Region Sports Network contributor Anthony Hollingsworth is spending a week in London England to take in some action during the 2012 Olympic Games. During his travels, he'll be writing a daily journal for Regionsports.com about his experiences at the world's premier sporting event!
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LONDON, ENGLAND - Four years ago the world watched as Usain Bolt wrote a new page in Track and Field history. I was with my friends watching, yes in amazement, but also planning when I could do the same thing. That summer marked the end of my high school career at Bishop Noll, carrying All-State track accolades with me as I entered college. I told myself in four years’ time I would be in London. I promised that no matter what it took that I would be there in Olympic Stadium for a sprint event.
As the years progressed I moved schools going from NAIA to Division I – the move being both for my education and my goals. I knew that if I wanted to be the best I had to compete against the best. I trained each summer in Texas in the grueling Austin heat to gain an edge on my competition. Each year I saw subtle improvements. However, I wasn’t Olympic caliber yet. But a promise is a promise. Last August I petitioned my friends, begging one of them to go London with me. After weeks of trying, my best friend finally gave in. Anthony Crawford, also my teammate, said that he would accompany me on the trip. I was ecstatic but unsure about how we were going to pull this off.
We both split up the duties, Anthony was in charge of the room and I was in charge of the tickets, both of us figuring out how to get into the games once we were there. Sine I have never been out of the U.S., the planning was especially gruesome. The entire process took us about two weeks with much frustration about what events we wanted to see. Both us being sprinters and me remembering that promise to be at a sprinting event, we decided on seeing the 200m semis along with other events.
The anticipation was endless. I tried not to get overly excited because I did not want the trip to fail. So many people told me relax and to enjoy the experience, but I couldn’t help but be nervous. Then, finally the day came when we were supposed to leave.
An overwhelming sense of excitement swept over me. We booked our flight so that we could have a layover in Dublin, Ireland and possibly check out another country. The flight itself was six hours into Dublin on the nicest airplane I have ever flown on. As we entered Dublin I looked over to Anthony and saw that he was tired, he asked me if I was and I told him “How could I be?” I have been up since six o’clock United States time, and only had a short twenty minute nap. As we entered London I was reenergized and have been awake since. We have been here for only about an hour or so, but we have already met people who are either going to the games or have been. This trip is just getting started and I can’t wait to explore the culture and meet the people who make this great event in sports happen.
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