feature I admired so much from the outside, the dipped roof line, was the very feature that somewhat obstructed my view of the inside...

 The view of the Olympic Park from the building was spectacular at least.

The swimmers were amazing, however after about 15 minutes of snapping photos, they all started to look exactly the same - lots of water, limbs in the air.

We left a few minutes early to beat the crowd, with Russia leading at that point.

The whole experience was a surprisingly stress free one (even with the downpour), and interestingly enough my favourite thing about the park is the flowers! There are wild flowers and trees planted in abundance, which slightly takes the hard edge off the landscape.

I am going to one more event next weekend. Wrestling.

Yes, wrestling.

Although I have no clue what to expect, I'm still very much looking forward to soaking up the Olympic atmosphere.