Basketball - London Prepares 5

France v. Croatia


France in blue, Croatia in white and red.

warm up

Croatia warm up

the Croatian team line up

The Croatian team seemed half asleep. Some players looked totally taken by surprise when the ball came their way. France were clearly going to win.

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Inside the arena

 As you can see we had a very good view of the court.


I was a bit anxious walking along the row as the seating was so steep, I felt I was going to fall. But once we were sitting down it was very comfortable.

 

 Only a proportion of the seats were available so there was a lot of empty space but here are some of the other spectators.

And just below us a lot of computers in use.

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The facilities

The queue for food and drink

T. queuing for coffee before we went in.
During the games people were queuing 40 minutes to buy food. Not us though, we took our own sandwiches.

Official Merchandise

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Arriving in London

We couldn't believe it, when we arrived, that it was pouring with rain. We had left home in bright sunshine.

 

The stewards lined the route to the Olympic Park. They were very wet and very helpful although everyone of them said it was only another two minutes walk. A total of 10 minutes in the rain isn't too much fun.

 After the security check (not photographed) we boarded one of the many buses that cross the Olympic Park and watched with interest all the areas still under construction. These photos show the rain drenched area just outside the Basketball arena.

 

Basketball at the Olympic Basketball Arena

Basketball London Prepares - 20th August


We did get tickets for the London Prepares series on 20th August. We got to see to games: France v. Croatia and GB v. China.


Here is our story. 

 T. and J. at our home station waiting for the train to London Bridge. I bought the train tickets online with a nice little discount.

Olympics - Buying Tickets

I had read so many negative comments about the London Olympics that I thought I was the only person excited and looking forward to the games. So when it came to purchasing tickets I was very sensible. I only applied for tickets that I knew I could afford. These were mainly Basketball and Athletics but at the last moment I added some tennis tickets as I have never been to Wimbledon and thought it would be a good experience. I thought I would get most of my tickets, especially as Basketball isn't a well  publicised sport in this country.


Of course I didn't get all the tickets and we were particularly disappointed that we got none of the Basketball tickets. However compared with many people we were lucky because we did get the Tennis tickets! If I had known I would have applied for twice as many.


But we haven't given up on the Basketball.