London 2012 blog

Last Friday I was at the Crystal Palace London Grand Prix, the Athletics annual event. It’s always a sell out with world class athletes in abundance – 100m world number one Tyson Gay, Pole Vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and 400m legend Jeremy Wariner.

There was also a special ‘On Camp with Kelly’ 800 race – featuring the young athletes being mentored by Kelly Holmes - they’re all future hopefuls for 2012 and this was an excellent chance for them to compete in front of a large crowd.

I took the opportunity to look behind the scenes to see how the TV coverage is organised, shown round by the event organiser Alan Pascoe, together with our new Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe.

This event was one of the last chances for athletes to prove themselves ahead of the World Champtionships in Osaka.

Isanbayeva was superb in the pole vault, as always. Reiss Hoffer delivered the tenth furthest shot putt ever. And Chris Tomlinson, one of our best prospects for a medal in Osaka, was superb in the long jump, winning Britain’s only gold medal of the night in his final jump! But the highlight for me was definitely Tyson Gay in the 100m, winning in 10.02secs.

It was Jason Gardener's last outdoor competition and sad to see one of Britain's most prominent athletes in last decade bow out. But he received a great send-off from the crowd.

It's that crowd which will make the atmosphere in 2012. And on the back of the Tour de France, it was another great example of London's ability to stage truly world class events.