Mel Rippon - Saturday 28th July, 2012 11am - The Olympic Village

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Category: Mel Rippon

There is so much that can be said.

Up to 16,000 athletes and officials will be accommodated during the Games.

Over 25,000 loaves of bread, 232 tonnes of potatoes, 75,000 litres of milk and 330 tonnes of fruit & vegetables will be consumed during the Olympic Games.

Yet nothing can quite prepare you for the ‘feeling’ that an athlete gets when they enter for the first time.

I remember my first Olympics in Athens. I didn’t know what to expect and I was so excited I actually started to feel a little sick.

This time round I was still so incredibly excited though I took a more relaxed approach and sat back to enjoy the faces of the Olympic debutants. 

Because we had a late arrival time we went straight to the dining hall (such a shame!) and checked out the enormous area that would be feeding the best athletes in the world for the next 3 weeks.

It was overwhelming and a few of us had difficulty deciding what to eat!

The Dining Hall

We then checked in to our new home and as we tried to settle down and rest due to the big day we had the next day we heard fireworks from a rehearsal of the opening ceremony! I had no chance of sleeping and settled in for a night of disturbed sleep due to the fact I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve.

We had a jam packed day of uniform outfitting, team briefing, team induction and of course, training.

The team induction was the Australian Teams way of welcoming us to the greater Australian Team. Laurie Lawrence lead the way with an inspirational poetry reading as well as the loudest version of the Australian Anthem I think the Aussie Stingers have ever been part of.

Tears and goose bumps aplenty!

This was also where Hamish and Andy joined us and I debated the right of a non athlete to have an Olympic Ring tattoo… it was all in good fun and we had loads of fun with the boys.

Hamish's Tattoo's

The next day it was all business and we had 2 sessions including a training match against the USA. For us it was great to finally play someone other than each other and delighted at the thought of physically matching it with some of the worlds best.

As much as we are enjoying the atmosphere of being part of the Olympic village I know that if we got the opportunity to begin playing now our team would take it. We are ready to compete!

Mel & Katie Off To Training

Thanks for reading!

More up soon, so much to report on.

xo

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