JUDGING by events at the Olympic Stadium’s first real test the biggest threat to the Games will come from the skies, but not necessarily of the terrorist variety.
It will more likely be the weather and the organisers’ ability, or lack of, to deal with certain eventualities.
The stadium officially opened last Saturday and over the weekend more than 100,000 spectators visited the iconic stadium for the British Universities and Colleges Sports’ Athletics Championships.
Given the amount of personal bests attained and championship records broken, the track and field are without fault, crosswinds permitting, and this bodes well for the world’s best come July and August.
But from a spectator’s point of view getting drenched by the persistent rain and then being told, despite thousands of empty seats under cover, fans could not move to those dry areas, put a dampener on the experience.
The lack of common sense by the people in charge was staggering.
We can only pray our notorious British weather behaves when the Games arrive and people bring plenty of sun screen – although not in big bottles.
It is also hoped repairs to the road and rail network will be complete and therefore public transport will not be disrupted as it was on Monday.
Travelling by train was not a pleasant option so we drove to Epping, parked up for £1 and got the central line to Stratford with relative ease and comfort.
Quite how that will work during the Games with visitors competing with commuters for limited spaces, both in car parks and on the Tube around London, will be interesting to see.
Finding your way to the stadium after exiting the bowels of the underground is easy though with volunteers pointing the way with giant pink, foam hands.
And the cheery mood was replicated all along the route into the impressive looking bowl that is the Olympic Stadium, the centrepiece of the Olympic Park, as steward after steward wished us a pleasant ‘good morning’, and ‘ enjoy your visit’.
Even the mandatory searches of people and bags was quick and efficient, a lesson our airports could learn. Banned items include the obvious weapons, imitation (and indeed real) bomb making equipment, excess food and any liquids in containers larger than 500ml.
As appears to be the norm for any stadium event, sporting or otherwise, the price of refreshments within the venue is exorbitant, with a cup of coffee in a plastic cup £2.50, small bottle of water £1.50, pasties (small) £4.50 and hot dogs £4.90.
You can take in your own food, in moderation, but it appears subjective as to how much would be deemed too much, as one man’s snack would be another’s dinner.
Brollies are allowed – let’s hope they are not needed in the summer, although they certainly will be when the football season starts.
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