Blog - Home Advantage Helps GB Gymnasts to Historic Bronze

(ATR) The Olympic Park was buzzing on the first Monday of the Games. Away from the air-conditioned confines of the Main Press Center, thousands of visitors were strolling around lapping up the sunshine, absorbing the atmosphere. Day three was the busiest of the Games and a real test of London 2012’s crowd management capabilities and the public transport system. Both tests were passed as I made my way to the North Greenwich Arena to see if Great Britain’s artistic gymnastics team could deliver a surprise medal.

But I was detained for a while at the Park Live site. This was the place to be. Hordes of British fans and picnickers, sitting and standing on the banks of the River Lea that cuts through the Olympic site, were glued to a double-sided screen in the River Lea. This is a space for up to 10,000 spectators. It was broadcasting live coverage of Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield’s bid for gold in the 10m synchronized platform diving. Applause for the first dives followed "aahs" for the latter dives as they dropped concentration and could only finish fourth to cheers of commiseration and collective sighs.

But this is a tale of joy, of triumph against adversity – of home advantage for GB athletes at the London Olympics. The biggest success story of London 2012 for Team GB was happening at the gymnastics arena (the O2) – and I was there to witness a night of high drama.

A Peaceful Procession

At 4:30 p.m., I joined thousands exiting the park at Stratford. It was shoulder to shoulder as we crossed the bridge. It was a peaceful procession. More than that, the thousands of people, well marshaled by helpful volunteers, London 2012 ambassadors and security guards, streamed out of the park with smiles on their faces with few audible mutters of complaint about problems getting out of the site. Hopping on the Jubilee Line to the gymnastics, one of the busiest tube connections to the Olympic Park, there were no big queues, no face-in-the-armpit crush. It was an easy journey to my next port of call.

Through security, I was forced to wait to enter the North Greenwich Arena as two London 2012 chauffeur-driven cars sped up to the Olympic Family entrance. Out popped LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe, relaxed and joking with security officials. It was one of his whistle-stop visits to an Olympic venue; he is getting to three or four sports every day of these Games.

This time he may have stayed for longer, joining Princes William and Harry in the VIP section to cheer on Britain’s gymnasts.

Nearly 20,000 spectators were at the arena. The top-tier of seats high up in the Gods were rammed full. But what must they have thought as they saw the smattering of empty seats in the lower tier – where some accredited members of the Olympic family had not turned up. LOCOG said on Monday that some 600 tickets had been released by federations for the men’s team final in the artistic gymnastics. They should have released many more.

The bright pink field of play and London 2012 perimeter branding is the first thing that catches your eye. This was the setting for a magical occasion in the London Games… but a tough competition for GB’s Sam Oldham, Daniel Purvis, Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas and Max Whitlock.

Making Home Advantage Count

China dominated from the off – no surprise as the defending Olympic champions are in the form of their lives; they also picked up the 2010 and 2011 world championship titles. Japan won silver in those world champs and were expected to push them hard. USA and Germany appeared to be battling for bronze. But Great Britain, who won gold at the European championships, were ready to make home advantage count. And that’s exactly what they did.

On the pommel horse, Smith put in a gutsy strong performance for his team-mates to captalize on. He had wept tears of joy at qualifying for the final on Saturday. This is how much it means for Great Britain to do well here on home turf. Smith used his Beijing 2008 experience to good effect; four years ago, he become the first Briton to win a medal in gymnastics (bronze) since 1908.

Huge roars greeted the GB team every time their man took to a piece of apparatus – from the vault to the parallel bars to the horizontal bar, still rings and the final floor exercise. China, Japan and USA were performing well and they had their own very visible support in this noisy cauldron of action.

At the halfway point, GB were lying third behind Japan and China. But there was a wobble on the horizontal bar, a fall put the home nation behind. It muted the crowd somewhat. But there was still the floor exercise to come.

Something Special

One acrobatic routine followed another and every time the crowd noise soared. The atmosphere was electric. Princes William and Harry were hollering their support. The momentum was firmly behind GB and the Union Jack flag-waving spectators sensed something special was going on.

And then thewait as the judges finalized the scores. Flashed up on the screen were China, Great Britain and Ukraine in the top three spots. Jaws were agape, spectators were hugging each other, London 2012 volunteers were smiling.

This was to be GB’s first team gymnastics medal since 1912. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be silver. There was drama to come. Appeals are relatively common in this sport, and Japan’s appeal over their pommel horse routine promoted them to second and pushed GB into third. The crowd booed but the smiles didn’t fade from the faces of the men’s team and when spectators learnt of the historic feat, the roof nearly came off as the medals were presented by IOC members Takeda Tsunekazu, Carlos Nuzman and Francesco Ricci Bitti.

"The Olympic Fever"

Down in the mixed zone, there was a long wait for the athletes to stream through. GB’s men’s team were ecstatic, despite Japan nicking silver in the last act of the high drama. Louis Smith said: "We were fine. You saw our faces. We were still smiling, we were still happy, we were clapping. It’s nice to see Japan get a medal because we have looked up to them for so long."

Smith told ATR that the home crowd had spurred the team on; he said fifth or sixth was the most they had ever really expected.

"The crowd were unbelievable. I think that is the Olympic fever. It adds extra pressure and expectation but you can use it to you advantage when they get behind you, you can feel it. We were buzzing all the way round."

And 19-year-old Sam Oldham concurred, telling ATR: "It’s just madness. I have never felt anything like that in my life. It was crazy. Hopefully we can inspire youngsters for the future."

So now they are stars and the British public is taking these likeable lads to their hearts. They were on the BBC sofa for last night’s Olympics highlights show and again for the TV channel’s breakfast show. The realization is sinking in that they’ve done what few others have and will manage to achieve – winning a medal at a home Games.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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