Inside the Gymnastics Youth Olympic Venue

I was delighted that I got a chance to watch an Olympic final, though not the summer Olympics, the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics sure comes close to it. The gymnastics final was held at the Bishan Sports Hall. It is actually an airconditioned multipurpose hall which was large enough to sit several thousand people. Remember that this was supposed to be a sold out event, I was lucky enough to secure tickets at the ticket booth at the venue itself. The sports hall was quite nice, all the competition apparatus were already there and it seems like they were professionally designed. The venue was free seating so we had to scramble for the what we think are the best seats in the house.

I had no idea which events were being held so I took my chance and picked the balance beam and the floor exercises which in my opinion were more photogenic. I took a seat at a spot which I thought gave me a good view of both events. In the meantime, while we were waiting there were two “hosts” before the competition whose job is to liven up the crowd. I don’t know if this is the norm in the summer Olympics but these guys seemed a bit trying too hard. The spectators, mostly young girls, were loving it and gamely joined in the fun. They were using clappers which I thought were out of place especially in an Olympic gymnastics competition.

There was even a short dance number before the competition, which I thought was already taking it a bit too far. Anyway, this was the first Youth Olympics and if there were going to be any norms, they will be setting them now. The hosts were going around the competition area explaining what the competition will be, I guessed the two events correctly and heaved a sigh of relief. The hosts were explaining how the events work, informing the audience who may not be familiar with gymnastics competitions.

Enough with the introductions, let the games start!

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