Once inside, the scale of the venue became clear and was reinforced by the number of times us judges got lost on the way to the officials lounge. The competition pool and the amount space on deck felt very luxurious, the high ceilings made the diving tower almost look small!:
As part of the IOC’s determination to make the Games accessible to all, the continental representatives had already been decided through continental championships, with the final 3 places in the team event and 20 places for the duet up for grabs at this official FINA event. With 6 countries competing in the team event and 32 countries in the duet, it was always going to be tense, not only for the athletes, but for the judges too.
As judges we have to block out the knowledge that if swimmers do not qualify, the funding will be cut, the athletes who need to train full time will no longer be able to do so. All we have to do is concentrate on the performance on front of us, forget which country we are from and any previous performances we may have seen and just judge what we see.
British Synchro’s athletes, Jenna Randall and Olivia Allison competed in the duet event, swimming both a technical and free routine. Due to quite a complex qualifying approach, they had hoped to qualify in the first round. After the combined score of from the technical and free swims, the magic number cut off number 15 came up on screen. By the time they had reached the end of the pool, the had found out that they were actually joint 15th with Mexico and under FINA rules, the duet with the highest free score would go through.
So with the tiniest margin of 0.1, it was Mexico who went through with GB needing to swim again. So after the full range of emotions of eurphoria through to the disappointment, but with the extra support from my colleagues within London 2012 - who were also out to observe and learn about the test events - they pulled themselves together and swum brilliantly finishing with higher scores than in the first round and a full 1 point clear of their nearest rivals, making a very clear statement of their intent for the Games in August. Jenna, 19, and Olivia, 17, were the 2nd youngest pair at the event, so having qualified for their first Games (and British Synchro’s first since 1996) was a tremendous effort and bodes well for London 2012.
This event was also a test event for Beijing Organising Committee, under the banner of Good Luck Beijing, so we were able to provide lots of feedback on the venue, the technology, the layout, anything really. However, most of the feedback was positive, with just some minor tweaks to be made.
In between the competitions and catching up with emails, the Chinese were great hosts insisting on us all enjoying more than the Synchro so treated all the officials to a Kung Fu show and traditional Chinese theatre, where the colourful costumes and very distinctive style may just give an insight to the Opening Ceremony.
The organisers have done a great job so far, their enthusiasm and passion about the Games is contagious and their attention to detail along with some delightful Chinese volunteers will make this an unbelievable event.
And with only 105 days to go...I can hardly wait.
Me with one of the Beijing mascots ('Friendlies'), BeiBei:
