Seventeen At The Olympics: Day 3

Find out how Seventeen reader and Olympic reporter Cassidy Hopkins, 18, spent her final day in London!
Cassidy Hopkins


My last day in London wasn't spent only looking for famous Olympians; I actually attended three very unique Olympic events! I was able to catch a few games of men's Volleyball, the final round of men's 81kg Judo, and the women's Table Tennis semifinals.

Volleyball doesn't seem that unique, but men's volleyball does! These guys are good. My favorite match was between Poland and Bulgaria because of the energy in the crowd and the vigor of the athletes. It seemed that half of the arena was full of Polish fans while the other half were Bulgarian fans… and then there was me who didn't know which team to root for. In the end, Bulgaria over came Poland after an intense standoff.

I made it to ExCel just in time to catch the start of men's 81kg Judo. USA's Travis Stevens just started his match against Germany's Ole Bischof when I found my seat. It was an intense fight; Bischof hit Stevens so hard within the first few minutes that Stevens had to get patched up by a medical team. Stevens held his own but was ultimately defeated by Bischof. Stevens went on to fight Antoine Valois-Fortier from Canada for the bronze medal. Stevens lost but Americans in the crowd gave him a standing ovation anyway.

Because I was rooting for the USA at men's Judo, I missed the beginning of woman's Table Tennis. Table Tennis isn't what you think- it is not ping pong. Table Tennis athletes have to be in amazing physical and mental shape to keep up with their fast-paced opponents. At times the ball was traveling so fast, I couldn't even keep up with where it was! By the end of the event, China's Ning Ding and Xiaoxia qualified for the gold medal match. This means that the Chinese athletes will be facing each other as they fight for the gold.


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