Team East, Team GB - Team London!!

Even before the Olympics began, I was proud to say I was a Londoner. Despite living in Scotland for the last four years, south-east London has always been and will always be my home and my heart, as desperately cheesy as that sounds. For that reason, I can safely say I am most definitely #TeamEast!

I’ve seen my beautiful city torn apart by bombs and fear, ravaged by riots and sneered at for daring to believe it could host the biggest and the best Olympic games of modern times. Yet from all this, I’ve seen it rise from the ashes to become bigger, better and brighter than it has ever been before.

Let’s be honest, not many of us were particularly looking forward to the Olympics. Most of us were set at the default option, that London and Boris could only mess it up. How wrong we all were. London did us all proud, wherever we are from. I am one of the lucky ones to be able to say my hometown has played one of the most important roles a country can have, and it played it to perfection.

I’ve been waiting for these games for seven years. In 2005, five members of my secondary school, a specialist sports college, were sent along with the Olympic committee to Singapore, to help put forward the case that our city could do it best. My school played a part in securing the bid, and I felt a part of it as much as anyone could, bursting with excitement at the times to come.

The day after the bid was secured, London’s celebrations were silenced, with the tragic 7/7 bombings. If nothing else, surely it was time for us all to prove that we could fight back, we could become stronger. We could make the world sit up and notice us, for all the right reasons.

While the naysayers carried on damning the games, claiming it wouldn’t be any good, it would cost too much, and the stadiums wouldn’t be finished on time, some greater force pushed ahead and somehow, everything came together. The stadiums were built, the flags were out. All the signs were in place that something big was on its way. The cost became irrelevant as the frenzy for tickets began, and excitement reached fever pitch as the countdown continued.

27 July 2012 – a day we should all be proud of. The world sat down to watch with us as we all held our breath and allowed ourselves to dissolve into the biggest show the country has ever staged. From that moment on, we couldn’t hold ourselves back. I didn’t know if I’d really get into the sports themselves, as much as I loved the idea of the games. But the second that they were broadcast, I, along with millions of others all over the world, was hooked.

Literally, I couldn’t get enough. Luckily, my job allows me to watch some TV while I work, so the games were on constantly. Swimming, diving, athletics, dressage, tennis, and gymnastics – I loved them all. I didn’t even mind that they’d ripped up a part of my beloved Greenwich Park for the equestrian events when we were doing so well in them.

Two things stood out to me beyond anything else. One was just how perfect my city looked. How much it’s grown and changed in the four years since I left it behind. Never mind the Olympic stadiums – there was so much more that London, especially the redeveloped East, had to offer to its guests. The Shard, the cable cars, the Cutty Sark’s rebirth, and the shiny new Westfield Stratford centre, so perfectly placed near the Olympic park for convenient shopping trips in-between events (don’t deny it, you know you would have if you could!), showing of the best of British style and industry. This industry and innovation, slotted into the gorgeous heritage of the capital, makes for a heady mix.

The second thing was the sheer patriotism. I think in the last few years, we’ve all been guilty of criticising our country too much. The games brought about something different. For the first time in my lifetime, I saw people proclaim their pride to be British. Not Scottish, English, Irish or Welsh, but British. People lined the streets to cheer on competitors, waving flags and screaming with joy when we won. We jumped up and yelled at the TV when we were on our way to yet another medal, and we clamoured to see every possible event we could. And we were all met with the same feeling on the final day of the games – a feeling of ‘what on earth will we do now?’

Well, I have a suggestion. Let's hold on to this feeling of intense pride and excitement, let's carry on loving our capital city and all it has given us, let's continue to be proud of where we come from. Let's believe that we can do anything we set our minds to, and let's look back on this summer with satisfaction and the knowledge that we can say, "I was there."

Have you signed up to Westfield's Team East vs Team West competition yet? Which side of London do you love the best? It's Team East all the way for me, but what about you?

I've partnered with Westfield to bring you this sponsored post, but all written content and opinion is my own.