THE OLYMPICS (4)

There is only one word to describe being a part of London 2012, as I have been for the past 10 days. And that is FANTASTIC.

There will doubtless be some post-games carping at some point, but I think that London has done a brilliant job. True, I have only been in person to the Olympic Park (where I saw five handball sessions and one field hockey session, each session being two matches). But I have spoken to others who have been to the gymnastics at the O2 Arena, the rowing at Eton Dorney, the beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade, and the sailing at Weymouth, and they all say the same thing; it's great.

The Olympic Park complex in Stratford, a formerly grotty part of East London that used to house a filthy river and Europe's biggest dump for old refrigerators, is really good, and will be a wonderful open green space once the games are over. The river has been cleaned up, and there are lots of paths, trees and wild flowers. We watched the handball in the Copper Box, a brand-new 7,000 seat multi-purpose arena, that will be staying (some facilities, such as the basketball arena, will be dismantled and sent to Rio for 2016). It fully lived up to its reputation as the "box that rocks".  

Fears about terrible queues through security were completely overblown. The private company that was supposed to handle it had a pre-games meltdown, and had to be helped out by 3,500 squaddies from the army, a change of tack that was probably the best decision ever made. Stansted and other airports take note; it is amazing how you can change passengers' attitudes if you smile now and again, and don't try to be a Stürmbannführer. Six times through security, and none of them took more than three minutes. Combined with the enhanced transport links into Stratford, the logistics were really easy. On Saturday we went from a house in rural Essex to our seats in the Copper Box in under 90 minutes.

Indeed, the role of the army and the mass of volunteers was one of the best parts of the whole experience. It is not every day - to put it mildly - that you are greeted by a complete stranger every ten yards of your journey with "welcome to London" or "hope you have a great day". After my initial British inclination to ask "I'm sorry, do I know you?", I got to like it. I am sure the many foreigners did.

Finally, I should imagine that all of that British friendliness and support were of great help to Team GB, who are having a fantastic Olympics, their best since 1908, and who are sitting third in the medals table, behind only China and the U.S. Being cheered on by 20,000, 30,000 or even 80,000 sports nuts must make you give an extra x per cent, thereby creating a virtuous circle of more support and more success.

The Olympics will never take place in the U.K. again in my lifetime. It was a highlight of my life that I managed to see it in person.

Walter Blotscher