The ticket said 9:30. Volleyball. Earls Court. I had the best intentions to be there for the start, but exhasuted from the day before, checking emails, and eating breakfast put me behind. That delay equated to no crowds, and no lines; I was in between big activities for Olympic spectator and London morning Tube traffic. A hop on the Underground put me at Earls Court in about 35 minutes. After a stop for a coffee at the corner shop I thought I was following the pink Olympic sign that said “Earls Court Straight Ahead 15 minutes.” But at an intersection, with no more pink signs, I asked for help. Two guys from St. Louis, here doing their radio for an Australian station , pointed out the right route and we talked a little broadcasting and sports for a few blocks. (They say they aren’t picking up the Australian accent… but, I heard a little of that land down under!)
Indeed, I had missed the gracious Olympic volunteers waving their big pink foam fingers, but now was on track, and walked right through security and into the huge and older arena. As impressive as it was at first, I was perplexed. I thought I was going to Beach Volleyball. I imagined Hyde Park with temporary sand lots, and even brought my sunscreen. Maybe the sport was indoors, and I had it all wrong. Turns out, there is a separate Beach Volleyball site, so either I clicked a differnt button on line when purchasing (jet lag still in affect?) or there was a glitch. Either way, it turned out to be a good experience.
I arrived at about 10:15 to my seat in section 109, 6th row, looking right into one end of the court and across to the second team. A lovely Japanese couple that lives in London was next to me, and some very vigorous Japanese fans were all around. The place was packed high to the rafters. This was Women’s Volleyball. Japan vs. the Dominican Republic. Music played between points and during time-outs, much like and NBA game. (The cheerleaders for this one, though, were young teenage girls.) I quickly learned, this was a best of 5 competition, and Japan was leading 2-games to none. This third game was tight, and the crowd, very loud. Except when the server served. Then, you could hear a pin drop. Many fans knew the rules and etiquette, I was observing and learning. Watching the women was impressive; watching the people, entertaining and informative as well.
When Japan finally won after overcoming a tie at 25, sweeping the DR, the crowd went wild shouting Nip-pon, Nip-pon, but never anything out of disrepect for the other team.
Then, the spectator count dropped some. The next set was Russia vs. Algeria. Here’s where I observed yet another Olympic sub-moment. Russia, the World Champions, with a team of very tall women, some even a head taller than their teammates, at first visually dominated next to the Algeria women; a team much shorter, overall You could almost feel people thinking, “This Algeria team doesn’t have a chance.”
But, they put up a good fight and showed some great skills and teamwork. They are, after all, Olympians. That’s when the sub-moment revealed itself. As the Algerian team was falling behind, the crowd got behind them. Every point they scored, or ground they gained, the applause and shouts of support increased. Certainly, Russian fans and the crowd in general cheered when the Russian’s scored or made a great play. And while the cheering may or may not mean anything to the Algerian players who didn’t advance, and even though the Russian team is clearly outstanding and displayed good sportsmanship on the court, I was very impressed by the “cheering for the underdog” mentality of the thousands in that stadium. An Olympic lesson which qualifies as yet another “Good Sports Story.”