Published: 20 August 2012
Article: "The Olympic experience - 07/08/2012" by John Paul
Scottish cyclists and members of the British Cycling development programme, Callum Skinner and John Paul join the Secretary of State, Michael Moore MP at the Men's Keirin Track Cycling Final at the Olympic Park on Tuesday. John was kind enough to put his thought about the day on paper.
This is what Paul had to say:
"Hi everyone, just a short note on a wonderful experience I had at the Olympic Velodrome where I was lucky enough to watch Sir Chris Hoy win the Keirin final. I was honoured to have been a guest of the Rt Hon Michael Moore MP, the Secretary of State for Scotland who had arranged for myself and City of Edinburgh team mate Callum Skinner to attend the velodrome on the Tuesday, day of the Keirin finals and also the Women’s Sprint and Omnium finals.
The atmosphere in the velodrome was electric, with a packed house and the noise from the spectators was so loud you could hardly hear yourself think. Also, meeting some Olympic athletes before the start of racing was great, I got my photo taken with Greg Rutherford the GB Olympic Long Jump Champion who is quite tall, around 6’4” but not as tall as some of the GB basketball team who arrived, a couple were about 7’ tall, I didn’t even reach their shoulders! I was thinking wow, imagine the size of bike he would need for the track?
Once the racing started, the noise got louder and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, it was a great feeling and I wished I was on the track racing. Watching Laura Trott win the omnium was fantastic and I was really happy for her, and Vicky Pendleton narrowly missing out on the gold in the women’s sprint, but my highlight was to see Sir Chris Hoy win his 6th gold medal which was truly special, I couldn’t believe it when he came back under Levy in the last bend to win, it couldn’t have been better to watch. He is such an inspiration and it has motivated me even more to train harder and target the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 and the Olympics in Rio 2016."
Published: 09 August 2012
Article: "The Olympic experience - 07/08/2012" by Callum Skinner
Scottish cyclists and members of the British Cycling development programme, Callum Skinner and John Paul join the Secretary of State, Michael Moore MP at the Men's Keirin Track Cycling Final at the Olympic Park on Tuesday. Callum was kind enough to put his thought about the day on paper.
This is what Callum had to say:
"Tuesday this week John Paul and myself were lucky enough to be invited to one of the best nights of the Olympics; the mens Kerin and womans Sprint and Omnium finals. I was really excited to be invited! Being on the British programme here in Manchester the Olympics is everything, whats more you get to see the people train with everyday compete and succeed. It sets a great benchmark to aim for and a great opportunity to soak up a home games atmosphere.
The atmosphere in London was electric and built up and up as we got closer to the Olympic Park. The park its self was in stark contrast to when i was last there to see the London World Cup test event. All the signs of construction had gone and the Park was rammed full of excited spectators from all over the world.
There was lots of famous faces in the crowd me and John spotted Greig Rutherford long jump gold medallist and Dai Greene too!
The event its self was great, the first gold of the night came from Laura Trott in the Omnium. It was so close in the final stages and the atmosphere the Velodrome crowd was so tense. Thankfully Laura smashed the 500TT and Sarah Hammer came 4th. Just what she needed to win overall, well done Laura, double olympic champ! This is a great example of how someone can come through the same programmes that I am on now and succeed at the highest level. I have a feeling that after all this olympic success she will be moving out of the flat downstairs from me?
The last event was the Kerin final. This was one of the more surreal events as a spectator as I had raced against a number of the riders that made up the final field. Also was special to see fellow Scot and team mate Chris Hoy line up at what will probably be his last olympic event. He rhode it like he used to, from the front from a long way out and hitting it all the way. It was great to see and was so close at one point when it looked like Levy could come round with half a lap to go, but he held on. The noise in the velodrome was immense!
Overall a great night and definitely somewhere I want to be in four years time, except in the thick of the action. Roll on the Commonwealth Games 2014 and Rio 2016! Thanks to Michal Moore MP and Scottish Cycling for the invite."
Callum and John 
John Paul and Callum Skinner are also Braveheart Fund supported athletes. To find out more about Braveheart please visit the website: www.braveheartfund.co.uk
