What goes up must come down

Yesterday was everyone's last shift at the Water Polo Arena. I watched the two classification matches in the morning and worked during the finals.

Serbia got the Bronze and their Prime Minister was there to cheer for them. I escorted them from the stand to the lounge and it took forever as every step he was being stopped to shake hands, kiss and be in photos with Serbians. At least, he's popular.

Croatia

The final between Italy and Croatia was intense. It did not disappoint. They were head to head until Croatia started getting better. Or Italy started getting worse. One of the two. I was hoping for a draw, extra time and penalties alas Croatia closed the game 8-6. I didn't really get to see the game as I was sort of at the back waiting for it to end.

I acted as a buffer between an Italian lady from the press and some Croatian escort to a Mayor (or some other dignitary), who were next to each other cheering or booing accordingly and then giving each other evil looks.

Two other volunteers were chosen to chaperone the Medal & Flower presenters for the Victory Ceremony but I was asked to coordinate them both. Five of the presenters were in the stand so they had to be escorted to the Green Room and one of them was in the lounge. Yumilka Ruíz Luaces, an ex-volleyball player from Cuba and member of the IOC had no interested in the game whatsoever. She spend the evening in the lounge sampling the catering and watching basketball. I went to fetch her.

The thing with this job is that it's your job to make sure it happens. Everyone else wants to just have fun or can't be bothered with it. I found her eating in the lounge. She looked surprised, even a bit annoyed that she had to interrupt her dinner for this. Once she got up, she decided to stop at the next table to chat to some Serbians. My manager noticed she was taking her time so told her we needed to leave NOW.

Enter the Green Room when two of the IOC members decided to have a chat while Caroline, Victory Ceremony escort was briefing everyone.

Waiting in the training pool for all the players to get ready is the most exciting bit. Everyone was jumping for joy. Even the Italians, who picked up the silver. Job done.

And then the job of getting everyone to the Olympic Stadium for the Closing Ceremony begins. Surprising that a lot did not go. I know, right? Once in a lifetime and all that. Not for everyone apparently. A lot of people wanted to just stay and eat rather than go to the Closing Ceremony. Priorities, people!

After everyone left, we debriefed, said our thanks and goodbyes and then some jumped in the pool. There were beers and photographic documents to prove it. The amount of times I've heard people saying to each other "See you in Rio?" are unreal. Some were so inspired, not to take up sport but, to learn Portuguese so they can go volunteer in Rio2016. That's dedication for you.

After all is said and done, I had the time of my life and things to talk about for years to come. I've really enjoyed my time. It was well worth the effort, the time off work and the long hours. My experience is priceless and if some bought it one way or the other, I would have never been able to. Met and worked with some great people, got to see Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record for free and sat next to Condoleezza Rice at the basketball semis. Oh and there was that thing with a water polo player.

It's been emotional. Thank you. Over and out.

This is the end

Tomorrow's the end but before that I owe you two day's worth of posts. I'll spare you and give you a summary.

Thursday was the Women's Finals and I was a chaperone to the Flower Presenters at the Victory Ceremony. I was at the stand the whole time trying to spot "my guys", recognise them, introduce myself and tell them I'll be waiting for them at the end of the game to escort them to the green room.

Mr Dale Neuburger, FINA Vice President presented the flowers to the Gold medal winners, TeamU.S.A. He dubbed me his "new best friend". Mr Rafael Blanco, FINA Honorary Member, presented the flowers to the Silver medal winners, Spain. Mr Dimitris Diathesopoulos, FINA Bureau Liaison, presented the flowers to the Bronze medal winners, Australia. The latter was going to be at the Field of Play and wasn't very pleased about the briefing we had to do in the green room. "What briefing? Why do we need a briefing? What are they going to do? Put make-up on us?" I said "I don't know, make-up, make-down..." He laughed. I was hoping he'd play ball. I'd hate to have to chase him in the venue. Thankfully, he was in the green room when I arrived there with the other two.

I had to collect everyone's accreditations and mobile phones in a box file. I guess it doesn't look good if you have things dangling from your neck or your mobile rings during the country's national anthem. I also had to introduce them to each other. Caroline, who was the pretty one in those purple outfits leading the escort to the Field of Play, briefed everyone on the order of the event.

Diathesopoulos was confused and so was I. After several questions about the same thing, we managed to reach a conclusion. All medals would be presented to a team in order Bronze>Silver>Gold and then the flowers in the same order. One team at a time. Phew that was complicated.

Caroline led us to the training pool, which also doubled up as a holding space for everyone involved in the Victory Ceremony. There were place mats on the floor indicating where everyone should stand. We were the closest to the pool. Yes, I think about jumping in every day. And I hate pools. In the middle row there were the pretty boys, with the trays of the medals and the flowers, in those purple suits and the far right row were all the athletes in the order they'd stand in front of the podium Australia>U.S.A.>Spain. We waited a few minutes while athletes got dressed, did their hair and put on make-up. Neuburger said he was surprised to see Spain being so happy to have gotten Silver. He said "Usually the 1st and 3rd are the happiest. The 2nd not so much. I'm glad to see they're happy". It makes sense. If you're 2nd, that means you lost a game. But hey you're still second best, right?!

Once everything was ready at the Field of Play, they opened the doors and the pretty boys in purple starting making their way out. All the girls started whooping, cheering and jumping excitedly as they started making their way out. Our lot was the last.

We waited behind the doors for them. When they returned, they got back their personal belongings, thanked us and left. Diathesopoulos asked me if I had worked in Athens2004 as well. I said, yes as a volunteer same as here. He said I was crazy to volunteer. If one considers what LOCOG pays its staff then I'd say craziness is relative.

Montenegro

Friday was an uneventful one with the President and Ambassador of Hungary attending along with the President of Serbia. I covered for one of the team leaders, which resulted in my not getting any dinner. We finished 1.5hrs earlier so I didn't mind that much. 

After the end, some of us went up to the ArcelorMittal Orbit. It's free after 10pm! The view is amazing. Well worth it. You go up in the lift and go down from the highest viewing platform to the one below. Afterwards, you can get the lift down again or walk all the way down. We did that. Even though it was downhill, my knees went wobbly.

Personal best

The last few days have been a roller-coaster. So much so that I think nothing will faze me now. Nothing will seem big enough to brag about for a while. We had the Prince of Monaco and the Danish Royal family visiting yesterday. Yeah, so what?

Hungarian team

Yesterday the king of water polo, Hungary, was eliminated. Bracing ourselves for a new champion. U.S.A. didn't make it against Croatia either.

Today it's the women's classification and finals. Who will it be?

London2012: I'll sleep when I'm dead

I'm suffering from severe symptoms of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) so I come home to take a shower and sleep, if I can help it.

Today I was an extra at the Water Polo Arena that means I got to watch the Australia-Greece game, take a longer lunch break and in general mooch around. Greece lost and are out of the tournament. Unfortunately for me, here ends the best part of my voluntary position, which is going into the Mixed Zone and mingling with all the athletes. I won't miss the press so much as they're starting to get territorial and the elbows are out. But I'd definitely miss the people there. So long.

The Greek team were clearly disappointed. Three of the players, who spoke to the journalists said so. Two of the eldest also took the opportunity to withdraw from water polo altogether.

Afroudakis Georgios & Theodoros Chatzitheodorou, who announced their retirement

I met a friend for lunch by the canal and we checked out the funky main bridge. Have you been underneath? You should! It's got this cool mechanism that spells out words (not sure how chosen) with water drops. You must see it. It's on all the time so just go for a stroll under the bridge if you're in the park.

After my shift, I changed to a normal top and we went to the Basketball Arena to be "seat-fillers" for the semis. If you're not already familiar with the term, it's been coined after the "scandal" with the empty "corporate partner" seats. We're being offered them mainly if we're not in uniform, which is very cool because since we're in the Protocol Team, we have access to the Olympic Family stand, which are the best seats in any venue. These seats are not for sale ever. They're permanently reserved for members of the Olympic Family, Honorary guests and Federation people. I was very impressed with the arena and the games were both excellent.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be a seat-filler in the Women's semis in Water Polo. I could also go to see Women's Basketball but it finishes at midnight and I start work at 8am the next day so maybe not a good idea.

I was there when Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record

Usain Bolt

9.63 - the second-fastest time ever.

I was there when USA's Sanya Richards-Ross took gold in the women's 400m in 49.55, with Great Britain's defending champion Christine Ohuruogu clocking a season's best of 49.70.

I was there when Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi won gold in the men's 3,000m Steeplechase, Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova triumphed in the women's Triple Jump and Hungary's Krisztian Pars won the men's Hammer Throw. 

Two million people applied for tickets to this session. I got it for free.

Good things come to those, who take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

Today was my day off but I decided to go and watch the Women's Water Polo Quarter-Finals. We get offered free seats at the Olympic Family stand on our days off. Two sessions of two games each were scheduled for today. I could go to either or both. I decided to play it by ear. Turns out I was rested enough, woke up early and got ready in time for the first session. I was planning on running some errands at the mall during the two-hour break between sessions.

After the session was over, Chiara, my manager, beaconed for me to "come quick". She asked "Have you any plans for tonight?" I said I didn't. "Do you want to go and watch the 100m final in the Stadium?" she smiled cheekily. Why, yes, I would, I said.

Few minutes later, me, Gordi & Maureen are trotting down the Workforce Check-In where we're given tickets for the Athletics evening session. Everyone was super pumped and that's the understatement of the year. We were holding the hottest ticket in any Olympic Games.

We were seated in the VIP Olympic Family stand with the condition that we'd move if seats were required. I could see one problem with that. We sat haphazardly wherever so I don't think the volunteers there actually knew who was who as we were in civilian clothing. That totally worked in our favour.

So, yeah, London 2012, best Olympic Games by far. THANK YOU!

PS: Who says volunteers are doing it for free? ;-)
PPS: Oh, and Hungary and Australia go to the Semis for the women's water polo.

Chatting to athletes

I arrive at the Water Polo Arena 15' early. I don't know how that happened. All that scaremongering from TfL to everyone not using public transport works. Keep at it. The Greece-Spain game is on and we're losing. We start the briefing. We're still losing. Me and Jordi (Spanish fellow GamesMaker) leg it for the stand so we can watch the match. We're still losing.

Once the 3rd quarter is over, we go down to the Media. I go to the Mixed Zone as Silvia, the other Greek speaker & GamesMaker from Handball is with us again today and wants to do the Broadcasting. I don't fancy cameras and microphones in my face to be honest so if she wants to do that, let her. Jordi goes for the Broadcast as well. Greece loses the game 9-11 from Spain.

Theodoros Chatzitheodorou (Greece)

I meet my two flash quote reporters and they tell me they want to talk to Theodoros Chatzitheodorou and Afroudakis Georgios. The usual suspects. I reassure them they both speak English so they can work simultaneously and get out of there sooner rather than later. Once they start coming through, I call them both and they start speaking to the reporters.

After the interview and when the reporter has gone to edit the flash quotes Theodoros (or Thodoris) looks at my accreditation and asks me "So you are Stavroula. What are you doing here?". I explain I'm a volunteer. His second question is "Are you at the [Olympic] Village, too?". "No, I'm only in the Water Polo Arena". He's then asking how long I've lived here. I tell him I've been here for 13 years and got the citizenship, too."So you've settled here, had a family..." at which point I break out laughing. "Steady on. Family? Not yet!" He said "You're still young". I wanted to say "33 year-old yoof" but didn't.

I know!

Today it was a short shift as it was women's competitions. Unfortunately, they're not as popular as men's. Props to the Australian and Spanish men's team, who have so far come to support their women's teams. Not sure if other men's teams, who have women competing, have done the same. Come on, boys. It's not that hard now, innit?

Rita Drávucz (Hungary)

Hungary lost to Spain (13-11) and Russia to Australia (8-11).

During the Russia-Australia game, I was at the Olympic Family Stand. I was responsible for seating people according to the letter on the Accreditation. Os (Olympic Family) being the most important, then Hs (Honour) and then Fs (Federation).

What struck me today is how difficult the people of the sport are. They exude a sense of entitlement, which really is ungrateful. Fs (mainly judges and FINA people) refuse to seat in their allocated seats, which are on the front row. I know it's hot because of the hot air being blown from the heaters in front of that. They know that, too. We all know that. This is a heated venue. If you don't want to sit there, I'm afraid you chose the wrong sport! One judge (F) approached the stairs and I asked, as I do, "Would you like to sit?". His reply "I know!" and walked past me and sat in the H stand. Later on, I heard him speak to another judge on the Field of Play. He was Greek. I was not happy. Our stand got almost full and some people, who were not supposed to be sitting on our seats were there. I really relished the opportunity to tell them to move but it didn't come to that.

From the 100 or so people we can seat, I managed to actually deter only one. He was a judge (F) and wanted to sit at the H stand. I told him he couldn't "sir". He asked why. What a needless question. Most of these people have been to Olympics before! "Because F needs to sit on the front row" I said. And so he did! GOLD MEDAL FOR ME!

The most graceful are the non-sport-related people. Those, who just come to watch for fun. They listen to us and seat where directed. Can we have more of those, please?