Nick Dempsey, Windsurfing, Silver
The Brownlee brothers seem to be a bit of a force of nature in the Triathlon. Having heard a lot of talk about them but never having actually seen them, I had assumed they'd be big chunky lads, so imagine my surprise when I saw that actually they look like a couple of weedy pigeons! How wrong can you be?!
I was in a customer meeting, but we thought we'd check the BBC website and ended up having an extended lunch break watching the conclusion of the cycling leg, then all of the run. The Brownlees and a Spanish fella got away from the pack early, so the medals were never really in doubt, just the order.
Stuart Hayes did a huge turn on the front of the peloton, to keep the pace high and to discourage any breakaways, and this worked a treat, fully justifying the decision to use domestiques to protect the potential medal winners. It's just a shame it didn't work for Helen Jenkins, due to her secret injury.
Younger brother Jonny had been penalised for getting on his bike early, and so he had a 15 second penalty to take at some point. However, such was the lead by the time he took it that he still finished comfortably in bronze! Not as comfortably his brother, who had time to collect a flag and jog down the finishing straight before walking through the tape and having a sit down!
The medal ceremony was delayed when the younger, weedier pigeon collapsed before it and needed a bit of food & drink to raise his blood sugar levels. Reports that his Yorkshire citizenship have been withdrawn due to this feeble lack of grit remain unconfirmed.
Alistair Brownlee, Triathlon, Gold
Jonny Brownlee, Triathlon, Bronze
I didn't see much of the next medal, but by all accounts it was compelling viewing, and led to our first ever medal of any colour in Dressage.
Carl Hester on Uthopia, Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro and Laura Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris, Team Dressage, Gold
Ah, the Nation's new sweetheart next, Laura Trott, finishing off the Omnium. In the penultimate Scratch race, she was well positioned on the wheel of Sarah Hammer, her rival for Gold, when the Aussie battling for bronze came through at just the wrong time and scuppered her sprint, leaving her second and two points back going into the final race, the 500m time trial, 2 laps of the track, with your nearest rival on the other side.
2 things were needed for the Gold to be won: Trott needed to finish 2 places clear and hope she was 0.6 seconds faster on the countback if timed events, or she needed to finish 3 places clear & win it outright. In the World Championships earlier this year, Trott won the final event & Hammer was 4th. As it turned out, not that you'd have known from the yet again shocking OBS coverage, Trott had a superb couple of laps, and as they came into the split screen at the end, Trott had won, Hammer was 4th, and the gap was 0.7 seconds! GOLD!!
Rounds of TV & Radio interviews followed, where her ebullient personality came to the fore. However, hearts were broken within hours when pictures of her canoodling with Jason Kenny were published along with an acknowledgement that they were, indeed, Britain's Golden couple! Good luck to both of them.
Laura Trott, Omnium, Gold
Queen Victoria - what a career! I do wonder how wel she would have done if she'd been mentaly stronger, but maybe the fragility made her so great to watch. The build up to the final was routine for her & Anna Meares, her Aussie nemisis, but Vic had looked better. It was unquestionably the final we all wanted, but the result didn't go according to the script!
The first race was very tight, looking very physical on the second lap where Meares appeared to drift into Pendleton, causing Pendleton to drift out of her line fractionally before winning by 1,000th of a second! Or was it the other way around? Before too long we had the familiar pictures of Dave B arguing with a man in a blazer looking at a tv screen, and sure enough, whichever side of the fence you were on, it and whether you thought the elbow explained the drift, the commisaires had their say, and the result was reversed.
Vic was not happy - "but she pushed me first" she could clearly be seen to say, and somehow her heart just didn't seem in it anymore. In the second race, she was done up like a kipper by Meares who took her into a trackstand (planned in advance and known to be something Pendleton hates), which Pendleton pulled out of, went ahead, and provided the draft needed for Meares who came around her & won easily.
Cue much outpouring of emotion from both sides, and Pendleton holding Meares's arm aloft, before stopping & getting off a bike in a velodrome for the last time. Her relief was palpable, she wouldn't be "going nowhere very fast" any more, and she will be greatly missed. I don't think we'll be seeing a comeback though, as she seemed to really hate it by the end.
Victoria Pendleton, Sprint, Silver
Was this last velodrome medal ever really in doubt?! Chris Hoy is just magnificent, and the final of the Keirin was all the more exciting because he didn't have it all his own way.
He led from the front from 2 laps out and seemed to be cruising to the victory when a German rider appeared by his side and started edging ahead. A nation yelled NOOOOOOOO, haven't you read the script? Hoy saw him coming, kept the lower line, and somehow dug deep and pulled ahead again coming around the final curve and into the straight, and then WON!
Cue wild scenes, tearful parents, a guard of honour for Hoy, a very dusty medal ceremony when he picked up his 6th Gold, surpassing that other sporting knight, and was affected by his allergies!! During a post race interview, the hugger in chief himself popped up to pass the mantle to Hoy, who wouldn't accept it - "I'm honoured to be mentioned in the same breath as Steve, he'll always be the legend" - how about this Chris, you're both legends!
It was also great that the radio got his father on and they both chatted after each of the medals - the modest "thanks Dad" being one of my quotes of the games.
Sir Chris Hoy, Keirin, Gold
I was still buzzing so much from the cycling that the athletics almost passed me by. In truth, all the athletes had a pretty poor competition, and the only thing I can remember about the final is our amusingly named Bronze medallist. Call me shallow...
Robbie Grabarz, High Jump, Bronze
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