As I noted earlier, some Olympic events were mislabeled on the website. I knew for a fact that this event was women’s before I bought the tickets, because I aware of the water polo schedule. But the web site incorrectly said it was a men’s match. Coincidentally, I sat next to a Georgia Tech club water polo player who was furious that he was watching a women’s match, when he thought he had shelled out 65 pounds for a men’s match. Oh well.
The Hungary-China game was quite entertaining. While there was a huge pro-China contingent at the badminton events two days earlier, there were scarcely any Chinese fans to be found at this contest. And while there were few Hungarians to cheer on their judoka in a gold medal match three days earlier, the water polo venue was packed with Hungary fans.
China jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but the Hungarians fought back and eventually tied the score at 10. With just over a minute and a half to play, Hungary’s Barbara Bujkas scored to give her team its first lead of the game at 11-10. The score would stay that way, much to the delight of the loud roaring Hungarian fans. The second game was not nearly as good. Russia defeated Italy 7-4 in a game that was ugly, defensive, and fairly listless on both sides. That’s the thing about the Olympics… you never know what kind of match you’re going to get.
On Thursday, I headed out to Olympic Park for a third straight day, this time to watch team handball. I’m not going to lie, team handball was the first sport I jumped to get tickets for when I decided to go to London. I had never seen a full team handball match from start to finish, but I’ve always been intrigued by the sport and wondered why it had virtually no traction in the United Sports.
When I told Americans that I was attending handball, most thought I was watching people bounce a ball against a wall. That’s not Olympic handball. This sport is sort of like water polo on a basketball-like court. Players dribble a ball around, like in basketball, and they use their hands to pass the ball and eventually score a goal.
Olympic handball takes place in the Copper Box, which is a monument to the sustainability efforts of these Games. The arena is made up almost entirely of recycled materials, and it’s one of the few Olympic Park venues that will stick around when the Olympics are over.
