Our Olympic Dream Lives On – Interview with Shong

I’m from Malaysia, I arrived the UK in 1971. After a two year course in Harrogate, I had a job in Bedford. Then I moved down to Tunbrige Wells and in 1979, came to London for a nursing course at Moorfields Hospital. I became a nurse there in the Eye department until  retired three years ago.

I heard about the Olympics through newspaper. There was plenty of information about the Olympics in the newspaper. There was also a newsletter issued at our hospital which mentioned a lot about the forthcoming Olympics in London. My colleagues talked about it a lot, too. I remember one day, when I came home from work, the Six O’clock news on TV announced that London has won the right to stage the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. I was so excited. I thought, “I’ve never seen an Olympics Games in person all my life, this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see it for real”.

Everyone seemed excited about the news. Going out in the streets and you’d see a lot of things were happening, like the Olympic logo posters, especially when you travel on the underground. There were also signposts showing directions to places for sport events and things like that. Many people wanted to become Olympic volunteers. I was working full time so I couldn’t leave my job. But later when I heard that our hospital would support staff who wanted to take part in Olympic volunteering, I did consider having a go. But before I was able to come up with a decision, several colleagues had already submitted their applications. In the end I didn’t go ahead with it. I thought there should be enough volunteers anyway.

Even though personally I was not a volunteer with the Olympics, I think in some way I was prepared for it. I worked in the Eye Department and occasionally there were casualties sent to the Department from various places, such as a building site nearby and so on. Since our hospital isn’t very far away from the Olympic venues, there were plans for us to prepare for emergency situations resulted from the Olympic sites. So our hospital had a plan for us to stand by just in case there were casualties or emergency cases to deal with.

Like many others, I couldn’t get a ticket to enter the stadium to watch the opening ceremony. I tried to get a ticket online but without any luck. I did watch the Paralympic events, though. I watched the Paralympic marathon and weight lifting. We went to Central London and watched the Paralympic marathon outside Buckingham Palace. It was very crowded that day but the weather was good for the event. Lots of people brought with them a light lunch, like sandwiches and so on. We stood there for hours to see the athletes passing us. It was a truly enjoyable time for me, because from then on I could say to myself that I’ve actually seen an Olympic event in action.

I think a lot of efforts were made to improve the Stratford area in order to support the Olympics. I can recall that before the Olympics, Stratford was nothing more than an old market sort of town. The whole area looked a bit rundown; public transport wasn’t so convenient either. With the Olympics the government spent loads of money here. Buildings went up everywhere. Even the canals have been cleaned up. Now there’s the Westfield, shop after shop lined along the malls inside the complex. The old shop centre on the other side of the railways has also been upgraded. It’s now is a beautiful place, with four shopping malls, North, South, East, West. Very elegant indeed. The Chinese foods store Loon Fung has moved in there, too. With that, getting Oriental foods has become more convenient for people living n Newham. There is also the expanded Sainsbury’s opposite.

Changes have taken place in the Olympic Village, originally built for the Olympians. I think the whole of the Olympic Park and the competition halls are a legacy for Newham because they have been turned to good use after the Games. Every Monday at 10 O’clock in the morning, there is a group of people meeting up outside the Marks & Spencers for a long walk in the park. I join them whenever I can. Also you can find gyms everywhere these days. The one in parking costs only £52 a year for people of 60 and over to use the facilities.

Although a lot of things happening are positive, to be fair, not all the changes have been good news, though. These days there seems to be more people begging on the streets; knife crime is also on the up. I was in Stratford shopping complex yesterday and heard the tannoy warning people not to drop their guard in crowded places.

Nonetheless, I have to say that London 2012 has been an inspiration to young people in the country to take up sport. For me the female Boxer Adams who won medals in the Olympics has been a good example of success.