Thursday, 2 August 2012

Let the Games begin!


I am writing to you from the Olympic Village after the start of our Olympic campaign, and a very good start it was.  Our first game on 30th July was against the European Champions, Italy.  The last time we played Italy they knocked us out of the medal rounds at the World Championships in 2011, so we definitely had something to prove.  And they knew about it…the whole way through the match.  The final score was 10-8, a comfortable victory, and a very hard fought one.



The next game in our campaign was our second round game against the home team and fast improving – Great Britain.  We were prepared for a tough game as the Brits played very well in their previous game against the Russians, being defeated by a punishing one goal in a 7-6 score-line. It was also a very highly anticipated game, as the last time we played (in the London Prepares series in May 2012) the Brits labelled the Aussies in the press “the dirtiest team ever”.  We haven’t responded to this, as we just want to let the score-line tell the story.  We played extremely well against the Brits with their very boisterous home crowd.  After a 6-2 first half, we knew we just had to keep chipping away at it, and chip we did, to make the final score 16-3.  Once again there has been some “whinging poms” in the press, check it out here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18906196



We are now preparing for our last ‘round’ match verse the Russians.  The result of this match will determine who will cross-over to the weakest team in the other pool, so it is a very important game.  As such, on our days “off” we have been doing three training sessions, to make sure we are prepared for almost everything. 

On a more festive note, since I blogged last, we got to march in the London 2012 Olympic Games OPENING CEREMONY.  It was an absolutely amazing experience, and something I will remember forever.  I met a lot of athletes from around the world, and got to dance the night away with the best from Australia.  My teammate Victoria Brown (pictured below) and I apparently got quite a lot of air time during the ceremony, and this picture featured in some of the press in the UK. 





Also on a lighter note, the Australian Olympic Committee arranged a photo shoot for the Aussie Stingers at the War Memorials in Westminster.  It was quite strange wandering around in our togs and robes, but we certainly made for some unplanned tourist attraction.



Until next time, and from the quarters, semis or grand-final
Jane





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