Olga Wins Gold In The Wing Stretch Final
Firm favorite, Olga, went on to win Gold for Team London in the final event in the 2012 Pigeon Olympics, the Wing Stretch. It was an amazing performance and no-one came anywhere near.
Here she is with her penultimate stretch:
And this was the final move that got her the Gold she so deserved:
Beautiful stuff.
So, that’s it. All over for another four years, and it’s been brilliant. Every minute of it. I was on my way to Stratford when I thought I had to post this. London ended up top of the medals table in the Pigeon Olympics. Total genius. Talk about inspiring a generation.
Right. Off to party. Don’t hold your breath for a post tomorrow.
Night all.
Pigeon Olympics Nearly Over
Well, that’s it, nearly. Party time over. Thank fuck the sun’s come out or I reckon London would have the biggest come down ever next week.
The appearance of the sunshine has also meant the Pigeon Olympics have been kicking it too, at last.
The Synchronised Fly-By was great. They moved the venue to Hyde Park in the end. Amazing atmosphere. Surprisingly, London, firm favorites to win, were beaten by Cardiff. It was close but we couldn’t quite pull it off.
Here’s Team Cardiff passing the finishing flags:
Have to admit, they were pretty good.
And here’s a great shot of Team London’s Bread Tug squad discussing their strategy just before this afternoon’s final:
I managed to grab a quick word with team captain, Bill (centre). He said he was thrilled to have got as far as they have. “The home crowd has been fantastic.” He said. “We’d never have done it without their support.”
It turned out to be an gripping match. Manchester were on great form and looked like they were going to clinch it, that was until Archie from Kentish Town was brought on as a substitute. He was on fire. Almost literally in this heat. He hammered them and went on to win another Gold for London.
This is Archie just after he won the final tug:
Nice one, Arch. Celebrations all round.
Tomorrow it’s time for the Wing Stretch with another London favourite, Olga, ready to defeat her world title. Can’t wait.
In the meantime, we’ve finally decided on a venue for the Closing Ceremony. Seeing as most places in London are likely to be pretty packed on Sunday, we’re going for Soho Square. Any pigeons around, come on down.
Bring it on.
Pigeon Olympics Struggles On
Unlike the ‘other’ Olympics with its warm and toasty venues, the London Pigeon Olympics is all outside. In most countries holding something outside when it’s summer is fine, but not here. Not somewhere where there is no fucking summer. Apparently the sun is coming out this weekend but I’m not holding my breath.
As a consequence, the Pigeon Olympics have been a bit all over the place. Some events have had to be cancelled whilst others have gone on for days.
Here’s Simon, Captain of the North London Chip Toss team, celebrating winning gold after a final that went on for a record breaking three days:
Unbelievable.
One event that did manage to take place without a hitch was the Single Leg Balance.
This is Yolanda who went on to win gold for managing an incredible seven hours standing on one leg:
Amazing stuff.
Providing we stay rain free we’re hoping that today will see the conclusion of the Synchronised Take Off and Landing events. More on that later.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the closing ceremony on Sunday. There’s going to be a few parties kicking off but seeing as the biggest one is likely to be over Stratford way, that’s probably where I’ll end up. Bring on the beer. It’s time to party hard and celebrate two of the best weeks in London ever.
Substance Abuse At The Pigeon Olympics
Klaus Bergman, otherwise known as ‘The Birdman’, has been thrown out of the London 2012 Pigeon Olympics for drinking Red Bull. It enhances the performance, apparently. The star of the 5m cross-country was caught sprinting erratically around Sainsbury’s car park in Chiswick.
Klaus declined to comment. Not because he didn’t want to, he couldn’t speak:
Klaus flew home to Durham earlier today.
Beach Volleyball Practice In Richmond
Went down to Richmond yesterday in the boiling hot sunshine and managed to see one of the ladies beach volleyball teams in full swing, literally in some cases.
One word: corrr. Never seen so many hot birds in one place, and I’m not talking temperature wise.
Some of them were so hot it hurt:
I would.
On the flip side, why is it the umpires tend to be the polar opposite? Don’t think I’ve ever seen a hot umpire, ever.
Take this one from yesterday. ‘She’s’ called Olga and she comes from Watford:
No offense Olga, but I think you might be male. You’re built like a male and those noises you were making sounded pretty male to me. In fact, there’s nothing female about you whatsoever.
Weather pending, the 2012 Pigeon Olympics beach volleyball event takes place in Richmond next Wednesday, if anyone fancies coming down. Like me, I suspect most pigeons who do will be there purely for the visuals.
Good times.
Interview With Sporting Legend Poussain Bolt
Now it’s boiling hot, the 2012 Pigeon Olympics practicing has returned to the streets of London, big time. With so much time lost due to the monsoon, the pressure is on. Suddenly, almost overnight, the vibe in town’s gone full on festival. Love it. Off to check out the throwaway situation later. Must be plenty knocking about now London’s heaving.
Yesterday I managed to grab five minutes with a true sporting great. Poussain Bolt from Tunbridge Wells. Poussain is on good form at the moment and a firm favorite to win the 1m sprint.
Here he is in training outside Charing Cross Station.
So fast I nearly missed him:
Practically a blur.
I asked him if he was excited about the start of the games. “Can’t wait, man.” He said, not sounding a bit like I’d imagined. “Beat dem pigeon’s arses and see me bro, Usaine. Usaine da man. We both gonna win gold. We is made up to be here.”
I presumed he was talking about Usain Bolt, the famous sprinter. I’m guessing they’ve never met. I’m also guessing Poussain doesn’t know his name is almost the French word for a young chicken. Still, he’s a good runner and that’s what counts.
Hoping to meet some more stars tomorrow. Possibly even Ling Ho, the karate king from Maida Vale. You never know.
Pigeon Olympics 2012 – Rain Stops Play
So, that’s that. Rufus is back on Centre Court, and so is the rain. Jesus. Relentless. I’m back under Waterloo bridge for the foreseeable trying to crack on with my new Time Out job. Tough work when it’s pissing down. Who wants to stop for a chat about the Olympics when it’s raining? Seeing as they’re probably expecting more than just interviews with damp bored pigeons from Manchester with nothing to do, I’d better get out there.
A pal called Linda brought these to my attention. Socks, for pigeons. Genius. I’ve asked her to see if they might do me a pair with a rubber sole. Could really help when trying to cling to the stadium roof when it’s shitting it down, as it inevitably will.
Check them out:
I’m thinking red could work? Of course, Mart wants black. Bit more ‘Ninja-like’, he said. Cheers for thinking of us, Linda.
In the meantime, at least I managed to catch some Chip Tossing practice on Trafalgar Square on Sunday. It was the north Londoners chance to show what they could do, and they ended up showing us quite a lot including some great solo handling skill here from Cricklewood Paddy:
Despite being faced with three attackers, he still managed to keep possession. Good work.
One of the biggest problems with Chip Tossing is keeping focus when more than one chip appears, often a dirty tactic used by the opposing team, but not for this lot. Even when Mart – left – paraded around with one hanging out of his beak asking if anyone wanted him to pass it to them, they totally ignored it:
I had pointed out to Mart that they’d probably know he wasn’t on any real Chip Tossing team and would just think he was some random twat trying to join in, but he wanted to give it a go anyway.
So, onwards and upwards. Literally. Just been back to The Square to check on the latest there. Nothing. Not a pigeon in sight. Just puddles. Worrying stuff with only twenty four days to go. I’m off to check out the train stations. The pressure’s on so they’ve got to be practicing somewhere, surely?
Pigeon Olympics 2012 Torch Relay
Seeing as the 27th of July isn’t actually that far away now, we’re talking about the Pigeon Olympics torch relay. Probably kicking off next week. Current thinking is we do it with something like this:
The route will be announced this week.
Accomodation for Pigeons Visiting London This Summer
I keep getting asked about places to stay for any pigeons visiting London this year for the Pigeon Olympics.
This is Pascal:
Pascal flew across from Normandy yesterday and did what all pigeons do as soon as they arrive from the continent. He headed straight for the nearest Bureau de Change.
For some reason any pigeons from across the channel seem to think that anywhere displaying the Euro is the place to go for information. Well, let me tell you, it’s not. If you want to know about places to stay in London, ask a local.
There’s such a wide variety of ledges available it’s often hard to choose the right one for you. Sheltered? Not sheltered? Do you share, or are you looking for something a little more private?
Back in 2007 I wrote a collection of posts called ‘Brian Pigeon’s Guide to London – London’s Best Ledges’ in order to help pigeons like Pascal find just the right ledge for them.
As 2007 is quite a long time ago now I’m going to be adding some more recent additions to the collection, particularly as some of the ledges I mentioned probably don’t exist anymore. Also, with the number of pigeons visiting London this summer likely to be a lot higher than in recent years, I’ll try to be more specific about their locations. These original posts were more about the general types of ledges around, for example:
1. The Underground Ledge. That’s a ledge near an Underground station. Click here to read more.
2. The River Ledge. That’s a ledge overlooking the Thames. Click here to read more.
3. The Antiquity Ledge. Please note that the particular statue mentioned in this post isn’t actually there anymore, but there are lots more to choose from in and around London. Click here to read more.
Click here if you want to see some more ledge examples.
I’ll be out and about finding some new ones just as soon as it stops pissing down. In the meantime, if any of you spot a great ledge that you think might be worth mentioning, let me know.
Cheers.
Easter On Great Titchfield Street And A Pigeon Olympics 2012 Update
Seeing as flying anywhere at the moment is out of the question due to the stormy conditions – big scary black clouds that look like they might fall out of the sky any minute – I thought I’d tell you all about my Easter. I’ve never been a big fan of Easter seeing as chocolate makes me want to heave. I’ve normally given it a wide berth and stayed firmly ledge bound. This year though, Mart persuaded me to venture off.
“It might be fun?” he said. “You never know, we may get to meet the Easter Bunny…” He was genuinely excited.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him the whole rabbit delivering chocolate eggs thing is clearly a load of old bollocks. He doesn’t even have a sleigh for fuck’s sake. How’s he meant to get all those eggs out? By hand? Loads of them stuffed into the pockets of his little rabbit jacket? I don’t think so. Anyway, I decided to stop being a miserable twat and go join Mart and, you know what? He wasn’t wrong. Turned out to be a right laugh, mainly at his expense…
We hit Great Titchfield Street around midday when the sun was shining, and bumped straight into Elliot. Not seen Elliot in years. Elliot lives near Spitalfields and is one of the few pigeons I know who likes poetry.
This is Elliot enjoying a spot of solo croissant tossing:
I’m actually considering suggesting this as a potential event for the Pigeon Olympics 2012.
Then he asks if anyone else wanted to join in? Kick a few crumbs about. Genius.
All went well at first. A nice pass to Eric.
Then Gerald comes in for a tackle. :
That’s Gerald on the right moving in.
He makes contact:
And he’s quick, but not quick enough.
Eric spots a pass to Mart. “Mart! To you!”:
Mart, of course, is walking in totally the opposite direction. “Where?”
“Mart, mate. Over to you!!” Eric shouts again.
“Great! Where is it?”:
Jesus.
Then all of us go at the same time, “Mart. It’s behind you!!” It was like some fucking pantomime.
Still no clue. Walks straight past it:
By this point we’re all pissing ourselves too much to carry on.
I tell you what, if this does become an event in the Pigeon Olympics, I suspect Mart won’t be taking part.
Talking Pigeon Olympics, it’s all hotting up. Everyone’s getting very excited. The final event list is being put together and I’ve managed to bag an exclusive on the coverage. Thankfully this means I won’t be organizing any of if, just writing about it. I’m also hoping to release video footage of some of the key moments, providing I can get the beak around iMovie… Toes crossed. All very exciting. One thing is confirmed and that’s the opening ceremony. We’re probably talking Trafalgar Square, mid to late June-ish. There’ll be music, seed, beer puddles and everything. I’ve suggested we could tie it in with Pigeon Appreciation Day on June 13th. Probably makes sense?
Any final ideas for events, let me know and I’ll pass them on.
Cheers.
Pigeon Olympics 2012 – Another Contender?
Seeing as time’s fast running out on sorting Pigeon Olympics 2012 around next year’s London Olympics, I thought I’d better get back on the case with sourcing some more contenders. A pal told me about some dude called Steve down in Kingston who’s started teaching synchronised swimming. Trying to put together a team, apparently. WTF? Seeing as pigeons can’t swim, not even slightly, I had to get down there to investigate.
Turns out he meant more ‘flapping around in the water’ than actual swimming.
Still, here is is demonstrating the ‘Open Wing Splash Back’:
Not bad, although I’m not sure any of the others were quite getting it.
Most of them just stood around looking, frankly, a little bemused:
Maybe it’s more of a solo event, possibly just for Steve?
Another Pigeon Olympic Suggestion?
I was out in St James’s Park on Saturday when some dude called Alan comes over.
Apparently he’d heard about my request for suggestions of sporting events for the 2012 Pigeon Olympics, and thought his particular skill might be worth a mention – High Speed Foot Tapping.
WTF?
He reckons he’s the fastest foot tapper in London:
Think you’re on your own there Alan.
I should also point out that an Olympic event requires more than one entrant in order to qualify as an event.
That said, anyone else out there wants to give it a go, let me know.
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