Olympic encounter

30th July 2012 from Family Fund

Clare Kassa, Network Development Manager at the Family Fund, and her seven year old daughter Elizabeth (pictured) attended the men’s Artistic Gymnastics qualification round at the North Greenwich Arena (the O2 to you and me) on day one of the Olympics.  Here is what they thought of the experience.
Elizabeth said: “ First thing to say is that I have never seen anything like 2012 Olympics ever before!!  We had to leave at six 0’clock in the morning to get on the train.  When we got to London we were very excited to see lots of pink signs telling us which way to go.  There was even a lady with a big pointy foam finger showing us the way!  When we got to the North Greenwich Arena we had to go through some scanners.  My toy, Lilla went through and so did the Family Fund bear Ffoogie! We had to wait around quite a long time so we went for coffee.  We went at the right time because after that the queues then got really long.  We then went to find our seats and Mummy was almost jumping up and down because it was so exciting!!!  She took about 10 pictures of me!  We had good seats and we could see absolutely everything – we could see the vault, the rings and the floor exercise area.  Then the judges came in and then the teams, we saw Great Britain, China, South Korea and two mixed groups.  We cheered our team really loud, but I especially liked a man called Daniel Purvis in the British team, because he had come to visit my school and had done back flips, cartwheels and roly polys in my school hall!!!  Our team won on the day.  My best part was the ending when everyone stood up and clapped for Great Britain.”
Clare told us: “It was an absolutely brilliant experience and so well organised.  I was really impressed at the amount of staff on hand every step of the way, who were all knowledgeable, helpful and kind.  The gymnastics was very impressive and the British team really shone, clearly hyped by the support and flag waving! The crowd were really supportive and reached a crescendo when Louis Smith did a stunning routine on the pommel horse.  The British team ranked top above China at the end of the session, which was a huge achievement for them on such an important day.  We had a wonderful time, I know my daughter will look back and always remember that she was there.  It was a once in a lifetime experience - one we will both cherish forever.”