2 August 2010

2010 European Athletic Champs

Last week, Barcelona hosted the 2010 European Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic.

After seeing that the ticket prices were not extortionate, we ventured along to Saturday's evening session.

Our seats were great - we were slightly above the track level, and positioned on the last turn.  In front of us was the pole vaulting area, and the Men's Pole Vault competition was underway.












Men's Pole Vault winner, Renaud Lavillenie from France

We were also handily placed behind the start area for the 100m track, and watched 2 heats and the final of the Women's 100m hurdles.


 The 2 heats of the Women's 100m Hurdles

Other infield competitions taking place that night were the Women's Triple Jump, Men's Javelin, and Men's Shotput - but they were too far away for us to see much or get photos, except to watch the events on the stadium's big screens.

Track events included the Men's 800m, Women's 800m for the Heptathlon, Men's 400m Hurdles, and the final event for the night was the Men's 5000m.

Men's 800m Final

Men's 400m Hurdles Final

Men's 400m Hurdles Final

Women's Heptathlon 800m

The Women Heptathletes, together with games' mascot Barni, celebrate the end of their competition

The last event for the evening, the Men's 5000m

We had a wonderful time; the crowd was respectful and cheering all the competitors; we all stood for national anthems during the medal ceremonies, and it was a very fun-filled atmosphere.

Our only bugbear was the confiscation of our plastic water bottles at the security point as we were entering the stadium - grrrr.  Inside, they then wanted us to spend Eur4.00 on 50cl bottles of water.  If they priced them at Eur2.00, I'm sure that they would sell 3x more then they do, but it appears that greed overcomes common business sense.  We didn't buy.

Still, it was excellent!



3 comments:

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Jayne said...

Jeez hon, your photos are amazing! You've managed to capture the agony & the ecstacy superbly (she says, slightly green with envy!)

I heard similar complaints about drinks at various matches during the SWC, by men mainly, as the only beer available was some coloured, bubbly stuff called Budweiser!

nzm said...

Thanks Jayne! I was pleased with what I got too, given our position. What I would have done to be an official photographer allowed pretty much anywhere!

Budweiser at the SWC? That's just not right! It would have tasted like water to all those hardened southern hemisphere and european people!