A DAY OUT AT THE LONDON STADIUM, 20TH JULY, TO SEE THE DIAMOND LEAGUE ATHLETICS MEET...

 The Diamond League Athletics Meet, London Stadium, 20th July 2024…

The journey…

It wasn’t yet 9am but there were quite a number of travellers waiting for the Marylebone train at Solihull’s rail station and indeed, when it arrived a few minutes late it was already somewhat full. A number of folks were standing near the exit doors, like on the London Underground system and it was tough to find any spare seats at all.

As more passengers boarded at places like Leamington Spa and Warwick, it was clear that the train was over subscribed, so that at one point a message was relayed over the sound system to inform all travellers that another train would be departing from Banbury to Marylebone when we arrived there, which would ease the overcrowding in our train. 

Unfortunately, due to the noise being made by some vociferous passengers, some of whom were in party mood, few people heard the message as some wobbled in aisles, or lay like Jacob Rees-Mogg impersonators amongst suitcases, prams and pushchairs scattered near the exit doors between carriages.

The London Underground… 

Typically busy, it was standing almost all the way out to Stratford, from whence a walk of around twenty minutes led a steady flow of spectators towards West Ham’s football ground, which was hosting London’s Diamond League event.

It was a warm and dry day in London and it was clear that the attendance was going to be around 50,000, evidenced by the swarms of eager, good humoured folks heading for the venue, which reminded me of what it must have been like for middle-class folks promenading in Hyde Park during Victorian times on Sundays…

Marshalls then diverted some spectators towards another route to the stadium, depending upon which entrances, or bridges their tickets were valid for and soon, the surroundings became those of the University College of London, the UCL, of course smartly pedestrianised.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit structure, which after essential ‘lifecycle works’ have been completed will relaunch in 2025, dominated the landscape near the stadium, although it really did look a little like a monstrosity in a scrapyard… 

Having purchased a programme online for collection at the stadium it was somewhat galling to then have to queue up to collect one from a woman at the only stall visible when arriving at the venue. Might just as well have not bothered to order it online…

After purchasing some refreshments, it remained only to climb a considerable number stairs towards row 70, high up but just beyond the finish line, which would offer a decent view of the women’s javelin, the men’s shot-putt and a perspective of the men’s high jump, although to see what was happening in the women’s pole vault during the early afternoon and then later the women’s long-jump, awkwardly positioned on a kind of stage alongside the seats on the far side of the stadium, proved tough because those events were happening so far away.

Worse still, due to the positioning of loudspeakers and the stadium’s structural design, despite being able to make out some of the replay action on the two giant screens, the finishing times, the heights and distances attempted and achieved, plus other written information was virtually completely obscured.

Also the acoustics were so echoey and distorted that verbal information was simply not possible to discern, meaning that for most of the afternoon, it was difficult to know with any certainty who was doing what…

Even the enthusiastic interviews conducted by Iwan Thomas were badly distorted and of course, to interpret the successful athletes’ responses was almost impossible and in truth very disappointing.

The athletics…   

Apart from the gripes above, it might seem strange that the afternoon was generally excellent entertainment. I appreciated the national 100 metres races for GB women and men and the two 4x100 metres relays, although the men’s GB 1 team failed to negotiate the final baton change, resulting in two embarrassed runners walking the baton along the finishing straight in a rather sheepish manner.

Matt Hudson-Smith was splendid in the 400 metres race, winning in a world leading time for 2024, Keely Hodgkinson  impressed in the women's 800 metres, an athlete in fine form, as was Femke Bol in the women’s 400 metres hurdles event, which was won by the Dutch athlete very comfortably. 

The women’s 200 metres was hot too, won with an exciting rush to the line by the USA sprinter Gabby Thomas but of course, many of the spectators had been looking forward to watching the final event, the men’s 100 metres race, which included in the international line-up the American Noah Lyles, who features prominently in the fine Netflix series called ‘Sprint’. 

Lyles didn’t disappoint, winning with a personal best time of 9.81 seconds but what happened next was astonishing. As the race ended, huge numbers of spectators rose from their seats like starters in a sprint race and made for the exits, despite the fact that a special presentation was about to be made to the England women’s 4x100 metres team from Birmingham’s 2022 Commonwealth Games event.

Their silver medals were being upgraded to gold, for Nigeria’s winning team had since been disqualified for an anti-doping infringement. However, by the time Denise Lewis had handed out the medals and the English anthem was being played, only a small crowd of people had hung around inside the stadium to watch…

It was rather disrespectful to the girls, who were clearly elated to receive their upgrades but fair play to the folks who remained inside the stadium to offer their applause and congratulations.

Those who left early surely did so for a reason which would soon make itself plain…

The spectators… 

I always recall sitting at Birmingham City’s St Andrews ground many years ago in the Tilton Road end and being mystified by the constant movement of spectators to fetch refreshments and visit the urinals during the match itself. One chap that day had been gone for quite some time and on his return he tapped me on the shoulder and enquired: 

“What’s the score, mate, eh?” 

Oddly, he stayed in his seat during the half-time break…

Anyway, the London Stadium crowd suffered from a similar malady, for so many folks arrived quite late, disturbing settled spectators to squeeze along rows. Soon afterwards many of those latecomers decided to set off again to buy refreshments, thus carrying beer, popcorn and other items of fast food back up the steps, excusing themselves again and precariously brushing past those patient, if frustrated folks who gritted their teeth, stood awkwardly and tried to watch as races and field events continued… 

The guy next to me, not English, eventually disappeared for refreshments too and returned after the men’s 400 metres race had started, resulting in disturbances and stretched necks to see the action, both in my row and of course like reverse dominoes, in the rows behind too… 

Selfish, or what?

Surely the time to visit the loos was perhaps at the start of the 3000 metres race for men, for the event would have still have been progressing on returning to the seats…  

After the event…

The exodus was slow. Very, very slow. So many people were leaving the venue in the same direction and all would eventually converge on Stratford’s station, for there was no car-parking available anywhere near the stadium.

Marshalls actually did a fine job of herding the flocking multitude, standing stoically, like human collies with STOP/GO lollipops, thus ensuring that each converging throng made some ground in turn. This was a human ‘merge in turn’, heading from a wide bottomed bottle and filtering into the neck, where stewards then bellowed helpful statements, especially when the Underground’s ticket area was almost reached…

It was calmly chaotic and trouble free, for the athletics enthusiasts simply accepted the delay with good grace and humour. 

I did wonder though, what happened on soccer match days…