Now I can truthfully say that your Olympic blogger has finally attended an Olympic event! One of my dad's friends gave us two tickets for the first round of tennis. The event started on Sunday, Aug 10, 2008--two days after the Opening Ceremony (wasn't it cool how Li Ning lit the cauldron!?!) As the event was on another even day and we have an odd license plate on our car--it meant more public transport.
That would be fine, except for the fact that half way through the trip it started to rain. We were not sure if they would cancel the games for that day, but we decided to go and give it a try. My dad had printed out some instructions of how to get to the tennis courts; we took a shuttle bus downtown, and then rode on the new Olympic subway line to the stop by the Bird's Nest.
We walked up the steps to get out of the subway and then we saw it. It was a huge mass of people, and beyond the teeming mass of people were two security tents! It turned out that you had to go through a security checkpoint before you are allowed to ride on the Olympic Green Subway line. So we lined up and waited a looong time.
That would be fine, except for the fact that half way through the trip it started to rain. We were not sure if they would cancel the games for that day, but we decided to go and give it a try. My dad had printed out some instructions of how to get to the tennis courts; we took a shuttle bus downtown, and then rode on the new Olympic subway line to the stop by the Bird's Nest.
We walked up the steps to get out of the subway and then we saw it. It was a huge mass of people, and beyond the teeming mass of people were two security tents! It turned out that you had to go through a security checkpoint before you are allowed to ride on the Olympic Green Subway line. So we lined up and waited a looong time.
We eventually made it into the tent after about an hour of waiting.
They scanned our tickets and I found that they have a Smart Card chip
inside the tickets. We walked through a metal detector and they x-rayed
our bag and we walked back into the subway station.
We rode
the subway to the end of the line, where we got off, walked up the
stairs and started asking how to get to the tennis venue. The
volunteers told us to walk up a certain road and turn right when you
get to the Olympic Village. Half way to the venue, we saw some people
asking about how to get to the tennis. By asking around, we found that
there were no paths to walk to the tennis venue. We should have taken a
bus at the entrance of the Olympic Green but instead of telling us at
the security checkpoint, they let us go through.
So we walked and walked and walked for a long time. I was starting to get thirsty and tired (you are not allowed to bring in food or drink past security check). Then we found more people with the same problem we had. We finally realized that if we were to get in, we were going to have to go back, outside security and take the bus. Finally, a kind-hearted volunteer took pity on us and got a bus to take us to the tennis venue that was intended for the Olympic athletes to use. After walking up the stairs we were finally in the tennis venue three and a half hours after we left our house!
Once inside the venue, we lined up to buy food (that line was long, too). We finally got our food and went inside to check out our seats. When it finally stopped raining, we watched the Olympic volunteers dry off the tennis court, starting with squeegees and finishing off with towels. Finally, the players came in. It was James Blake representing the US (Rank 8) against Chris Guccione representing Australia.
The first set was simple. For six games, no one broke the other player's serve. Finally, Blake broke Guccione's serve and went on to win 6-3. The same went for the next set, except they had to play a tiebreaker at the end of the set because no one could break their opponent's serve.
Blake won 6-3, 7-6 and advanced. The next game that was scheduled to be played was between Serena Williams representing the US (Rank 4) and Olga Govortsova representing Belarus. Serena Williams was wining 5-3 when it started raining hard and they had to stop the game again.
We decided we had enough for one day and trudged over to the nearest Olympic bus stop and hopped on. We got off at the first stop and hailed a taxi. After we got home over an hour later, I was so tired, I fell asleep on the couch!
We rode
the subway to the end of the line, where we got off, walked up the
stairs and started asking how to get to the tennis venue. The
volunteers told us to walk up a certain road and turn right when you
get to the Olympic Village. Half way to the venue, we saw some people
asking about how to get to the tennis. By asking around, we found that
there were no paths to walk to the tennis venue. We should have taken a
bus at the entrance of the Olympic Green but instead of telling us at
the security checkpoint, they let us go through. So we walked and walked and walked for a long time. I was starting to get thirsty and tired (you are not allowed to bring in food or drink past security check). Then we found more people with the same problem we had. We finally realized that if we were to get in, we were going to have to go back, outside security and take the bus. Finally, a kind-hearted volunteer took pity on us and got a bus to take us to the tennis venue that was intended for the Olympic athletes to use. After walking up the stairs we were finally in the tennis venue three and a half hours after we left our house!
Once inside the venue, we lined up to buy food (that line was long, too). We finally got our food and went inside to check out our seats. When it finally stopped raining, we watched the Olympic volunteers dry off the tennis court, starting with squeegees and finishing off with towels. Finally, the players came in. It was James Blake representing the US (Rank 8) against Chris Guccione representing Australia.
The first set was simple. For six games, no one broke the other player's serve. Finally, Blake broke Guccione's serve and went on to win 6-3. The same went for the next set, except they had to play a tiebreaker at the end of the set because no one could break their opponent's serve.
Blake won 6-3, 7-6 and advanced. The next game that was scheduled to be played was between Serena Williams representing the US (Rank 4) and Olga Govortsova representing Belarus. Serena Williams was wining 5-3 when it started raining hard and they had to stop the game again.
We decided we had enough for one day and trudged over to the nearest Olympic bus stop and hopped on. We got off at the first stop and hailed a taxi. After we got home over an hour later, I was so tired, I fell asleep on the couch!
Wow! You had to wait a long time!
AWESOME!!!!
Wow!!!