My London 2012 Olympic diary: The prequel

On the 6^th July 2005, I was still a newcomer in London, living in town for less than 6 months. Nonetheless, I already met the one whose destiny was to become my wife and mother of my son.

But on this precise day at lunchtime in Trafalgar Square, I felt alone amongst thousands of locals. This feeling was due to a vote result displayed on the purposely built giant screen. On this screen, I could read: 

“1 London, 2 Paris”. This meant that the 2012 summer Olympic Games would take place here in the UK and not in my hometown before a few more decades…

At first, and for quite a while, the ‘London 2012’ word made me feel sick. During the course of the 7 years wait before it all started for athletes, my feeling progressively shifted. When did I precisely decided to get overexcited about the London Olympics (and together disenchanted about the Parisian life), I cannot really tell. What is certain is that when I moved back to France in August 2010, I had my summer 2012 holydays all planned. I’ll embrace the Olympic spirit with my family and happily come back to London.

All the checkpoints met in the long run before this Olympic torch got set alight, just added a new layer to my excitement: the (rather  disappointing) first round of tickets purchase, the birth of my son (yes! I’ll discover the Olympics with my son!), the (much more successful second and third round of purchase, the plane tickets reservation…

The plan was perfectly set up. We will stay for 10 days in the British capital and will have 10 pairs of tickets to use for various events including judo, fencing, football, hockey, horse riding, taekwondo, canoe and handball.

A few good friends were invited to share this moment with us, some surprisingly declined, but on the 3^rd August 2012, Alexia, Andrew and I were actually boarding the plane to live our first Olympic experience. And it will surely be remembered for life. Let our Games begin!