Notwithstanding my general disapproval of the grotesquely excessive cost of, ludicrous level of importance given to and horribly politicized nature of the Olympic Games, I cannot do anything but marvel at the achievements of the British competitors.
Over the years, probably along with many other Britons, I've become used to our athletes being sporting losers but, in recent times, this seems to have changed. While we still seem to have a number of weak areas, we are now the leading nation in the world for cycling and rowing, very close to being so in sailing and making huge strides in many other sports.
The unbelievable heroics of Saturday took British sport to new levels and looked impossible to repeat; how wrong. Sunday saw Andy Murray gain revenge for his Wimledon defeat by not only destroying the world's greatest ever tennis player, Roger Federer, to win Gold, but also win silver in the mixed doubles together with the precocious Laura Robson. They were joined in the 'medal-rush' by sailors, Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, gymnasts Louis Smith and Max Whitlock, Ed Clancy in the Omnium cycling event, and Christine Ohoruogu narrowly missing out on retaining her 400 metre title. In contrast to the weeekend, Monday was a bit of a disappointment with only 3 medals being added to GB's haul, although 2 of these were Gold - Jason Kenny in the cycling sprint and the showjumping team winning Britain's first Gold in the event for 60 years. They were joined on the podium by the perennial Beth Tweddle who seems to have carried British womens' gymnastics single handedly for ever; her bronze was the least she deserved after a glittering career.
Was it possible that the balloon was deflating and the best had been seen ? Don't be silly !
On Tuesday, it was the turn of the amazing Brownlee brothers to win Gold and Bronze in the triathlon, surely the most strength sapping event of all,. Then it was the Dressage team matching their showjumping colleagues and winning an astonishing Gold, followed by more success for our sailors with Nick Dempsey taking Silver in the windsurfing. Still the medals flowed and it was in the velodrome that the day reached its zenith with youngster Laura Trott winning the womens' omnium, Victoria Pendleton being forced to accept 'only' Silver in the womens' sprint behind her perennial rival Anna Meares, and finally Chris Hoy refusing to yield and winning Gold in the mens' Keirin. This was Hoy's sixth Olympic Gold and makes him Britains' most successful ever Olympic competitor. Even then there was more to come and the day ended with Robbie Grabarz taking a rather unexpected Bronze in an otherwise low-key high jump competition. This last medal of the day took Britains' total so far to 48, one more than in Beijing and the most since the first London Olympics in 1908.
And there's still 5 days to go !
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