A 24-hour bronze medal day

Day 24 - August 11

Yep, you better believe it - a Muswellbrook singlet in the crowd at the bronze medal game.

I'm not going to lie - this is one of the most epic days ever!

Fron nothing to something, an Olympic medal and not one single wink of sleep in an entire 24 hour period.

So let's start from the top...

All good things come from the pub.

So I'm up and at 'em on a beautiful summer morning in London, out and about showing off my Maitland Blacks training gear with a run around the Balham area (not as impressive as the Muswellbrook rugby singlet pictured above, but not too bad).

At 10am I receive a message from Orchy saying that he has scored an extra ticket to his bronze medal game against Team GB this afternoon = awesome.

The quick fire beauty routine is applied with a tinge of green and gold and off we go.

My best bet, or so I had figured, was to head to the same pub, the Railway Tavern Hotel (pictured to the right), which had been used as a collection point previously with the worse case scenario being a pint over lunch.

While I was there I got another call saying that there were a couple more tickets spare - enter Sarah McCann and Nick Hansen (life is all about being in the right place at the right time).

Nick, myself and Sarah at Riverside Arena for the big game

So the deal was done with a bloke called Dave (not his real name for legal purposes), the troops gathered and pints consumed before heading across to Riverside Arena in Olympic Park.

This was it - four years of hard work on the line for the Kookaburras and we arrived just in the nick of time for the first whistle.

Fortunately we did because 17 minutes in Orchy unleashed from the top of the circle and the ball crashed through the keeper's outstretched glove.

The boy from Maitland had opened the scoring and once again whipped out the Ram as his now trademark celebration - you little beauty!

The Kookaburras went on to claim a 3-1 win and an Olympic bronze - the sixth consecutive time the Australian men's hockey team had finished on the podium at the Games.

Thumbs up!

Orchy was genuinely elated post-match and after mingling with family and friends it was time for official duties - the medal ceremony (Germany beat the Dutch 2-1 in the final just in case you were wondering).

But of course good achievements would also be wasted of not paired with a cold beverage or two so it was off to Australia House.

Airlie, Orchy and I at Australia House.

Cold brews, good crews and barely enough renditions of You're The Voice, Khe Sanh and all other Aussie pub rock anthems. In amongst it all were the Kookaburras lapping it up (below left is stalwart Jamie Dwyer and below right is the bronze medal with striker Russell Ford).

The Opals had also won bronze that day, which was the fifth straight Olympic medal for the Australian women's basketball team. Ran into Newcastle pair Jenni Screen and Suzy Batkovic (pictured below) while shuffling around the dance floor.

Add Steve Waugh, John Eales and Layne Beachley to the mix and it was simply an unbelievable night. As we emerged from the east London party arena we were met by an unusual glare (the sun was already well and truly up), but no tubes were running as yet.

I made a scenic route home using various modes of transport and despite every single part of my body hating on me - it was all worth it.

Congratulations to both teams, especially the Hunter trio, and oh, what a night!