So after seven long years of hype and speculation the London 2012 Olympic Games have come and gone.
I think it’s fair to say that few people anticipated the way the games have inspired the nation, bringing a sense of pride and self-respect to the United Kingdom which has not been felt for many years, and at a time that we needed it most. I think it is also fair to say that few people thought it would be as successful as it was.
I for one am genuinely sad it’s all over, and as Closing Ceremony Blues sets in I thought it would be a great time to look back at my most memorable moments of the last 17 days.
15. Keirin cycling race
It must be the most bizarre events in the entire Olympic schedule, and that is including the synchronised swimming and the rhythmic gymnastics. It is a “sprint” cycling race but instead of just letting all the participants cycle as fast as they can over a relatively small distance (in my book the definition of a sprint), a motorised bicycle is used as a pace-setter for the first few laps before dropping off with a couple of laps to go. The cyclists then engage in a sometimes vicious fight, which can include sever elbowing and charging, to the finish line. It undoubtedly has produced some of the most peculiar, and, let’s face it, ridiculously funny moments in the entire games. Great Britain got two gold medals out of it though so bring on more of the crazy world of Keirin cycling I say!
KEIRIN: A particularly dower pace-maker makes it all the more comical
14. Women’s Boxing makes its Olympic debut
London 2012 represented two great steps forward in Women’s sport. For the first time since the modern games began in Athens in 1896, every participating country, all 204 of them, sent men and women to compete for them on the greatest sporting stage in the world, and secondly, after 108 years women were finally allowed to compete in the boxing event, leaving only synchronised swimming as a unisex event (only women can take part).
I’m not exactly what you would call a fan of boxing. I appreciate that it takes skill, but I can’t really get passed the fact that it is still two people attempting to punch each other into submission. However, having said that, the fact it has taken so long for women’s boxing to be accepted into the Olympic schedule is disgraceful. If men beating each other silly with padded gloves should be glorified in such a way so should women.
The fact that a Brit was the first to be crowned a female Olympic boxing champion, quickly followed by Katie Taylor, the Pride of Ireland, makes the achievement all the sweeter.
FIRST CHAMPION: Nicola Adams with the first ever women’s Olympic gold medal
13. Bradley Wiggins wins gold
It is easy to forget that Team GB didn’t exactly get off to a flying start at their home games. It took us five days to win our first gold medal and there were rumblings that the team’s medal target should be revised down. The men’s road race on the first full day of competition was supposed to be our first medal of many, but things didn’t go to plan for Mark Cavendish and the rest of the team. Wiggo soon came to our rescue though. Fresh from his triumph in the Tour de France he brought home the second gold medal of the games for the home team (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning had got our first ever gold in women’s rowing just hours before).
Bradley Wiggins’ achievement was phenomenal, having won possibly the most gruelling sporting event in the world less than a week before taking part in the Olympic road race, he then went on to win his fourth Olympic gold medal in the 44km men’s individual time trials. He is in my opinion the greatest British sportsman of all time.
KING WIGGO: Bradley relaxes in a throne after winning gold
12. Oscar Pistorius becomes a Paralympic Olympian
They call him Blade Runner. South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius is without a doubt the World’s “fastest man on no legs” and at London 2012 he became the first double-leg amputee to participate in the Olympics. He entered the Men’s 400 meters and was part of the South African 4X400 meters team. He ran a season’s best in the qualification stages of the 400m but sadly failed to qualify into the final after finishing 8th in the semis. Although South Africa also finished 8th out of a field of nine in the 4X400, Pistorius and his team mates ran a season’s best there too. Although he failed to get on the medal podium Pistorius’ achievement cannot be over looked. Although it sounds cheesy, he proves that despite having huge disadvantages thrown your way it is possible to achieve your dreams. Kudos to you Oscar.
BLADE RUNNER: Pistorius is out of the starting blocks
11. Michael Phelps becomes greatest Olympian
For most athletes, winning a gold medal at the Olympics is the highlight of their career, many retire after achieving their dream. Not Michael Phelps. Not content with winning a massive 8 golds in a single Olympiad (2008), he retired at the end of London 2012 with EIGHTEEN gold medals, two silvers and two bronze, and that’s just his Olympic stash. He has twice as many gold medals as Larisa Latynina (the Soviet gymnast who previously held the record for the most medals won in the Olympics) and equalling the total number of medals she achieved over three games with just his golds.
His London experience was not without the odd hiccup however. His teammate, Ryan Lochte, was hot on his heels throughout the Swimming schedule, winning the 400m individual medley, with Phelps ending a shocking fourth. In the end though Phelps won out, winning four golds to Lochte’s two, cementing his place as the greatest Olympian in history.
GOLD TINTED: Phelps retires from his swimming career with 22 Olympic medals
10. Team GB win Gymnastics Bronze
“British”, “gymnastics” and “success” are not exactly three words people anywhere in the world are particularly used to hearing. When you think of sports Team GB traditionally excels at cycling springs to mind, or sailing, rowing, maybe even modern pentathlon, but British gymnastics has long been the laughing stock of the world’s gymnasiums. Our last medal came in 1928 when the women’s all-round team won bronze; you have to go back over 100 years to find the last men’s medal (silver in the individual all-round competition in 1908). But here, on home soil, Great Britain shocked the world by claiming a bronze medal in the men’s team all-round event. At one point it even looked like we would win the silver until an appeal by the Japanese team, which had originally ended fourth, saw them boosted into second place, pushing Ukraine out of the medals all together. It is without a doubt one of the best and unexpected achievements by the British team in 2012 and to cap it all, it was followed by another two bronze medals and a silver.
FROM LEFT: Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock, Louis Smith and Daniel Purvis
9. USA’s Manteo Mitchell completes relay on broken leg
This is easily one of the most cringe-worthy stories of the games as well as the most amazing. It was the second heat of the 4X400 men’s relay and the United States were led off by Manteo Mitchell. The drama escalated just 200 meters into the race however when Mitchell heard a crack and felt an explosion of pain. He had broken his left fibula bone. “It felt like someone literally just snapped my leg in half. I felt it break,” he said afterwards. But did he do what any normal person would? Of course not, he continued running and made it round the lap in a “sub-par” 46.1 seconds. To top it off the USA came joint-first with the Bahamas, the fastest qualifiers to the final. Just goes to show what determination and the promise of a gold medal can do.
UNSTOPPABLE: Manteo Mitchell just slowed down after breaking his leg
8. Six golds in one day
The 4th August was Team GBs best day of London 2012. On a day that Great Britain won seven medals, six of which were golds, the most won by Team GB in a single day at this Olympiad. The day began with a gold for the men’s coxless four (Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs-Hodge) and the women’s lightweight double sculls (Kat Copeland and Sophie Hosking) as well as a silver in the men’s lightweight double sculls (Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase). Another gold was won in the velodrome in the Women’s team pursuit (Danielle King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott). Then the athletes took to the Olympic Stadium’s track and field. Athletics had not been kind to Team GB in Beijing having only won one gold medal, but on the night of the fourth, three golds would come forth. Jess Ennis, the poster girl of the games, delivered the first gold of the night with the fifth best ever Heptathlon score. Minutes later Greg Rutherford won a somewhat unexpected gold in the long jump with a distance of 8.31 meters. Again just minutes later Mo Farah won the men’s 10,000 meters, the first time Great Britain won gold in that event.
KAT COPELAND: “We won the Olympics… We’re going to be on a stamp!”
7. New Zealand leads Australia in the medal table…for a while
OK so I admit, this one is not exactly a neutral addition to my top 15. Anyone that knows anything about sport… and Australasian politics, knows that Australia and New Zealand have a rivalry that stretches back what feels like millennia but is really only about a hundred years old. Usually, in everything but rugby, the former usually triumphs over the latter, which is not particularly surprising when you consider Australia has a population at least five times the size of New Zealand. But in London the tables were turned, all be it only for the first week and a bit. Australia had one of their worst showings in recent Olympic history at the games with a performance in the pool (usually their sporting kingdom) which was at best lacklustre and at worst embarrassing. New Zealand on the other hand celebrated every medal, and there were more than usual particularly at Eton Dorney with the rowing.
Channel 9, Australia’s official Olympic broadcaster, went so far as avoiding showing New Zealand’s triumphant medal tally, showing only the top nine countries followed by a gap and then Australia’s position, thus editing out the fact New Zealand had reached 10th. Although Australia ended the games in a respectful if disappointing 10th spot (still beaten by Hungary) to New Zealand’s more modest 15th, only one gold separated the two historic rivals, London 2012 will still be the games that for just a sweet week and a bit NZ gave their neighbours across the Tasman a bit of beating at the world’s biggest sporting event.
AOTEAROA: London 2012 was New Zealand’s most successful Olympics campaign sing 1984
6.Eric Idle at the Closing Ceremony
Both the opening and closing ceremonies showed off British humour at its best, be it Mr Bean’s rendition of Chariots of Fire (a song which has dogged the nation for the last fortnight) to the rather perplexing image of the NHS being taking over by The child catcher, Voldemort and Cruella De Vil. But the highlight for me was Eric Idle singing the infamous “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. From his faux-launch from a cannon all the way through to his duet with the fat lady to end the segment, the section was hilarious, and easily the funniest part of the entire Olympics. You can take your One Direction, Spice Girls and Beady Eye (which by the way should be looking over their shoulder for Liam Gallagher’s lawyers), Eric Idle said “shit” at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games and no one gives a monkey’s arse, love it!
ERIC IDLE: The closing ceremony was a tribute to British music
5. Mo Farah’s reaction to winning the 10,000 meters
I know this moment has already technically been chosen in number 8 but this is without a doubt my favourite reaction to winning a gold medal and I think it deserves a mention all of its own. Mo’s reaction to winning the 10,000 meters was complete, unadulterated shock and joy. By choosing this reaction over that of all the other British, or for that matter any other, gold medallist is not to say that theirs were any less great but this one was so visually real that it particularly stands out in my mind.
LEGEND: Mo shared the podium with his silver-winning American training partner Galen Rupp
4. Great Britain ends third on the table
The medal target for Team GB was 48 medals of any colour and the powers that be in British sport said they wanted more medals than Beijing, across more sports. Not an easy thing to do when you consider that the Chinese games were the first Summer games where Great Britain had managed to break into the top five since Paris 1924. And for the first few days of the games it didn’t look like we would even equal the Beijing total let alone better it. But Great Britain slowly climbed up the table and after a few exceptional days of glory we settled on third place with out gold haul just constantly growing. By the end of the first week we had a comfortable lead over every other country (with the obvious exceptions of China and the USA, who frankly are in another league of their own). But the reason I’ve chosen this as one of my top five moments (or rather achievements) of London 2012 is not because Great Britain (and Northern Ireland) managed to beat the other countries competing, but rather as a tribute to our sporting talent and a recognition of the psychological and emotional good it has done the nation. A nation which not three weeks ago was not only slowly sinking into an economic depression but a collective psychological one as well. It may not last, but the fact our sporting stars achieved something many people thought almost impossible means that we at least now have hope.
BIGGEST MEDALS: Team GB won 29 golds, 17 silvers and 19 bronze, beating the Russian Federation
3. Lighting the cauldron
So to the top three. Suitably claiming my bronze medal is the lighting of the Olympic torch in the Opening Ceremony over two weeks ago. In my opinion it was the best lighting ceremony, and the best cauldron of any games. Visually spectacular and poignantly symbolic it was one of the defining images of the games. As each country entered the stadium in the athletes procession, they inexplicably bought with them a copper funnel. It was not until seven young athletes, chosen by seven of Britain’s most successful sporting heroes, in the spirit of the games’ motto “Inspire a Generation”, came to light the flame that their purpose was revealed. Each was the flower head of a beautiful copper sculpture, seven were light by the athletes setting off a chain reaction lighting each one to form 204 individual flames. The sculpture then lifted up together to form a single cauldron, representing the 204 competing nations coming together in harmony and the spirit of fair play. If you live in the United Kingdom you can view the moment on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19018577
UNITED: The cauldron shot from beneath
2. Usain Bolt
Silver in my countdown of the best moments of London 2012 goes to a man who isn’t used to receiving that type of medal. Usain Bolt stunned the world for a second Olympic games on the trot, insuring his place in sporting legend and as one of the greatest talents to come out of Jamaica. Despite retaining this 100m, 200m and 4X100m titles from Beijing, Usain’s road to gold was by no means guaranteed coming into the games, having been beaten by his team mate Yohan Blake in the Jamaican national finals and admitting he was only about 95% fit. His fans needn’t have worried though, despite a few less than convincing performances in the heats, Bolt won each of his finals hands down and along with the rest of his Jamaican team mates won the relay with a new world record, smashing their previous one to smithereens. Usain was the personality of the games too, joking and posing his way to the gold in that special way only he knows. I will admit I have the slightest bit of a crush on him now…
36.84: Bolt, Blake, Frater and Carter’s new world record
1. Chad Le Clos’ Dad
OK so for some of you this might seem like a slightly odd choice. My best moment of the games is not a phenomenal athlete winning gold, or a country doing well on the medal table, or visual spectacle, but someone who I think is part of a group of people which are sometimes forgotten but are essential to the Olympic Games and the success of the world’s athletes. Bert Le Clos, father of Chad Le Clos, one of the new talents of 2012 who won the 200m Butterfly in the Aquatics Centre, gets my gold medal of the games. He was interviews by Claire Balding and Mark Foster on the BBC after his son’s victory and instantly warmed the hearts of the British public. His pride and joy at his son’s achievement was totally endearing. It is easy to forget how much many parents do for their children to allow them to even get to the Olympic stage let alone win a medal. So here is to Bert and all the other parents and guardians of the Olympians that brought us so much excitement over the last few weeks and reignited the joy of sport for many. You can watch his second BBC interview here if you live in the United Kingdom:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19122449
BERT: The proudest dad in the world
Owen Jack Williams 