London 2012 Day 16 - Greenwich Park

Sunday was the final day of the London 2012 Olympics and I was very sad to put on my Games Maker uniform for the very last time. My adventure was coming to an end and I didn't want it to finish.

The last event at Greenwich Park was the women's modern pentathlon and the medal ceremony for this event would actually be the last one of the entire Games. The weather was perfect, as the arena was prepared for the jumping part of the event:

Preparing the arena for the jumping

Interview area

For a brief time, I had to man the "Kiss and Cry" area, which you can see in the photograph above opposite the TV interview area. This is where the coach stands and watches his/her athlete compete.

Britain's most likely chance of success was Mhairi Spence, but unfortunately the horse she was allocated for the jumping proved to very highly strung. She fought very hard to keep it under control, but it still clipped several of the jumps, which put Mhairi at a significant disadvantage for the combined running and shooting.

Samantha Murray of Team GB did fantastically well. She started the combined event in fourth place and despite struggling in the shooting part of the first lap, managed to make great progress in the running part of the second lap. As she entered the arena for the last time, the crowd went nuts when they realised that she had managed to get up to second position. I have never screamed so much in my life and the noise of the crowd was deafening. Laura Asadauskaite, the world number one from Lithuania, won gold but Samantha Murray did brilliantly and managed to secure a silver medal for Team GB in the very last event of the Games

Samantha Murray being interviewed by Clare Balding

After the medal ceremony, the arena cleared and it was time go home. We had one final debrief, said our goodbyes and left Greenwich Park for the very last time. The reality started to set in when I used my Games Maker Oyster card at the DLR station and the "soon to expire" message came up on the machine. How sad!