Silver for Big Phil - he was in the lead twice, first jump being further than anyone else this year, but the eventual winner (and world champ) jumped the further than Phil ever has, and he couldn't pull out a Lifetime Personal Best Jump in his Personal Life EVAH. Great effort - not quite enough - was he overhyped? Did he overhype himself? Number 1 in world going into it, last 3 jumps didn't count - still, no quibbling - he was gutted, but still joins the ranks of legendary Silver medallists - Jacko, Backers, Campbell, Black, Kath Grainger...
The Relay Boys were shite, Pickering running outside his collection zone on the anchor leg. It was wide open too, as the Yanks had dropped the baton in the previous semi. Missed opportuniy there - but the girls made it, and Goldie Sayers broke British Record and set a LPBTPLE in the process - but got tin by less than half a metre. Gutting.
SILVER for Dai the Splash in the 10k marathon - would have been gold if he hadn't been so delirious with exhaustion by the end that he swam the wrong way. Still, the winner was certainly deserving:
Van der Weijden, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2001 and required a stem cell transplant. "I think the leukaemia taught me to think step by step," said the Dutchman afterwards. "When you're lying in a hospital bed feeling so much pain and feeling so tired, you don't want to think about next week or next month, you're only thinking about the next hour.
"You lie in your bed and just wait. It's almost the same strategy I used here: to stay in the pack, be patient and wait for your chance. I'm grateful to everyone who donated money to stem cell research. Maybe I wouldn't be here otherwise."
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