Ruby Grimshaw gets into the summer athletics

I am trying to work up some enthusiasm for the Olympics but the weather is making this very difficult.
When you read this column, I shall already have been up there, enjoying the Equestrian Eventing in Greenwich Park.
I have watched horses competing three times this year
– Ardingly, Windsor and Hickstead – and each time the poor horses have been slithering and sliding in mud and I have been soaked through to my knickers. I do hope this won’t be the case
this time.

The arrival of the torch to Hove and Brighton was of course the official local countdown to the Games. I did not have a ticket but was lucky enough to have a friend with a flat overlooking Hove Cricket Ground who fell for my bait when I suggested it would be lovely for her to have friends round that evening. It was admirable the way the torch was welcomed with such enthusiasm by a big crowd despite the cold and grey drizzly evening.

“Synchronised swimming takes strength, stamina and courage. I am always annoyed by those who snigger”

I invited friends to my house to watch the Opening Ceremony which we all hoped was going to be the UK’s exciting answer to Beijing. (Maybe I’ve been watching too much Twenty Twelve but I was really nervous about our contribution.)
Early the next morning I travelled up to London for the first of three days of watching the international stars of the horse world.

I also have a ticket to watch the synchronised swimming with daughter C. I am always annoyed with those who snigger when this sport is mentioned. C did it for a few years as a child and it takes strength, stamina and courage. (If you don’t believe me try swimming a length of the King Alfred pool underwater next time you are there.)

Last of all I am going up with some RDA friends one day to watch the Paralympics Dressage. I popped up to Hickstead a few weeks ago to see the disabled riders competing in trials prior to selection for the Paralympics. These riders are tremendously inspiring. One girl who was blind completed a difficult test perfectly, the only assistance being a man calling out the letters as she arrived at them. I used to have problems remembering a test with full sight and with someone reading it out for me…