These London Olympics have certainly been memorable, haven't they? And they've been memorable for a number of reasons. It has to be a thrill for the athletes and fans alike for the competitions to be at some of London's most historic venues, and the views of the city at certain events have been breathtaking (how about that view from beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade?). But what I'll remember most is the performance of the home team.
Remember back in the beginning of the Olympics when the British fans were freaking out because they didn't have any gold medals yet? Yeah, well, so much for that. We all knew that the Brits were going to be very successful at their home Olympics, but this is ridiculous. Their goal was to finish fourth in the medal standings. At this point, I'd be shocked if they didn't finish third. (It's eerie how similar this is to Canada's performance in Vancouver.)
Everyone started to panic when Mark Cavendish didn't win the men's road race on the opening day of the Games. In fact, they were shut out entirely on day one. Elizabeth Armitstead won the first medal with a silver in the women's road race, but the floodgates didn't really open until Wednesday, when they were blown off their freakin' hinges. The first gold came in women's rowing (the first in British Olympic history), followed by another from Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins in the men's time trial. Turns out that was just the beginning.
Great Britain has dominated the sports it's traditionally strong at: equestrian (where the Queen's granddaughter won a silver medal that was presented by her mother, Princess Anne), rowing, cycling and sailing (the "sitting down sports" as that guy told Mary Carillo in her piece last night), as well as track & field. But we've also seen breakthroughs in sports like gymnastics and whitewater canoeing (they went 1-2 in men's doubles). And, for the first time in 52 years, we saw a combined British soccer team.
But all of that pales in comparion to Saturday. Saturday is being called the "Greatest Day In British Sporting History." They won six gold medals, more than any other single-day in British Olympic history, which goes all the way back to the first Games in 1896.
Saturday night is one of those magical Olympic days that will be remembered for a long time. I don't recall there ever being an Olympics where one day went so well for the home team. At Olympic Stadium, Great Britain won three gold medals in a span of about 45 minutes. Coming into the Games, no athlete had more pressure on them than Jessica Ennis. She delivered. Big time. Ennis blew out the field in the heptathlon (setting a heptathlon world record in the first event, the 100-meter hurdles) and capped it off by finishing first in the final event, the 800 meters.
That came just before the men's long jump finished. The unexpected winner there was Greg Rutherford, another Brit. Then it was the final of the men's 10,000 meters, featuring Mo Farah, who was under just as much pressure to win gold as Ennis. Well, he came through, too, charging to the lead down the final stretch and holding off the challenge of the Kenyans and Ethiopians. The winner of the silver? Galen Rupp of the United States, Farah's training partner.
As if that wasn't enough, you had Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer at Centre Court Wimbledon on Sunday. I've never heard this much buzz about an Olympic tennis final. (I think it's hilarious how NBC treated it like actual Wimbledon and used their Wimbledon studio, broadcast position and broadcast team, even though they don't have the rights to Wimbledon anymore.) This is the match that proved once and for all that professional tennis players DO belong in the Olympics and DO want to be there.
Anyway, we saw this already. A month ago, Federer beat Murray in the Wimbledon final. But this wasn't Wimbledon. This was the Olympics. The British fans were actually allowed to wildly cheer for Murray, and he used that energy. Not only did he win, he blew Roger out. It wasn't winning Wimbledon, but it was close enough. Andy Murray won Olympic gold for Great Britain on Centre Court (as predicted by this blog in January). A sleeping giant may have been awakened. Oh yeah, he was back on Centre Court a few hours later for the mixed doubles final, taking silver with Laura Robson.
I've also had fun playing the game "Where at the Olympics Is the Royal Family?" I think it's safe to say that Will, Kate and Harry have been enjoying the Games. Seriously, what event haven't they been at? The best part is that they're not being "royals" right now. They're being regular young, sport-loving people who want to cheer on the home team. (Of course, being royals doesn't hurt, since it means they get to go to whatever they want and even hang out with the athletes.) One pressing question continues to bother me, though. Where's Pippa?
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