Anniversary Games 2015

Athletics back at the Olympic stadium. Not a capacity crowd, but nevertheless a very impressive turnout. About 40,000 on Friday night, 50,000 on Saturday afternoon. Indeed rather more than they were prepared for. Here's the thing. If you are a Londoner, trying to get out of work on a Friday night and collect  the family for an evening is a real chore. Saturday afternoon is fine. So indeed would be the Sunday but they chose that to devote to disabled sport which as worthy as it might be just isn't very good and so the crowd was down to about 20,000. A better deal would be to sap the days round so the able-bodied stuff that people want to watch occupies the weekend.

So this was the problem. Ticket sales for the Friday struggled. So the plan was not to open the upper tier and therefore to squeeze the likes of myself who had chosen upper tier seats into the back of the lower tier. I wasn't happy, as you will appreciate that being at the front of the upper tier is very different to being at the back of the lower. Think of it like a theatre. Front of the circle would be among the most expensive seats, back of the stalls least expensive.

However, then it was announced Usain Bolt would be running the 100m on the Friday. And he is the sport's one great superstar and box office attraction. So there was a rush in ticket sales. So I wasn't a happy bunny to find the upper tier was open, but I had still been demoted. But then I found that the numbered lower tier seat I had been given didn't actually exist, so I was restored to the upper tier, along with a £10 refreshment voucher to compensate for being messed about. Ok. But there were other consequences. Simply they hadn't deployed enough staff for the number of people attending. Meaning long queues for programmes but more annoying, humongous queues for refreshments, next to closed refreshment kiosks. In the end I did get my drink, but at the expense of missing the first track event.

Poor organisation, and poor visitor experience. Not great if you want repeat custom. But the other downside, which couldn't be predicted, was the weather. The rain was torrential.

They had set up an urban beach with mini-funfair. Unsurprisingly on a day like this, it was closed.

 First race that I saw was the women's sprint relay

But then came the deluge. Yes, this is how bad it was, And I can tell West Ham fans that although they might have added a roof and I was well under it, you still wanted a raincoat.

The discus throwers cut a particularly forlorn image, unsurprisingly as the discus circle looked more like a padding pool.

But they persevered.

 Not ideal conditions for sprinters either.

 Slightly better conditions as the 100m heats started.

 And it was merely cold as the great man Bolt appeared, and despite a slow start got a sub-10 second time into a (cold) headwind.

Good run from Danny Talbot.

 Bolt back to win the 100m final...

 ...and milk the plaudits of the adoring crowd. But he is going to have to start faster to beat Gatlin in the Worlds.

 Excellent run in the 200m from Hughes our latest acquisition from Anguilla. A real young talent.

 And we finished up with another very impressive run from Mo Farah.

Nice views of the Park on the way out. Swimming pool to the left below.

The stadium and Orbit.

A much nicer day on Saturday afternoon.

Early star of the afternoon was Jess Ennis going in the Long Jump.

 Along with fellow heptathlete Katrina Johnson-Thompson.

 The combined youth and under 23 team medallists from recent championships came out for a walk around. Our athletics future is quite bright.

Back to Jess in the long jump.

 But the real star of this event was Sara Proctor, another ex-Anguillan, who finished the event with a winning new British record. She is just about a medal prospect for Beijing on this form.

 In the men's long jump, Greg Rutherford. Not his best day, but even though he only finished third, after three straight no jumps (which would have seen him out of a real championship altogether), he is still one of our best prospects for a gold in the Worlds.

The Steeplechase was terrific race in the end. Needless to say two races, a Kenyan race at the front, everyone else some way back. But a very close sprint finish.

Harry A-A lining up for GB in the men's relay.