[ 2012-08-05 ]

Britain's greatest Olympics day since 1908
In a dramatic night that electrified the crowd in
the Olympic stadium, Jessica Ennis won the
heptathlon by smashing the opposition in the 800
metres, then 20 minutes later Greg Rutherford won
the long jump. As the crowd celebrated Mo Farah
took gold in the 10,000m. It was the greatest day
in British Olympic history since 1908, with the
three athletics gold medals coming after two golds
in rowing and one in cycling, as well as two world
records.
But it was the unforgettable minutes when the
three athletics golds were won that will define
the day.

It was, said Lord Coe, “the greatest night of
British athletics”.

The athletics drama began when Ennis, the British
team’s poster girl took the fourth medal of
“Super Saturday” with a commanding performance
in the 800m and three personal bests in the
event.

As she celebrated her victory with tears in her
eyes, Rutherford was being cheered on by the crowd
to victory in the long jump, which he won with a
leap of 8.31m.

Gold at last for Greg Rutherford 04 Aug 2012
Then, as the crowd celebrated his victory, Farah
began the 10,000m — and at 9.45pm, he sprinted
to win gold.

In the stadium the noise was deafening, and 80,000
people were on their feet cheering, including the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. David Cameron
hugged Boris Johnson, the London mayor, and Farah
grabbed a Union flag to begin his lap of honour.

The commanding performances came on a day when:

Þ British rowing had its best ever
Olympics, with gold in the men’s coxless four,
gold in the lightweight women’s double sculls
and silver in the lightweight men’s double
sculls taking the medal total in the water to
nine;

Þ The women’s cycling pursuit team
stormed their way to gold in a world record time
– breaking the record they had set only an hour
and a half earlier in the semi-final;

Þ Andy Murray and Laura Robson went through
to the final of the tennis mixed doubles, meaning
Murray will play in two finals at Wimbledon on
Sunday as he is also in the men’s singles
final;

Þ A record 200,000 people watched events in
the Olympic Park, and hundreds of thousands more
packed central London to watch the women’s
triathlon and the men’s 20km walking race;

Þ History was made in the Olympic stadium
as South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius,
who runs on “blades”, qualified for the
semi-finals of the men’s 400m.

On Saturday night Britain was third in the medals
table, with 29 medals – including 14 golds –
putting the team behind only the United States and
China. Ennis’s victory was greeted by ecstatic
applause and cheers. She had beaten her personal
best in three out of the seven events, finishing
with 6,955 points, 327 ahead of second-placed
Tatanya Cheranova, her Russian rival.

She cried first when she had won, then again as
Lord Coe presented her with the gold medal.

“I can’t believe that I’ve had the
opportunity to come to my first Games in London
and win an Olympic medal,” she said.

“To come into this event with all that pressure
and everyone saying you’re going to win gold and
I know how hard it has been to win it and I
can’t believe I’ve done it.

“I want to thank everyone here and my family.
Just everyone that’s supported me. I’m so
happy.” Ennis had watched Rutherford’s victory
and congratulated him. “I can’t believe
Greg’s won, it’s going to be a great night,”
she said.

Rutherford was almost a bonus for the crowd, who
roared on the 25 year-old from Milton Keynes. He
knew he had won and for his final jump made a
token effort, jogged across the sand and turned to
take the applause of the crowd. The reaction was
ecstatic: gold.

In an outpouring of thanks he said: “I’ve got
one of the best teams in the world. My coach is
incredible. My therapist is incredible.

“I’ve the most amazing parents you could
possibly have. I’ve a beautiful girlfriend.
I’ve got a good life. I’m not going to lie. I
can’t tell you how hard everybody has worked for
me. “This has been a long process. To be honest
I thought I was going to jump further than that
but I don’t care. I’m Olympic champion. Who
cares?”

But there was one more gold to celebrate, and the
applause reached a crescendo. Farah looked relaxed
for much of the race and then in the final lap
sprinted ahead of the field. He knew he had won
before he crossed the line, and he grabbed a Union
flag, found his family, and celebrated.

“I just can’t believe it, the crowd got so
much behind me and was getting louder and
louder,” he said.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this —
it will never get any better than this, this is
the best moment of my life.

It doesn’t come round very often and to have it
right on the doorstep and the amount of people
supporting you and shouting out your name.”

Farah was most touched by his family being on the
track. “Seeing them on the track was the best
moment of my life. Rihanna’s shoes kept coming
off and I told her to come and do a lap of honour
with me but she got scared and said I don’t want
to do it,” he said.

The sensational result goes beyond even the hopes
of the team’s managers and the Olympic
organisers.

Lord Coe said it was “the greatest night of
British athletics”. Of Farah, he said: “Foot
perfect the whole way. Never got sucked into
mid-race surges. Covered everything and when it
mattered was just too good. The greatest night of
British athletics.”

Lord Coe, also praised Ennis as “absolutely
sensational” adding: “Faultless throughout.
Jess has nerves of steel and she has delivered a
massive British moment which will inspire for
generations to come.”

Of Rutherford’s victory, he said: “A wonderful
achievement. Greg is always capable on his day of
beating the best. I am so delighted he chose
London as one of his days.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Team
GB’s gluttonous desire for gold shows no sign of
being sated.

“Their extraordinary efforts have brought
rapture to streets, parks and living rooms in
London and all over the country if not the
planet.

“It has been a remarkable first week and my
hearty congratulations go to every single athlete
that has taken part.

“They have entertained billions of people around
the world and I for one cannot wait to see what
they serve up for week two.”

The athletics was only the night-time treat:
during the day there was glory for cycling and
rowing.

At Eton Dorney two brilliant performances in the
men’s coxless four and the lightweight women’s
double sculls made the 2012 Games the best rowing
performance ever.

The rowers were cheered to victory by the “wall
of noise” from 30,000 supporters, and after
their victory in the sculls, Sophie Hosking and
her partner Katherine Copeland, were almost too
shocked to speak, Copeland mouthing: “We’ve
won the Olympics.”

In the velodrome the noise was deafening as the
women’s pursuit team of Laura Trott, Dani King
and Joanna Rowsell beat the Americans by almost
six seconds in the final. For the sixth time in a
row they beat their own world record, delighting a
crowd including Sir Paul McCartney, who danced a
victory jig. Roswell said: “I could tell we’ve
won it by the roar of the crowd.”

In tennis Andy Murray and Laura Robson are
guaranteed silver medals after winning a place in
the mixed doubles final, beating Christopher Kas
and Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Robson, 18, was
just two the last time Britain won a tennis medal,
when Tim Henman took silver in Atlanta in 1996.

Murray is also guaranteed silver on Sunday in the
men’s final when he plays Roger Federer, and
said: “There’s obviously huge motivation to
try to win a gold medal. So I’ll give it
everything I can to try to do that.”

The scale of public support for the British team
was described as the factor that had helped drive
athletes to victory on “Super Saturday”, named
because it is the day with the biggest single
number of medals to be won.

The record set in 1908, when London held the Games
for the first time, was eight golds in one day.

Another Olympic record was set on Saturday night
as Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, retired
with a gold in his last competition, the 4x100
metres relay, taking his medals total to 22, 18 of
them gold.

On Sunday there is the prospect of a series of
British medals. The serious contenders are
Christine Ohuruogu in the women’s 400m; Ben
Ainslie in the men’s Finn class sailing; Iain
Percy and Andrew Simpson in the men’s Star class
sailing; gymnast Louis Smith in the pommel horse
final and Ed Clancy, the cyclist, in the omnium.

Source - The Telegraph

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