London 2012 Hackney Citizens’ Diary: Day 11
Olympic screen at Haggerston Park. Photograph: Hackney Citizen
4.30pm: Sarah Birch writes: Sadness on the say local boy Phillips Idowu bombed out of the Games, failing to qualify for the triple high jump. Some solace in his upbeat hopes: “I thought I’d come out and put on a decent show, but it wasn’t able to happen. Now I have to regroup and prepare for the future. You haven’t seen the best of me yet.”
I don’t understand (+ don’t want to understand) why so many are criticising Phillips Idowu. He’s an athlete who tried his best: that’s all.
— Olly Moore (@FastOlly) August 7, 2012
Phillips Idowu’s BBC interview made me weepy. He’s a Hackney lad too.
#olympics— itskatywithay (@itskatywithay) August 7, 2012
Feel bad for Idowu. Been waiting to see him compete then doesn’t make it thanks to injury
— MichaelVarnavides (@MAVarnavides) August 7, 2012
Meanwhile, official Olympic buskers have begun to appear on the Overground, yielding the somewhat incongruous sight of a harpist at Hackney Central. Sponsored music certainly does make the wait that much nicer; pity we can’t have them all year round.
:
#StageUp. Station to station – Hackney Central 5pm, Homerton 6pm, Hackney Wick 7pm.. If you’re passing on the Overground, come see!— Purple Ferdinand (@PurpleFerdinand) August 7, 2012
3.00pm: The Citizen’s undercover security guard writes:
At the media centre in our arena, you can pick up postcards with pictures of some of the more famous athletes on them. One, in particular, has caught the eye of myself and a handful of other security guards: Yekaterina Gamova, the 6′ 11″ star of the Russian Volleyball team. In fact, we’ve been so inspired, we’ve been whiling away the quieter hours on shift by writing poems about her:
Poem 1 (of many):
She dives beneath the harsh white light,
She throws her arm with all her might,
Long shadows cast o’er all who oppose her,
The Russian might of Yekaterina Gamova.
Stand tall my love, for you I cherish,
Under spotlights bright and garish,
That victory comes swift and sweet,
And lets them know that they are bear.
Let all who face her heed my warning,
On this most Olympic morning;
She knows no fear, blocks spiked advances,
Nimbly across the court she dances,
For motherland she’ll conquer all,
To triumph in the volleyball.
Poem 2 (different poet / security guard):
In the court of Earls I watched her tumble,
Beneath the lights, and cheers, which rumble,
Round the stands like spreading ripples,
Thinking of Gamova’s nipples.
Her muscled back and giddy height,
An awkward childhood turned to might.
For when she found her sisters, she,
Finally found a place to be,
Then her talent could be freed,
As spiker on the Russian team.
Oh Gamova, give your all,
Your victories will grow as tall,
And every soul who ever sees her,
Won’t forget Yekaterina.
Poem 3 (Different poet, again):
Splash splash, thud thud,
Gamova’s fallen in the mud.