Friday, August 3rd, I ended up going down to the Thames river front with Sean and James to see the bridges and London tower. The weather was pretty unpredictable and we had to take cover in a gift shop for a bit. Once the rain eased up we walked down the path to get a good view of the bridge.
We then headed to a pub for lunch and got recommendations for other places to see. We ended up at the Olympic Journey museum. It is a free temporary exhibit exploring the Olympic games through the ages. It was a really neat museum and I still learned a lot even though we did so much research earlier. I found a favorite quote by Pierre De Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic games. He said "the important thing in life is not the triumph but the fight. The essential thing is motto have won but to have fought well". I feel like this quote really represents olympism, and a similar message was expressed by the former Olympic athletes we met at the Olympic reunion center.
It also really resonated with me because that was a major theme on the OSU rowing team last year. We have not won a lot of races lately, but we have raced some really good races. We have to be focused on the process and the fight for the other 1999 meters and not focus on what happens in the last meter. We can be proud of ourselves if we do our best. Unfortunately we live in a black and white world, where there are only successes and failures. The Olympics are helping combat that thinking with the wild card bids. Athletes from countries with few development programs are still allowed to compete against the best in the world. Even if they are not even close to being competitive, they still show up and try their hardest. Their pride and spirit is infectious and I feel like they represent olympism even more than the medalists do.
After editing the museum we walked around the Covent Gardens area and spotted a large building with a NBA house sign on it. We walked over and got in line. It turned out that we were there on the day of the grand opening. After waiting for 45 minutes we got to be the first group inside. There were a bunch of interactive games and picture opprotunities as well as a half court. James and Sean were excited to see the Celtics dance team, but I wandered over to a corner with some old pictures of the Key Arena in it. A woman working came up to me and asked if I would like to talk to Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz player). I found the guys and we went inside a room where Gordon was hooked up to a webcam. We got to talk to him and ask him questions for a few minutes. It was pretty neat to be part of the opening celebration.
It also really resonated with me because that was a major theme on the OSU rowing team last year. We have not won a lot of races lately, but we have raced some really good races. We have to be focused on the process and the fight for the other 1999 meters and not focus on what happens in the last meter. We can be proud of ourselves if we do our best. Unfortunately we live in a black and white world, where there are only successes and failures. The Olympics are helping combat that thinking with the wild card bids. Athletes from countries with few development programs are still allowed to compete against the best in the world. Even if they are not even close to being competitive, they still show up and try their hardest. Their pride and spirit is infectious and I feel like they represent olympism even more than the medalists do.
After editing the museum we walked around the Covent Gardens area and spotted a large building with a NBA house sign on it. We walked over and got in line. It turned out that we were there on the day of the grand opening. After waiting for 45 minutes we got to be the first group inside. There were a bunch of interactive games and picture opprotunities as well as a half court. James and Sean were excited to see the Celtics dance team, but I wandered over to a corner with some old pictures of the Key Arena in it. A woman working came up to me and asked if I would like to talk to Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz player). I found the guys and we went inside a room where Gordon was hooked up to a webcam. We got to talk to him and ask him questions for a few minutes. It was pretty neat to be part of the opening celebration.
Exhibit where you could compare height, hand size and foot size to several NBA players
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