Sickko arrives in London

[Jangle]

Ace Observer team arrives for Olympic show

D Bogle
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

JAMAICA Observer photo editor Bryan Cummings and writer Paul Reid are now in the United Kingdom to cover the 2012 Olympic Games in London from July 27-August 12, and the Paralympic Games from August 27 to September 9.

Cummings left the island on Monday, while Reid travelled to London from Barcelona, Spain, where he recently covered the IAAF World Junior Championships.
Observer journalists Paul Reid (left) and Bryan Cummings in London yesterday prior to their departure to Birmingham City for Jamaica’s pre-Olympic training camp.



Observer journalists Paul Reid (left) and Bryan Cummings in London yesterday prior to their departure to Birmingham City for Jamaica’s pre-Olympic training camp.


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The pair's first stop will be in Birmingham where they will cover the Jamaican team in preparation at an pre-Olympic training camp.
"You look forward to the massive crowd support that we're expecting in London for our athletes and it's good to be on so called 'home turf' finally for a major championships like this," Cummings said just before his departure.
Cummings has covered Olympic Games for the Observer since Athens 2004 and said having so many field events athletes involved this time around is fantastic.
"The most challenging thing (which is a good thing) is that we have so many athletes doing numerous events and it's challenging trying to get the field events athletes while at the same time getting pictures of the track athletes," he stated.
He added: "I am not one who looks at one's eggs before they hatch, so I am not on the bandwagon of high expectations. I go there and what happens will happen."
Reid is covering his first Olympic Games, but has gained tremendous experience covering World Youth and World Junior Championships.



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[Jangle]

A cool taste of London at Olympic time

BY PAUL A REID Observer Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

LONDON, England — I am not sure which was the bigger shock arriving in London Monday afternoon, the ease to get through customs, or the weather which was cool, even for British summer conditions.
Arriving at Heathrow International airport from Barcelona after the 14th IAAF World Junior Championships, where it was mostly sunny and hot, the cool conditions were an eye-opener, but from the initial welcome by the pink-clad volunteers, it was obvious that if they had any control over the weather, they would have made it better.
As is customary for major championships, there are special lines at the airports for the thousands who are accredited for the Olympic Games, and the bright pink signs are hard to miss, as are the ubiquitous volunteers floating around to make sure the process was seamless.
Just ahead of me in the line were two cyclists from Guatemala, and luckily, one of the elderly women who was there to greet us spoke some Spanish and accompanied them all the way through, even to baggage claim, and then to their transport.
I had no such luck and had to find my way to the underground with my bags and almost two hours later in rush hour to East London to meet a colleague, who took me to where I would be staying for the night, then on to Birmingham for the Jamaican pre-Olympic camp which began on Monday.
There was one slight hitch for me at immigration as given that the London organisers had waived visa requirements, because I had one, the lady processing my documents called a supervisor to ask how
to proceed.
While endorsing the Olympic accreditation, which the official advised I should wear all the time, one of the younger members told me that some Jamaicans had come through a few days earlier while he was on duty, but he had some problems remembering the names.
"Usain Bolt?" I asked, pre-empting what has been the most-asked-after name since I had left Jamaica for the World Juniors over a
week ago.
"No," he said. "An older guy who won some medals in Montreal and the finance guy."
An older volunteer and obviously a track and field fan helped him out.
"He is talking about Don Quarrie," he told me, then went on to say that the Montreal Olympic 200m gold medallist and technical head of the Jamaican track and field team did not want to be reminded about his silver
medal in the 100m, and that they all had a
good laugh.
The 'finance guy' would have been Ludlow Watts, the treasurer of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA).
Outside was a bee-hive of activities associated with most major airports and transport hubs, but on Monday, Heathrow International was even busier, with a number of news outlets hoping to get shots of athletes and officials, and even members of the international press arriving and capturing images leading up to what is expected to be the greatest show on earth, starting July 27 and running through August 12.



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