Tuesday, 7 August 2012

London 2012 Olympics: Brilliant Hoy helps Britain smash target

London 2012 Olympics on The Intrepid Reporter
Unofficial sport-by-sport guide - Medal calendar - Full results - The Big 4 - Team sports

SIR CHRIS HOY became Britain's greatest ever Olympian this evening after winning his sixth career gold medal in the men's Keirin.

Hoy had to come from behind on the last lap to beat German Maximilian Levy, with Teun Mulder of Netherlands and New Zealander Simon van Velthooven in a dead heat for third.

Emotional scenes followed on the final day of action at the velodrome as retired rower Sir Steve Redgrave - with five Olympic golds, of course - hugged Hoy by the side of the track.

The Scotsman was also given a guard of honour by all of the British cycling coaches, and he simply could not keep away the tears when it came to the medal ceremony.

In terms of his future, 36-year-old Hoy said he would try to keep going until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but he confirmed that this was his last Olympics.

Likewise, Victoria Pendleton made her final Games appearance tonight. Unfortunately, for the Queen of the track, she went out on a low note after losing 2-0 to her great rival Australian Anna Meares in the sprint.

Nevertheless, Pendleton can reflect proudly on a career which has included two Olympic golds, one silver, nine world championship golds, two European championship golds and a Commonwealth Games gold.

But, while Hoy and Pendleton represent Great British cycling's present and past, a new star 20-year-old Laura Trott represents its present and future.

Trott became a double Olympic champion at the age of just 20 today after clocking 35.110 to win the 500m time trial and sneak the omnium by a single point from American Sarah Hammer.

This truly is indeed a golden era for Great Britain - and not just in cycling, of course.

For, if Hoy had raced on another day, the two Brownlee brothers - Alistair and Jonny - would have dominated tomorrow's headlines after their gold and bronze in the triathlon at Hyde Park.

Competition favourite Alistair completed the gruelling combination of a 1:46.25 in to win from Spaniard Javier Gomez. Alistair's younger sibling Jonny took bronze after finishing in 1:46.56.

Alistair's win was Great Britain's 19th gold medal of London 2012, equalling the haul from four years ago in Beijing.

A few hours later, that record was inevitably broken as Laura Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris, Carl Hester on Uthopia, and Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro, won gold in the team dressage final, ahead of Germany.

The Greenwich Park success also meant Britain had won medals in all three equestrian disciplines - eventing, dressage and show jumping - at the same Olympics for the first time ever.

And so, contrary to popular belief, it is not only in cycling or rowing that Britain wins - although it is clear that those two sports are very important.

Other medals today came from Nick Dempsey who won silver in the RS:X windsurfing class while, in the evening athletics session, Robbie Grabarz grabbed a bronze in the high jump, clearing 2.29m.

Grabarz's medal was Great Britain's 48th, and significant because it surpassed the total number of medals won by GB in Beijing (47), and matched the minimum target set by UK Sport for these Games.

Indeed, with five days left, and another five medals guaranteed from the latter stages of the boxing - as well as at least another silver coming from the sailing 470 class - Team GB looks set to smash its target.

Let me emphasise again - this is truly historic stuff. Only in London 1908 has Britain ever had a better Games record.

Back then, as hosts, the British and Irish team carried off 56 golds and 146 medals overall.

However, this was at a time when visiting athletes still travelled by boat and, consequently, home advantage was huge - both in terms of the quantity of competitors present (almost a third) and also their fitness.

Now, in the present day again, this historic Olympic Games for Britain was always going to produce one overriding figurehead.

Among many others, the likes of Jessica Ennis, Bradley Wiggins, Mo Farah and Andy Murray have all delivered the most astonishing performances and produced the most amazing memories.

But, after his achievements tonight and over the past decade generally, this history man of London 2012 simply must be the Real McHoy, Sir Chris Hoy.


BRITAIN'S GREATEST OLYMPIANS
Blue highlight = member of Team GB at London 2012
Rank
GSBTot
1Sir Chris Hoy (cycling)6107
2Sir Steve Redgrave (rowing)5106
3Bradley Wiggins (cycling)4127
4Ben Ainslie (sailing)4105
5Sir Matthew Pinsent (rowing)4004
5Paulo Radmilovic (water polo)4004
7Jack Beresford (rowing)3205
8Jason Kenny (cycling)3104
9Henry Taylor (swimming)3025
10Reginald Doherty (tennis)3014


MEDAL TABLE (Day 11, 22:29PM)
RankCountryGSBTotal
1CHINA (CHN)34211873
2United States (USA)30192170
3Great Britain & NI (GBR)22131348
4South Korea (KOR)125623
5Russian Federation (RUS)10182048
6France (FRA)891128
7Italy (ITA)76417
8Germany (GER)614727
9Kazakhstan (KAZ)6017
10Netherlands (NED)53614
11Australia (AUS)412925
12Iran (IRN)4318
13Hungary (HUN)4239
14North Korea (PRK)4015
15Cuba (CUB)3317
16Belarus (BLR)3238
17New Zealand (NZL)3159
18South Africa (RSA)3104
19Ukraine (UKR)3069
20Japan (JPN)2131429
21Romania (ROU)2529
22Denmark (DEN)2428
23Poland (POL)2158
23Brazil (BRZ)2158
25Jamaica (JAM)2114
26Croatia (CRO)2103
27Ethiopia (ETH)2024
28Spain (ESP)1416
29Canada (CAN)13711
30Sweden (SWE)1337
31Czech Republic (CZE)1315
32Kenya (KEN)1225
33Slovenia (SLO)1124
34Georgia (GEO)1113
35Dominican Republic (DOM)1102
35Switzerland (SUI)1102
37Lithuania (LIT)1012
38Venezuela (VEN)1001
38Algeria (ALG)1001
38Grenada (GRN)1001
41Mexico (MEX)0325
42Colombia (COL)0314
43Egypt (EGY)0202
44Slovakia (SVK)0134
45India (IND)0123
45Azerbaijan (AZE)0123
45Belgium (BEL)0123
45Armenia (ARM)0123
49Mongolia (MGL) 0112
49Norway (NOR)0112
49Indonesia (INA) 0112
49Serbia (SBR)0112
49Tunisia (TUN)0112
49Estonia (EST)0112
55Cyprus (CYP)0101
55Finland (FIN)0101
55Guatemala (GUA)0101
55Malaysia (MAS)0101
55Thailand (THA)0101
55Chinese Taipei (TPE)0101
61Greece (GRE)0022
61Moldova (MDA)0022
61Singapore (SIN)0022
61Qatar (QAT)0022
65Uzbekistan (UZB)0011
65Hong Kong (HKG)0011
65Argentina (ARG)0011
65Kuwait (KUW)0011
65Morocco (MAR)0011
65Puerto Rico (PUR)0011
65Saudi Arabia (KSA)0011
65Trinidad & Tobago (TRI)0011
65Turkey (TUR)0011

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