Andy Murray Takes Gold
Andy Murray has had an excellent year. Two major finals were followed by him finally securing his second Wimbledon title, three years after winning his first. So he went into the Olympics in red hot form, and Novak Djokovic getting knocked out by Juan Martin Del Potro made Murray firm favourite for the gold. But Murray made it look more difficult than he needed to, threatening to lose to both the Italian Fabio Fognini and the American Steve Johnson before seeing off Kei Nishikori to reach the final against Del Potro, who was playing his heart out, having already knocked out Djokovic and Nadal.
It was an epic, four hour tussle. Both Murray and Del Potro were pushed beyond their limits. But ultimately, Murray came out trumps in four sets. Del Potro just wasn't as fit, didn't have enough left in the locker. Murray looked uncharacteristically nervous and sloppy, but in the end, pulled out his mental reserves just as Del Potro's physical reserves ran out. And so, just after 1am, Andy Murray was deservedly crowned a double Olympic champion. No man has ever defended his Olympic singles title. Until now. Terrific stuff from Andy.
Sir Mo Farah?
Super Saturday struggled to live up to the hype in terms of gold medals. I was tempted to put Jess Ennis-Hill's silver on this list because I was in tears after her defeat, compounded by Greg Rutherford's admission that he was gutted not to defend his Olympic title. Although it was a bitter, brutal moment, it was the most affecting of the Games for me. But luckily, Mo was on hand to lighten the mood, with an absolutely faultless performance in the 10,000m.
I could have picked either of Mo's faultless runs, because he was perfection personified in both the 10k and the 5k, but his run in the ten was more timely, more dramatic and more inspiring for me personally. The pressure was on, he was tripped over, he was having to run hard, but as ever, even with the pressure on, Mo stood up and delivered. My favourite moment of this is with less than 200m to go, Mo is about to overtake the Kenyan leading the race but is constantly watching over his shoulder. He knows he has the beating of the Kenyan, he just needs to make sure he stays clear of those behind him. He did. He won. The rest is history.
Trampoline Upset
With everyone else focusing on Team GB's attempts to steal an unlikely Equestrian gold off the Germans, I decided to throw on the women's trampolining final. Within about a minute, I was hooked. Bryony Page was up second and after a quick scurrying of the rules, I have to say I was seriously impressed. I thought she bounced incredibly well, she was very close to the red cross in the middle of the trampoline the entire time and put in a brilliant performance.
But being a complete beginner, I didn't realise that she'd turned in a silver medal performance. For me, she was the 7th best qualifier, so the others would probably turn in better performances. But as the next competitor fell off the trampoline completely and fellow Brit Kat Driscoll struggled, Bryony was still first with only four competitors to go. And then I started to realise, as three of the top four failed to beat her jump, that Bryony had turned in an absolute blinder. Confusion as to why everyone was jumping worse than her turned into realisation that Page had performed the bounce of her life.
Bryony had cried after finishing her performance. She knew, in that moment, that she had done something special. There were more tears to come as Page was confirmed as a medalist, and then as a silver medalist, and then finally as she was handed her medal. And I was on the verge of tears too. I absolutely fell in love with Bryony and her quiet humble demeanour. She thoroughly deserved her medal. It may not have been Team GB's most record breaking medal, or most dominant performance and Bryony Page may not be a four time Olympic champion, but little moments like this amongst the chaos of a brilliant games for Team GB are what made it such a great Olympics for Team GB.
Team GB Take Australia To Give Wiggo History
There were ten main track cycling events at Rio. Team GB won six of them, and got a silver in three of the other four, only failing to medal in the women's team sprint, which they didn't qualify for amid Shane Sutton's sexism allegations. Each of the six golds was special for different reasons, but of the ones that deserve mention, the most nail-biting was the men's team pursuit. Team GB set a world record on their way to the final, the four man team of Ed Clancy, Owain Doull, Stephen Burke and Sir Bradley Wiggins recording a time of three minutes, fifty seconds and fifty seven hundredths of a second to smash New Zealand. And in that race, Team GB went down to three men early, with Wiggins looking like he ran out of steam early.
And then the final against Australia. Australia went out like a shot, and by the halfway mark had established a lead of nearly a second over the Team GB boys. The panic was starting to set in for just about everyone watching. But Team GB weren't panicking. They were cycling on world record pace. The statement was clear: we're breaking the world record, if you think you can go faster: go ahead. And Australia were nowhere close. They had pushed hard in the first half of the race, but just ran out of steam, as Team GB stepped up the intensity. It became clear why Wiggins had pulled out early in the semi, as he stayed until the end this time, cycling harder and faster than before, giving it his all, as Team GB stuck with four men far longer than before, and much longer than an Australia side who fell apart. Team GB broke the world record again by over three tenths of a second, chipping away lap after lap before finally overtaking Australia and continuing to extend their lead until they won by almost a second and took a deserved gold. All of the lads contributed, but for Sir Bradley, it took him to five golds and eight medals total. The most decorated Olympian of all time and took a glorious money shot with Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Chris Hoy. And to top it all off, Wiggo stuck his tongue out on the podium whilst the rest of the team fell about laughing. Magical moment. Trott and Kenny Make History
I could have picked half a dozen moments from the cycling, but I simply couldn't leave this two off the list. Laura Trott and Jason Kenny's ten Olympic golds is well and truly one for the history books, a staggering feat by two incredible Olympians. And the fact that they both secured their final medals (Kenny's third of the games, his sixth overall, Trott's second of the games and fourth overall) on the same night, within minutes of each other just made the whole thing even more special. Trott's complete and utter dominance in the Omnium, followed by Kenny's nerve-wracking Keirin ride, made for a stunning night of cycling and completed what was a truly incredible night around the track.
And what makes it so much better is how amazing these athletes are as individuals. Laura Trott is Britain's greatest ever female Olympian and yet she truly didn't believe she would win, despite being vastly superior to the rest of the field. She was so humble and emotional in victory, it was impossible not to love her. And Jason Kenny's cool, calm demeanor, as if nothing bounces off him, just compliment her perfectly. Laura did the worrying for both of them, Jason was probably thinking about the Muppets or something. It was a truly magnificent display from two incredible individuals and it very nearly moved me to tears. This is my favourite picture of the Olympics:
Special Mention
- The aforementioned Ennis-Hill silver. I was bawling.
- Justin Rose's magnificent pitch and putt to secure an incredibly tense Olympic gold. Don't tell me golf doesn't belong at the Olympics.
- Stanning and Glover's complete decimation of the field to secure Olympic gold.
- The rugby men's team making the final, only to lose to a Fiji team that are a story in themselves.
- And the badminton, as Ellis and Langridge took an unbelievable, incredible bronze despite being seeded 22nd.
- Bolt being overshadowed on his big day by Saffer Wayde Van Niekerk breaking Michael Johnson's 400m world record.
Tomorrow: The Hard and Fast Section returns...
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