L O N D O N S T A D I U M
"The London Stadium (originally known as the Olympic Stadium) is a stadium in Stratford, Greater London, England, at Marshgate Lane in the Lower Lea Valley. It was constructed to serve as the home stadium for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, hosting the track and field events and opening and closing ceremonies. It was subsequently renovated as a multi-purpose stadium, with its primary tenants being West Ham United Football Club and British Athletics." - Copied from Wikipedia
"The London Stadium (originally known as the Olympic Stadium) is a stadium in Stratford, Greater London, England, at Marshgate Lane in the Lower Lea Valley. It was constructed to serve as the home stadium for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, hosting the track and field events and opening and closing ceremonies. It was subsequently renovated as a multi-purpose stadium, with its primary tenants being West Ham United Football Club and British Athletics." - Copied from Wikipedia
T'was a warm summer night way back in August, before the GBO (Great Bait Out). Myself and two brave adventurers were living the highlife in the capital; catching up, eating McDonald's, making jokes. The original plan was to hit the Orbit tower but after scouting it out we saw workers and decided it was not a good time to try. After making a cracking, true to life spoof of the recent 'Hack the Spot' Orbit tower video we were in good spirits. I forget which one of us suggested it but we were soon walking the perimeter of the next-door stadium recently decked out in West Ham livery.
Without going into too much detail we were soon watching a service entrance into the beast that is the Olympic stadium... All seemed quiet so silently we moved over to the access point and started our exploit. Before long we were on the other side of the large alarmed gate behind a board protecting us from the view of an all seeing dome camera, after a moment of recollection came the sprint past the volley of CCTV pointing in all directions looking to cut our venture short. After reaching the end of no-mans-land we were given our first glance of the monstrosity, all 60,000 seats of it basking in its floodlit glory...
The sound of the rotating blades drifted off into the night and we breathed a sigh of relief at the absence of cops in full riot gear protecting the crown jewel of the Stratford landscape. Following the curvature of the stadium we found ourselves climbing up a ladder to the roof of the beast. Opening a hatch into the warm night air we were greeted by a steel walkway running the full circumference of the structure. Each step was met with a metallic clang so we were cautious as not to wake the beast below. We snapped our pictures and set our sights on the high gantry that runs around the inside roof.
We felt safe up here, not in direct view of any cameras or in the line of sight should the guards glance across the pitch. It was getting late and the decision was made to begin the exit process of our excursion.
Back at ground level we could not resist the pull of the pitch, we all figured that if we were to get caught now, we had seen most of the stadium anyway so we were soon making footprints on the manicured lawn toward the tunnel the players walk out from at the start of every game like gladiators to a bloody battle.
After running around the pitch like Harry Potter chasing the golden snitch for a good 10 minutes we thought we had better quit while we were ahead and made our way back the way we came, this time strolling past the cameras as if we owned the place. Fast foreword 15 minutes and we were back to laughing and joking having conquered one of the largest stadiums and most famous landmarks in London, getting away scot free and utterly drunk on adrenaline.
The next week we all know what happened, a certain YouTuber filming his exploits once again and creating a media storm. Was this as a result of posting a photo of the stadium a few days after we did it? Possibly, can't change the past though, lesson learnt.
By no means am I declaring that we were the first to do the stadium as its a well known fact that it was violated during construction and violated during its Olympics-West Ham refurbishment and probably in between too. But were we the first to do it with its sparkly new paint job? It would be interesting to know the answer but with the sheer amount of explorers in London alone, the answer is probably no. But someone has to be first..
au revoir
