London (Olympic Day 16)

It is the last day of the Olympics. This is the first time we've been here for the final day. It is sad that it is all over. We have had a great time, but I am tired and ready to go home. We have two tickets for the Closing Ceremonies this evening, but before that, we have an event at USA House near the Royal Albert Hall.

Most of you may not know that the US is one of only a handful of nations that do not provide direct governmental support for their Olympic teams. Most of the funds needed to train and field the US's Olympic team comes from individual donors like Beth and I. We are in a position to donate enough over a four year period that we get invited to donor events at each Olympic Games.

It may not come as a shock to many of you that the US's reputation in the world is not what it used to be. So rather than a huge sign proclaiming "This is USA House" like the Jamaicans have next to the North Greenwich Arena, you have to know where it is to visit. And there are sufficient security guards around to ensure that the only people going in are supposed to be there.

We had not been sitting for more than a minute before a tall guy walks up and hands me a gold medal. He is John Naber and won four gold medals in swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal (and set a world record in each one). He is also the Master of Ceremonies for our event and one of the most positive supporters of the Olympic movement that I've ever met. Here is a shot of Sean with one of John's gold medals:

After a brief introduction, John turns the podium over to another former Olympic swimmer, three time gold medalist Donna De Varona. Donna was the youngest member of the 1960 Summer Olympic swim team in Rome and broke her first world record at age 13. She talked about America in 1960 still being racially divided and that one event that stuck in her mind was that the American athletes in Rome marched into the Olympic stadium by height with the tall women first. She was the shortest woman and right behind her were the members of the American basketball team. She said that her father had told her to watch the Olympic torch enter the stadium, but she couldn't see anything. She said that a black basketball player picked her up and put her on his shoulders at a time when whites and blacks were not allowed to touch each other. She thinks that this started her toward social activism. After winning two gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, she signed a contract to become the first female sports commentator in the US. Later, she was one of the driving forces behind the passage of Title IX which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex for any activity receiving federal funding. One of the results of Title IX was the equal treatment of men's and women's college athletics.

After Donna talked, a number of Olympians walked around to speak with the donors. Beth met four time gold medal diver Greg Louganis. Sean and I went over to meet Dick Fosbury, gold medalist in the high jump at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and creator of the Fosbury Flop, a technique of going over the bar backwards that is now used by virtually every top level high jumper in the world. Here is a picture of Sean with Dick:

After that, we took a quick look at the special store that the USOC has for donors and athletes and picked up a couple t-shirts for Rio 2016!

We are supposed to meet the family of one of Beth's colleagues, who we encouraged to attend the Olympics, for lunch at their hotel near Earl's Court station. But we have a little time to kill. Hyde Park is right across the street from USA House. From there, we get a good view of the Royal Albert Hall, named after Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert:

Most of Hyde Park is closed for viewing of the Closing Ceremonies, but there is an exhibit for the 2012 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in the park so we walk over. We had gone to Sochi House in Vancouver so we thought that we would know most of what was going to be displayed. The message was certainly much smoother this time. A number of world class athletes talked about the "newly opened" Russia and what they thought was special about it.

Inside, there are a lot more sponsors now signed up than they had in Vancouver. I can't honestly say that I learned anything except that the Russians clearly have a better understanding of Olympic pins than the people in Britain. The volunteers flocked to me like a moth to a flame. If I hadn't needed to move on, all of the London pins on my vest would have been replaced by Sochi pins! Beth and I still think that attending an Olympics during the middle of a school year is unworkable, but Sean is determined to get such great grades that we have to change our minds. We shall see - it certainly looks like a beautiful place.

After leaving Sochi House, we head down Kensington High Street looking for a left turn onto Earl's Court Road. Not only will this take us to the hotel where we are to meet with Beth's colleague Don and his wife Janey, but will also take us close to where my grandparents Dorothy and Dan Robie lived when I visited them in 1968. Unfortunately, a lot has changed in 44 years. I find a street that seems to curve off in the correct way, but a new building exists where I thought that the street should have gone. Oh well, it was worth a try.

We have a nice lunch with Don and Janey and their three grown children and share our Olympic adventures. They have had the same challenge with not all of the tickets that they bought being together. But more importantly, we found that they have had a good time. We will see whether it was good enough for them to go to Rio in 2016.

Then it is back to the hotel to do some blogging and packing. I also have a decision to make. For a long time, we have thought that Sean and I would go to the Closing Ceremonies while Beth packed because our cab will arrive at 6:30am to take us to the airport. However, I have read that the Closing Ceremonies will also include a huge amount of British music that Beth will appreciate much more than I do. So, I give her the ticket and settle down to watch the Closing Ceremonies on TV while working on this blog.

BBC had a 90 minute leadup to the Closing Ceremonies that I really enjoyed even if it was completely from the point-of-view of the British athletes. They love their sports here, but they are also brutal in their analysis of the sports. The newspaper this morning listed the government spending for each sport and how much bang-for-the-buck that they got for this spending. Sports that they felt should be rewarded with additional funding were: Boxing, Cycling, Equestrian, Gymnastics, Rowing, and Triathlon. Sports that they felt should have their spending cut were: Archery, Badminton, Diving, Football (soccer), Handball, Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo, Wrestling and Weightlifting.

Here are some of the things that I really liked about the Closing Ceremonies. I really liked the way that the athletes got into the stadium. This should be the way that it is done from now on. I liked the performance by former Monty Python member Eric Idle singing "Always look on the bright side of life". I liked the way that the Olympic cauldron was extinguished and as always, I enjoyed the symbolism of passing the flag to the next Olympic host, Rio de Janeiro. 

I cannot say that I was quite as wild about the short presentation by Rio 2016. I'll watch it again when I get home to see if it grows on me, but for now, I thought that it could have been better. I'll hopefully add some pictures from the Closing Ceremonies in the next few days, but it is 12:15am local time and Beth and Sean probably won't be home for another hour or so. Then we'll be getting up on 5 hours sleep to fly home.

It has been a great trip. For those who are still waiting for posts about on the missing days, please be patient. I have made notes and will finish them up as soon as I can. I will also have some final remarks on these Games.

Steps for the day: 20,600