Super Saturday

I was nearly there. About four times the length of a javelin throw and about 4 hours away from the historic, golden moment when Yorkshire's Jessica Ennis crossed the line at the end of the 800 metres to confirm the heptathlon victory that started the gold rush for Team GB's athletes on Super Saturday. I might need to embellish the story for future generations, but just to be on Olympic Park on that historic day was a worthwhile consolation for not being in the stadium itself. A bronze, rather than a gold.

The facts may not excite blog-readers that much. Our family bid for tickets last year yielded no more than hockey and volleyball, plus a couple of football matches at Old Trafford. Kathryn opted out once it was clear that this was the weekend before our flight to the USA. Jessica was the inspiration behind the application and was still up for it, even though she was flying to the States even sooner, on the following Monday. So Kathryn's tickets were taken up by a friend from Beverley days, Peter Kelham, whose parents were 'Minster marvels', and who came through our youth groups while we were there. Now he lives in London and works for Southwark Diocese Board of Education.

I had travelled down to Dorking on Friday and stayed with Jessica. We were among the early arrivals on the Park, with dark clouds threatening above. I had already sensed the upbeat mood in London, travelling through the day before, but the approach to Olympic Park was something else. Cheerful, enthusiastic 'Gamesmakers' lined the route to welcome everyone and build the anticipation. Olympic Park is a theme park dedicated to the ultimate in human sporting endeavour. When our children were much younger - during my last sabbatical in fact - we took them to Disney World in Florida and watched their wide-eyed amazement at everything they saw and did. Olympic Park reminded me of Disney World, but this time I was the child. Instead of Mickey Mouse, we spotted Rebecca Adlington with Chris Evans on the BBC balcony.

I can't claim to be a great fan of hockey but the two women's matches we saw were thoroughly enjoyable. Australia beat South Africa and world champions, Holland, triumphed over South Korea. The Dutch were silky smooth in their movement of the ball and looked a good bet for a gold medal [they have now reached the final]. There was a high level of skill on view, even to the novice eye.

After an enjoyable morning of hockey, we capitalised on the freedom of ticket-holders to explore the park and headed to 'Park Live' with thousands of others to eat our picnic and watch other events unfold on the big screen - Usain Bolt in the 100m heats and Jessica Ennis throwing the javelin.

Jessica prepares to throw

Park Live acclaims her

The atmosphere was unforgettable. The golds had already started to arrive in the rowing and support for Ennis was at fever pitch. Peter was astonished to find that his sister, a great friend of Jessica,  was among the 220,000 on the park, and we met up with her. Eventually we slowly made our way off Olympic Park drinking in the atmosphere and dodging the showers. There was so much to see and so many excited and happy people, with the Gamesmakers and the armed services personnel making a wonderful contribution.

It was a day I shall never forget. The Olympic Games are proving a fantastic success and I was able to experience something of that at first hand. If only the church could run as smoothly and fill people with as much joy and hope!

More seriously, I am beginning to get the feeling that Britain is not going to be the same again after these games, that they will prove to be a national watershed, in a positive way, rather like the death of Princess Diana did in unhappier times. Commentators have remarked that we have become so much more at ease with our multicultural national identity, as supremely illustrated by our three contrasting athletics gold-medallists on Super Saturday. And we may just be able to become a more cheerful and optimistic nation. Let's see. It's vital that the Church doesn't get left behind as Britain rides the crest of this wave.

Yes, that is a Team GB T-Shirt!

Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Psalm 150:1