My Olympic Experience, My London 2012

So my tickets for Rio 2016 have arrived…it is all getting suddenly real as there are now only 2 weeks until I travel to Brazil to watch to the Olympics!!!

The arrival of my Olympic tickets just brought back a flood of happy memories and experiences as the buzz in London was insatiable during that time and I thought I would relive my memories here on my blog.

I was determined I would be at Rio 2016 come rain or shine ever since I had the privilege to volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics as a pharmacist. I was never going to be an Olympic athlete so the next best thing was to be an Olympic pharmacist! I volunteered at the Eton Dorney village for the rowing and canoeing events. The buzz of excitement in an Olympic village is felt by all and there were a lot of memories that I will hold dear to me for years and years.

Memories like….

1. Being told that the volunteers could attend the party they were throwing for the athletes on the opening night (you don’t know how much I had to act cool as if this was not a big deal when in fact it was a HUGE DEAL)

063 — The brass band playing some tunes for us all on the roof lawn

The theme of the party was an English summer party complete with animals like grasshoppers, birds, cricket players and a frog.

2. Taking pictures with and of various hunky, tall athletes

084 — Sweden vs. The British Gamesmakers

3. Talking with the athletes as we watched the opening ceremony on a live link. I particularly remember talking with a German rower; it was his first Olympics and he was so excited, so hopeful and hungry for success and so thankful to us volunteering and contributing to the Olympics. That conversation with him always makes me smile when I recall it.

086 — Sir Seb Coe giving a personal welcome message to all the athletes at the Eton Dorney Olympic Village

087 — Chilling with the athletes to watch the Opening Ceremony

4. Getting to not only hold the 2012 Olympic torch but also hold the 1948 Olympic torch.

5. Being in charge of my own little mini Olympic pharmacy and helping where I could, interacting with other healthcare professionals all whilst having fun.

045 — With my pharmacist colleague Shalu

092 — My own tidy Olympic pharmacy that I was in charge of :0)

Once my volunteering stint ended I was also able to enjoy being a spectator too in the Paralympics…

Women’s wheelchair basketball was awesome!

120 — Team GB vs. Canada – Women’s Football

118 — Waving my flag as I support Team GB!

All in all my London 2012 experience being awesome as it was means Rio 2016 will be epic. I may be a little quiet on the blog here come August time since I will be travelling the whole month BUT watch out for my adventures on my Instagram page and Snapchat.

Hope you enjoy watching Rio 2016 as much as I will!

2 Comments

Ann the Adventurist

13/02/2017 11:56 pm

Amazing experience!! How did you get the pharmacist gig? Were you able to check out any of the hospitality Houses?
the5to9traveller

14/02/2017 1:04 am

Thanks for reading! I applied a good four years earlier to register my interest in participating as a pharmacist. There had been an article for volunteers in my profession’s magazine that they send out to registered pharmacists in the UK. So I just made sure I was constantly kept up to date and checking the website for the applications. I was not able to check out any Hospitality houses sadly but attending the Olympic party was enough for me :o) I nearly made it to the Jamaican Hospitality House in Rio but that is another tale for another day ;oP