hello, sailor!

It was the end of my first day at the Olympics - not inside the Park itself, but my first time at Westfield East, which was in itself simply amazing: it's such a buzz there, it's basically the Olympics, with food and great clothes. And I was standing there, thinking, wow, for the rest of my life, I can say I WAS THERE - one of those glorious moments when you're so glad to be alive - and suddenly, this man appeared, like a ray of sunshine.

Just as he passed, he noticed me shooting, and it was that moment of: isn't it wonderful. This whole thing. WE'RE ALL HERE. And everyone photographing each other, posing in front of the entrance to the park.. it's all about the same thing. We want to record this moment: to bear witness. WE WERE ALL HERE.

What feels so glorious about this.. I know the women competing are just as amazing, more so, in so many ways, but there's something eternally MALE about the Olympics. Something that goes back so deep in our memories. There's such a great male presence: the soldiers and sailors and athletes - real men. Real stars. Something so primitive: We will protect you, it feels like they're saying. You womenfolk, and children, and elderly, sick and infirm. You don't have to worry about a thing. We're here.

And besides, let's face it: what girl can resist a man in a uniform.

GO TEAM GB!!

'Wicked,' I heard this girl say as I passed, 'She just took my picture!' but we were both long gone in the crowd outside the Olympic Park.

I am having the most incredible time - everyone is - it's like we're all waking from a dream and in this world, people from all nationalities are at peace.. except we're playing a game, many games, and we all want to win, win for our team, our country, and yet at the end, everyone hugs each other. People are actually displaying sportsmanship. The principles and ideals of the Greeks all that time ago are being respected. While in Syria and parts of the world brave men, women, and children, fight for survival and a hope of freedom, here in London, and around the UK, I am seeing people - old, young, babies - of every walk of life, from every nationality, being together, in harmony.

I'm really sorry to get so soppy about this, but yesterday, my American friend Maralee texted that they were at Eton Ronay, and a race was about to start, to I watched it on the BBC on my laptop before leaving for Stratford. Now Maralee, for years, has been on a rowing team, their daughters row - one quite competitively - and they watched as Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won Britian's first Gold. And I watched too, with tears of happiness. And it didn't matter that we're all Americans: we live in London, we can own this victory, too.

And yet I'm rooting for the USA. And the French girls I saw in South Ken who are competing in fencing. And sweet Ding Ling, of China, who didn't win, but was so winning, in table tennis. I'm rooting for everyone. Go Team Planet Earth!

I really never expected to feel this way about sport. I never got it about competition. About winning. But I'm realising now, this week, that it's - cliche as it sounds - not about winning or losing. It's about playing the game, and giving it all you've got. And then some.

Shot these, and the following images, at Westfield East. I WAS THERE. It's the best kept secret to being part of the Olympics, without actually purchasing a ticket. To find out more, click here.