London 2012: the Parade of Champions

GREAT BRITAIN MEDALLISTS 
AT THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS

GOLD

Athletics

Jessica Ennis Heptathlon

Mo Farah Men's 5,000m and Men's 10,000m 
Greg Rutherford Men's long jump

Boxing

Nicola Adams Women's flyweight
Luke Campbell Men's bantamweight

Anthony Joshua Men's super heavyweight 

Canoe - slalom

Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott Men's C-2

Canoe - sprint

Ed McKeever Men's K-1 200m

Cycling - road

Bradley Wiggins Men's time trial

Cycling - track

Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny & Sir Chris Hoy Men's team sprint

Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas & Peter Kennaugh Men's team pursuit

Laura Trott, Dani King & Joanna Rowsell Women's team pursuit

Sir Chris Hoy Men's Keirin

Jason Kenny Men's sprint

Victoria Pendleton Women's Keirin

Laura Trott Women's Omnium

Equestrian - dressage

Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester & Charlotte Dujardin Team dressage

Charlotte Dujardin Individual dressage

Equestrian - jumping

Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash & Peter Charles Team jumping

Rowing

Helen Glover & Heather Stanning Women's pair

Katherine Grainger & Anna Watkins Women's double scull

Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Alex Gregory & Tom James Men's four

Katherine Copeland & Sophie Hosking Women's lightweight double scull

Sailing

Ben Ainslie Men's Finn

Shooting

Peter Wilson Men's Double trap
Taekwondo

Jade Jones Women's lightweight 57kg

Tennis

Andy Murray Men's singles

Triathlon

Alistair Brownlee Men's triathlon

SILVER

Athletics

Christine Ohuruogu Women's 400m

Boxing

Fred Evans Men's welterweight

Canoeing - slalom

David Florence & Richard Hounslow Men's C-2

Cycling - road

Lizzie Armistead Women's road race

Cycling - track

Victoria Pendleton Women's sprint

Equestrian - eventing

Tina Cook, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King, Zara Phillips & Nicola Wilson Team eventing

Gymnastics

Louis Smith Pommel horse

Judo

Gemma Gibbons Women's half-heavyweight 78kg

Modern Pentathlon

Samantha Murray Women's modern pentathlon

Rowing

Chris Bartley, Richard Chambers, Peter Chambers & Rob Williams Men's lightweight four

Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter Men's lightweight double scull

Sailing

Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson Star

Nick Dempsey Men's RS-X

Luke Patience & Stuart Bithell Men's 470

Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark Women's 470

Swimming

Michael Jamieson Men's 200m breaststroke

Tennis

Andy Murray & Laura Robson Mixed doubles

BRONZE 

Athletics

Robbie Grabarz Men's high jump

Boxing

Anthony Ogogo Men's middleweight

Canoeing - sprint

Liam Heath & Jon Schofield Men's K-2 200m

Cycling - road  
Chris Froome Men's time trial
Cycling - track

Ed Clancy Men's Omnium
Diving

Tom Daley Men's 10m platform

Equestrian - dressage

Laura Bechtolsheimer Individual dressage

Gymnastics

Sam Oldham, Dan Purvis, Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas & Max Whitlock Men's team all-round

Max Whitlock Pommel horse

Beth Tweddle Uneven bars

Hockey

Women's team Beth Storry, Emile Maguire, Laura Unsworth, Crista Cullen, Hannah MacLeod, Anne Panter, Helen Richardson, Kate Walsh, Chloe Rogers, Laura Bartlett, Alex Danson, Georgie Twigg, Ashleigh Ball, Sally Walton, Nicola White & Sarah Thomas

Judo

Karina Bryant Women's heavyweight +78kg

Swimming

Rebecca Adlington Women's 400m freestyle, Women's 800m freestyle

Taekwondo

Lutalo Muhammad Men's middleweight 80kg
Triathlon

Jonny Brownlee Men's triathlon

Rowing

Alex Partridge, James Foad, Tom Ransley, Richard Egington, Mohamed Sbihi, Greg Searle, Matthew Langridge, Constantine Louloudis & Phelan Hill (cox) Men's eight

George Nash & Will Satch Men's pair

Alan Campbell Men's single scull

GREAT BRITAIN MEDALLISTS 
AT THE LONDON 2012 PARALYMPICS

GOLD

Archery
Danielle Brown Women's individual compound - open
Athletics
Jonnie Peacock Men's 100m T44
Hannah Cockcroft (two) Women's 100m T34, Women's 200m T34
Richard Whitehead Men's 200m T42
Aled Davies Men's discus F42
David Weir (four) Men's 800m T54, Men's 1500m T54, Men's 5000m T54, Men's marathon T54
Mickey Bushell Men's 100m T37
Josie Pearson Women's discus F51-53
Cycling
Sarah Storey (four) Women's individual pursuit C5, Women's 500m time trial C4-5, Women's road time trial C5, Women's road race C4-5
Mark Colbourne Men's individual pursuit C1
Neil Fachie [Barney Storey (pilot)] Men's 1km time trial B
Anthony Kappes [Craig MacLean (pilot)] Men's individual sprint B
David Stone Mixed road race T1-2
Equestrian
Sophie Christiansen, Deborah Criddle, Lee Pearson & Sophie Wells Team championship 
Natasha Baker (two) [Cabral] Individual championship test grade II, Individual freestyle test grade II
Sophie Christiansen (two) [Janeiro 6] Individual championship test grade Ia, Individual freestyle test grade Ia
Rowing  
Pam Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe & Lily van den Broecke (cox) Mixed coxed four LTAMix4+
Sailing  
Helena Lucas 2.4 mR - 1 person keelboat
Swimming  
Jonathan Fox Men's 100m backstroke S7
Eleanor Simmonds (two) Women's 400m freestyle S6, Women's 200m individual medley SM6
Jessica-Jane Applegate Women's 200m freestyle S14
Heather Frederiksen Women's 100m backstroke S8
Oliver Hynd Men's 200m individual medley SM8
Josef Craig Men's 400m freestyle S7

SILVER

Archery
Mel Clarke Women's individual compound - open
Athletics
Stefanie Reid Women's long jump F42-44 
Graeme Ballard Men's 100m T36
Libby Clegg [Mikail Huggins (guide)] Women's 100m T12
Paul Blake Men's 400m T36 
Bethy Woodward Women's 200m T37
Dan Greaves Men's discus F44
Shelly Woods Women's marathon T54
Boccia
David Smith Individual BC1
Cycling
Mark Colbourne (two) Men's 1km time trial C1-3, Men's road time trial C1
Aileen McGlynn [Helen Scott (pilot)] Women's individual B 1km time trial
Neil Fachie [Barney Storey (pilot)] Men's individual sprint B
Jon-Allan Butterworth (two) Men's 1k time trial C4-5, Men's individual pursuit C5
Shaun McKeown Men's individual pursuit C3
Jon-Allan Butterworth, Darren Kenny, Rik Waddon Mixed team sprint C1-5
Karen Darke Women's road time trial H1-2
Equestrian
Lee Pearson [Gentleman] Individual championship test grade Ib
Sophie Wells (two) [Pinocchio] Individual championship test grade IV, Individual freestyle test grade IV
Deborah Criddle (two) [LJT Akilles] Individual championship test grade III, Individual freestyle test grade III
Judo 
Sam Ingram Men's 90kg
Shooting  
Matt Skelhon Mixed R3 - 10m air rifle prone SH1
Swimming  
Nyree Kindred Women's 100m backstroke S6
Sascha Kindred Men's 200m individual medley SM6 
Hannah Russell Women's 400m freestyle S12
Oliver Hynd Men's 400m freestyle S8 
Matthew Whorwood Men's 400m freestyle S6
Claire Cashmore Women's 100m breaststroke SB8
James Crisp Men's 100m backstroke S9
Heather Frederiksen (two) Women's 100m freestyle S8, Women's 400m freestyle S8
Charlotte Henshaw Women's 100m breaststroke SB6
Stephanie Millward (three) Women's 100m backstroke S9, Women's 400m freestyle S9, Women's 200m individual medley SM9
Aaron Moores Men's 100m backstroke S14
Eleanor Simmonds Women's 100m freestyle S6
Louise Watkin Women's 50m freestyle S9
Claire Cashmore, Heather Frederiksen, Stephanie Millward & Louise Watkin Women's 4x100m medley relay 34pts
Table tennis
Will Bayley Men's singles class 7
Wheelchair tennis
Andy Lapthorne & Peter Norfolk Quad doubles
 

BRONZE

Athletics
Aled Davies Men's shot put F42-44 
Gemma Prescott Women's club throw F31/32/51 
Rob Womack Men's shot put F54-56
Claire Williams Women's discus F11-12
David Devine (two) Men's 800m T12, Men's 1500m T13
Olivia Breen/Bethy Woodward/Katrina Hart/Jenny McLoughlin Women's 4x100m relay T35/T38
Beverley Jones Women's discus F37
Ben Rushgrove Women's 200m T36
Paul Blake Women's 800m T36
Ola Abidogun Men's 100m T46
Boccia
Dan Bentley/Nigel Murray/David Smith/Zoe Robinson Mixed team BC1-2
Cycling
Darren Kenny Men's individual pursuit C3
Jody Cundy Men's individual pursuit C4
Aileen McGlynn [Helen Scott (pilot)] Women's individual pursuit B
David Stone Mixed road time trial T1-2
Rachel Morris Women's road race H1-3
Equestrian
Lee Pearson [Gentleman] Individual freestyle test grade Ib
Judo 
Ben Quilter Men's 60kg
Powerlifting
Zoe Newson Women's 40kg
Sailing
Niki Birrell & Alex Rickham SKUD18 - 2 person keelboat
Shooting
James Bevis Mixed R5 - 10m air rifle prone SH2
Matt Skelhon Mixed R6 - 50m air rifle prone SH1
Swimming
Sam Hynd Men's 400m freestyle S8
Matthew Whorwood Men's 400m freestyle S6
Hannah Russell (two) Women's 100m butterfly S12, Women's 100m backstroke S12
James Clegg Men's 100m butterfly S12
Natalie Jones Women's 200m individual medley SM6
Susie Rodgers (two) Women's 100m freestyle S7, Women's 400m freestyle S7
Oliver Hynd Men's 100m backstroke S8
Eleanor Simmonds Women's 50m freestyle S6
Matthew Walker Men's 50m freestyle S7
Robert Welbourn Men's 200m individual medley SM8
Liz Johnson Women's 100m breaststroke SB6
Louise Watkin Women's 200m individual medley SM9
Harriet Lee Women's 100m breaststroke SB9
Claire Cashmore, Stephanie Millward, Susie Rodgers & Louise Watkin Women's 4x100m freestyle relay 34pts
Table tennis
Paul Davies Men's singles class 1
Jane Campbell & Sara Head Women's team class 1-3
Ross Wilson & Will Bayley Men's team class 6-8
Wheelchair tennis
Lucy Shuker & Jordanne Whiley Women's doubles

London 2012 Olympics: Happy and glorious - the Great British medallists

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

"DOES it really have to end?" I asked at the conclusion of my last blog post. Sadly, yes, it did indeed have to end. 

But, from Lizzie Armistead's silver medal in the women's road race to Samantha Murray's medal of the same colour in the modern pentathlon, this was an epic 16 days which Great Britain, as a country, will never forget. 

London 2012 has, for a short while at least, made Britain feel truly great again as - despite all the worries beforehand - it has delivered a brilliant Olympic Games.

As chairman of organisers LOCOG, Lord Sebastian Coe - himself a two-time Olympic gold medallist - promised at the opening ceremony that London would "do it right". 

At the closing ceremony last night, he was able to confirm that had been the case. "We lit the flame and lit up the world," he added, before the biggest cheer of the night arrived. 

It was not for the athletes or their coaches - but deservedly for the Games Makers, a 70,000-strong army of volunteers who had changed the face of London for a glorious two weeks.

London was actually the first host to introduce volunteers to the Olympics when it hosted them previously in 1948 as a war-ravaged country struggled to meet the costs.

There were similar fears this time around. Britain may not be in a state of war but the economic outlook is little brighter and the £9bn which it spent was probably too much in the cold light of day.

Now that it is spent, though, it makes it all the more important then that the money has been invested wisely and that there is genuine legacy to London 2012. This can only be judged in time, of course.

For now, it is time just to sit back and recall the 65 medal-winning moments which Great British athletes produced at these brilliant Olympic Games, as well as so many other memories. 

A roll of honour featuring them all can be found below.

GOLD

Athletics

Jessica Ennis Heptathlon

Mo Farah 5,000m and 10,000m 
Greg Rutherford Long jump

Boxing

Nicola Adams Women's flyweight
Luke Campbell Men's bantamweight

Anthony Joshua Men's super heavyweight - Great Britain's 29th and final gold of London 2012

Canoe - slalom

Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott Men's C-2

Canoe - sprint

Ed McKeever Men's K-1 200m

Cycling - road

Bradley Wiggins Men's time trial

Cycling - track

Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny & Sir Chris Hoy Men's team sprint

Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas & Peter Kennaugh Men's team pursuit

Laura Trott, Dani King & Joanna Rowsell Women's team pursuit

Sir Chris Hoy Men's Keirin

Jason Kenny Men's sprint

Victoria Pendleton Women's Keirin

Laura Trott Women's Omnium

Equestrian - dressage

Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester & Charlotte Dujardin Team dressage

Charlotte Dujardin Individual dressage

Equestrian - jumping

Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash & Peter Charles Team jumping

Rowing

Helen Glover & Heather Stanning Women's pair - Great Britain's first gold of London 2012

Katherine Grainger & Anna Watkins Women's double scull

Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Alex Gregory & Tom James Men's four

Katherine Copeland & Sophie Hosking Women's lightweight double scull

Sailing

Ben Ainslie Finn

Shooting

Peter Wilson Double trap

Taekwondo

Jade Jones Women's lightweight 57kg

Tennis

Andy Murray Men's singles

Triathlon

Alistair Brownlee Men's triathlon

SILVER

Athletics

Christine Ohuruogu 400m

Boxing

Fred Evans Men's welterweight

Canoeing - slalom

David Florence & Richard Hounslow Men's C-2

Cycling - road

Lizzie Armistead Women's road race - Great Britain's first medal of London 2012

Cycling - track

Victoria Pendleton Women's sprint

Equestrian - eventing

Tina Cook, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King, Zara Phillips & Nicola Wilson Team eventing

Gymnastics

Louis Smith Pommel horse

Judo

Gemma Gibbons Women's half-heavyweight 78kg

Modern Pentathlon

Samantha Murray Women's modern pentathlon - Great Britain's 65th and final medal of London 2012

Rowing

Chris Bartley, Richard Chambers, Peter Chambers & Rob Williams Men's lightweight four

Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter Men's lightweight double scull

Sailing

Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson Star

Nick Dempsey Men's RS-X

Luke Patience & Stuart Bithell Men's 470

Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark Women's 470

Swimming

Michael Jamieson 200m breaststroke

Tennis

Andy Murray & Laura Robson Mixed doubles

BRONZE 
Athletics

Robbie Grabarz High jump

Boxing

Anthony Ogogo Men's middleweight

Canoeing - sprint

Liam Heath & Jon Schofield Men's K-2 200m

Cycling - road  
Chris Froome Men's time trial

Cycling - track

Ed Clancy Men's Omnium

Diving

Tom Daley Men's 10m platform

Equestrian - dressage

Laura Bechtolsheimer Individual dressage

Gymnastics

Sam Oldham, Dan Purvis, Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas & Max Whitlock Men's team all-round

Max Whitlock Pommel horse

Beth Tweddle Uneven bars

Hockey

Women's team Beth Storry, Emile Maguire, Laura Unsworth, Crista Cullen, Hannah MacLeod, Anne Panter, Helen Richardson, Kate Walsh, Chloe Rogers, Laura Bartlett, Alex Danson, Georgie Twigg, Ashleigh Ball, Sally Walton, Nicola White & Sarah Thomas

Judo

Karina Bryant Women's heavyweight +78kg

Swimming

Rebecca Adlington 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle

Taekwondo

Lutalo Muhammad Men's middleweight 80kg

Triathlon

Jonny Brownlee Men's triathlon

Rowing

Alex Partridge, James Foad, Tom Ransley, Richard Egington, Mohamed Sbihi, Greg Searle, Matthew Langridge, Constantine Louloudis & Phelan Hill (cox) Men's eight

George Nash & Will Satch Men's pair

Alan Campbell Men's single scull


FINAL MEDAL TABLE

Rank	Country	G	S	B	Total
1	UNITED STATES (USA)	45	29	29	103
2	China (CHN)	38	27	23	88
3	Great Britain & NI (GBR)	29	17	19	65
4	Russian Federation (RUS)	24	26	32	82
5	South Korea (KOR)	13	8	7	28
6	Germany (GER)	11	19	14	44
7	France (FRA)	11	11	12	34
8	Italy (ITA)	8	8	11	27
9	Hungary (HUN)	8	4	5	17
10	Australia (AUS)	7	16	12	35
11	Japan (JPN)	7	14	17	38
12	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	7	1	5	13
13	Netherlands (NED)	6	6	8	20
14	Ukraine (UKR)	6	5	9	20
15	New Zealand (NZL)	6	2	5	13
16	Cuba (CUB)	5	3	6	14
17	Iran (IRN)	4	5	3	12
18	Jamaica (JAM)	4	4	4	12
19	Czech Republic (CZE)	4	3	3	10
20	North Korea (PRK)	4	0	2	6
21	Spain (ESP)	3	9	4	16
22	Brazil (BRZ)	3	5	9	17
23	South Africa (RSA)	3	2	1	6
24	Ethiopia (ETH)	3	1	3	7
25	Croatia (CRO)	3	1	2	6
26	Belarus (BLR)	2	5	5	12
27	Romania (ROU)	2	5	2	9
28	Kenya (KEN)	2	4	5	11
29	Denmark (DEN)	2	4	3	9
30	Poland (POL)	2	2	6	10
30	Azerbaijan (AZE)	2	2	6	10
32	Turkey (TUR)	2	2	1	5
33	Switzerland (SUI)	2	2	0	4
34	Lithuania (LIT)	1	1	2	4
35	Norway (NOR)	2	1	1	4
36	Canada (CAN)	1	5	12	18
37	Sweden (SWE)	1	4	3	8
38	Colombia (COL)	1	3	4	8
39	Mexico (MEX)	1	3	3	7
39	Georgia (GEO)	1	3	3	7
41	Ireland (IRL)	1	1	3	5
42	Argentina (ARG)	1	1	2	4
42	Slovenia (SLO)	1	1	2	4
42	Serbia (SBR)	1	1	2	4
45	Tunisia (TUN)	1	1	1	3
46	Dominican Republic (DOM)	1	1	0	2
47	Trinidad & Tobago (TRI)	1	0	3	4
47	Uzbekistan (UZB)	1	0	3	4
49	Latvia (LAT)	1	0	1	2
50	Algeria (ALG)	1	0	0	1
50	Bahamas (BAH)	1	0	0	1
50	Grenada (GRN)	1	0	0	1
50	Uganda (UGA)	1	0	0	1
50	Venezuela (VEN)	1	0	0	1
55	India (IND)	0	2	4	6
56	Mongolia (MGL)	0	2	3	5
57	Thailand (THA)	0	2	1	3
58	Egypt (EGY)	0	2	0	2
59	Slovakia (SVK)	0	1	3	4
60	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	2	3
60	Armenia (ARM)	0	1	2	3
60	Finland (FIN)	0	1	2	3
63	Indonesia (INA)	0	1	1	2
63	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	1	2
63	Estonia (EST)	0	1	1	2
63	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	1	2
63	Malaysia (MAS)	0	1	1	2
63	Puerto Rico (PUR)	0	1	1	2
69	Botswana (BOT)	0	1	0	1
69	Cyprus (CYP)	0	1	0	1
69	Gabon (GAB)	0	1	0	1
69	Guatemala (GUA)	0	1	0	1
69	Montenegro (MNE)	0	1	0	1
69	Portugal (POR)	0	1	0	1
75	Greece (GRE)	0	0	2	2
75	Moldova (MDA)	0	0	2	2
75	Singapore (SIN)	0	0	2	2
75	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	2	2
79	Afghanistan (AFG)	0	0	1	1
79	Bahrain (BRN)	0	0	1	1
79	Hong Kong (HKG)	0	0	1	1
79	Kuwait (KUW)	0	0	1	1
79	Morocco (MAR)	0	0	1	1
79	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	0	0	1	1
79	Tajikistan (TJK)	0	0	1	1

London 2012 Olympics: Farah and Bolt finish off with a flourish

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

MO FARAH completed an amazing double by winning the 5,000m on another golden night for British athletics at the Olympic Stadium.

Farah, who won the 10,000m last on 'Super Saturday' last weekend, again ran a brilliant tactical race, taking to the front on the bell for the last lap.

On the back straight, it looked as if he may have gone to early with Kenyan Thomas Longosiwa sitting right on his shoulder, seemingly ready to pounce.

However, Farah's renowned late burst of pace in the home straight left Longosiwa trailing in his wake, and the Londoner won in 13:41.66. Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel took silver with Longosiwa ultimately just hanging on in third.

As he crossed the line, Farah had a look of sheer disbelief at his achievement written all over his face. Well, Mo - you better believe it for you are now a double Olympic champion!

It was indeed another truly special night for the 80,000 spectators in east London as the stars of track delivered yet more immense performances.

The greatest of them all, Usain Bolt, won his sixth Olympic gold medal and broke a fourth world record after anchoring the brilliant Jamaica team in the 4x100m relay.

In truth, there was little more for Bolt to do as, by the time Yohan Blake had handed him the baton, Jamaica had pulled well clear.

Credit must go to Bolt, then, for opting to make more history rather than just strolling home ahead of United States and Trinidad & Tobago.

The Great British quartet had not qualified for the final after botching a baton changeover for the fifth time out of the last six major championships - a seriously unimpressive record.

But, thankfully, that was one of very few disappointments over the last two weeks and yesterday Team GB took its total number of medals up to 62 with 28 gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze.

Remarkably, that is the same number of golds as Germany (11), France (10) and Australia (seven) combined.

And it has been confirmed that Britain will finish third in the medal table for certain, ahead of Russia and only behind the two current superpowers, United States and China.

Before the Olympics, it perhaps felt dangerously presumptuous of governing body UK Sport calling Team GB "its greatest ever team".

However, it is now clear that it was just well-placed confidence in a supreme group of athletes, the finest group this country has ever produced.

Another golden day for GB began early on the water at Eton Dorney where trainee accountant Ed McKeever powered away from the field to win the 200m single kayak event in 36.246 seconds.

Within the hour, McKeever had been joined on the podium by Liam Heath and Jon Schofield who took bronze in the doubles event to make it four canoeing medals overall for GB at these Olympics.

Later - as the light declined on Day 15 of London 2012 - boxer Luke Campbell won Britain's 28th gold medal by beating Irishman John Joe Nevin 14-11 in his bantamweight bout.

That was Britain's first bantamweight gold since 1908, and their second gold in the ring at London 2012 after Nicola Adams made history on Thursday (Day 13) by becoming the first ever woman to win an Olympic boxing medal.

The ever-smiling Adams floored three-time Chinese world amateur champion Cancan Ren for an easy win by 16-7 on a day of girl power for Great Britain.

Having broken their duck last week in terms of rowing gold, Britain's female athletes also broke new ground in the equestrian as Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechtolsheimer won gold and bronze in the individual dressage.

With three golds, a silver and a bronze, Britain won medals across all three disciplines - jumping, dressage and eventing - in the same Olympics for the first time ever.

Gold also came on the taekwondo mat as 19-year-old Jade Jones, from Flint in Wales, capped her meteoric rise by beating Yuzhuo Hou in the lightweight category.
Two years ago, then devoid of lottery funding, the Jones family raised the £1600 she needed to attend the Youth Olympics in Singapore.

She won gold there - and now, she is a fully-fledged Olympic champion, Britain's youngest at these Games.

On Friday (Day 14), Team GB was frustrated by a lack of gold medals but it was nonetheless still a successful day.

There was double silver in the sailing as both the male and female crews - Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell and Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark - won in the 470 class.

With silver actually already secured for both of them going into the medal race, there had been hopes that they would push for an overall victory - but, amid light winds in Weymouth, their challenges unfortunately faltered.

Later, those two silver medals were added to by three bronzes - in boxing courtesy of Anthony Ogogo in the middleweight division, taekwondo thanks to Lutalo Muhammad, and women's field hockey.

The hockey squad thus overcame the disappointment of losing their semi final 2-1 to Argentina in the finest possible way - by beating New Zealand 3-1 for bronze.

Unfortunately, the men could not follow suit. They lost their bronze match against Australia by the same score - although that was at least an improvement on their devastating 9-2 semi final defeat to Netherlands.

Finally, teenager Tom Daley has had his fair share of low points at London 2012, finishing in the worst possible placing - fourth - in the synchronised event before struggling in the individual preliminaries.

Daley had edged through his first round down in 15th but then improved in the semi finals to be placed in fourth again.

Thankfully, in the final, Daley delivered his best, and his consistency over six dives was rewarded with a brilliant bronze.

His dad, Rob, who died after battling cancer last year, would have been so proud of him - and it was touching to see the youngster pay tribute.

"I know that if he was here he would be very proud," said the 18-year-old, who is Britain's first individual diving medallist for 52 years.

"It's really tough not having him here, but I'm so glad to come out with something to show for it after all of the hard work we put in together."

Yet another magic moment in these Olympics - there have been so many, as this excellent BBC video amply demonstrates. Does it really all have to end today?

MEDAL TABLE (Day 16, 15:54)

Rank	Country	G	S	B	Total
1	UNITED STATES (USA)	45	29	29	103
2	China (CHN)	38	27	22	87
3	Great Britain & NI (GBR)	28	16	19	63
4	Russian Federation (RUS)	21	25	33	79
5	South Korea (KOR)	13	8	7	28
6	Germany (GER)	11	19	14	44
7	France (FRA)	10	11	12	33
8	Italy (ITA)	8	7	9	24
9	Hungary (HUN)	8	4	5	17
10	Australia (AUS)	7	16	12	35
11	Japan (JPN)	7	14	17	38
12	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	7	0	5	12
13	Netherlands (NED)	6	6	8	20
14	Ukraine (UKR)	6	5	9	20
15	Cuba (CUB)	5	3	6	14
16	New Zealand (NZL)	5	3	5	13
17	Iran (IRN)	4	5	3	12
18	Jamaica (JAM)	4	4	4	12
19	North Korea (PRK)	4	0	2	6
20	Spain (ESP)	3	9	4	16
21	Brazil (BRZ)	3	4	8	15
22	Belarus (BLR)	3	4	5	12
23	Czech Republic (CZE)	3	3	3	9
24	South Africa (RSA)	3	2	1	6
25	Ethiopia (ETH)	3	1	3	7
26	Romania (ROU)	2	5	2	9
27	Kenya (KEN)	2	4	5	11
28	Denmark (DEN)	2	4	3	9
29	Poland (POL)	2	2	6	10
29	Azerbaijan (AZE)	2	2	6	10
31	Turkey (TUR)	2	2	1	5
32	Croatia (CRO)	2	1	2	5
33	Norway (NOR)	2	1	1	4
34	Switzerland (SUI)	2	1	0	3
35	Canada (CAN)	1	5	12	18
36	Colombia (COL)	1	3	4	8
37	Mexico (MEX)	1	3	3	7
37	Sweden (SWE)	1	3	3	7
37	Georgia (GEO)	1	3	3	7
40	Ireland (IRL)	1	1	3	5
41	Argentina (ARG)	1	1	2	4
41	Slovenia (SLO)	1	1	2	4
41	Lithuania (LIT)	1	1	2	4
44	Serbia (SBR)	1	1	1	3
44	Tunisia (TUN)	1	1	1	3
46	Dominican Republic (DOM)	1	1	0	2
47	Trinidad & Tobago (TRI)	1	1	3	5
47	Uzbekistan (UZB)	1	1	3	5
49	Latvia (LAT)	1	0	1	2
50	Algeria (ALG)	1	0	0	1
50	Bahamas (BAH)	1	0	0	1
50	Grenada (GRN)	1	0	0	1
50	Uganda (UGA)	1	0	0	1
50	Venezuela (VEN)	1	0	0	1
55	India (IND)	0	2	4	6
56	Mongolia (MGL)	0	2	3	5
57	Thailand (THA)	0	2	1	3
58	Egypt (EGY)	0	2	0	2
59	Slovakia (SVK)	0	1	3	4
60	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	2	3
60	Armenia (ARM)	0	1	2	3
60	Finland (FIN)	0	1	2	3
63	Indonesia (INA)	0	1	1	2
63	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	1	2
63	Estonia (EST)	0	1	1	2
63	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	1	2
63	Malaysia (MAS)	0	1	1	2
63	Puerto Rico (PUR)	0	1	1	2
69	Botswana (BOT)	0	1	0	1
69	Cyprus (CYP)	0	1	0	1
69	Gabon (GAB)	0	1	0	1
69	Guatemala (GUA)	0	1	0	1
69	Montenegro (MNE)	0	1	0	1
69	Portugal (POR)	0	1	0	1
75	Greece (GRE)	0	0	2	2
75	Moldova (MDA)	0	0	2	2
75	Singapore (SIN)	0	0	2	2
75	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	2	2
79	Afghanistan (AFG)	0	0	1	1
79	Bahrain (BRN)	0	0	1	1
79	Hong Kong (HKG)	0	0	1	1
79	Kuwait (KUW)	0	0	1	1
79	Morocco (MAR)	0	0	1	1
79	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	0	0	1	1
79	Tajikistan (TJK)	0	0	1	1

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		G	S	B	Tot
1	Sir Chris Hoy (cycling)	6	1	0	7
2	Sir Steve Redgrave (rowing)	5	1	0	6
3	Bradley Wiggins (cycling)	4	1	2	7
4	Ben Ainslie (sailing)	4	1	0	5
5	Sir Matthew Pinsent (rowing)	4	0	0	4
5	Paulo Radmilovic (water polo)	4	0	0	4
7	Jack Beresford (rowing)	3	2	0	5
8	Jason Kenny (cycling)	3	1	0	4
9	Henry Taylor (swimming)	3	0	2	5
10	Reginald Doherty (tennis)	3	0	1	4

MEDAL TABLE (Day 11, 22:29PM)

Rank	Country	G	S	B	Total
1	CHINA (CHN)	34	21	18	73
2	United States (USA)	30	19	21	70
3	Great Britain & NI (GBR)	22	13	13	48
4	South Korea (KOR)	12	5	6	23
5	Russian Federation (RUS)	10	18	20	48
6	France (FRA)	8	9	11	28
7	Italy (ITA)	7	6	4	17
8	Germany (GER)	6	14	7	27
9	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	6	0	1	7
10	Netherlands (NED)	5	3	6	14
11	Australia (AUS)	4	12	9	25
12	Iran (IRN)	4	3	1	8
13	Hungary (HUN)	4	2	3	9
14	North Korea (PRK)	4	0	1	5
15	Cuba (CUB)	3	3	1	7
16	Belarus (BLR)	3	2	3	8
17	New Zealand (NZL)	3	1	5	9
18	South Africa (RSA)	3	1	0	4
19	Ukraine (UKR)	3	0	6	9
20	Japan (JPN)	2	13	14	29
21	Romania (ROU)	2	5	2	9
22	Denmark (DEN)	2	4	2	8
23	Poland (POL)	2	1	5	8
23	Brazil (BRZ)	2	1	5	8
25	Jamaica (JAM)	2	1	1	4
26	Croatia (CRO)	2	1	0	3
27	Ethiopia (ETH)	2	0	2	4
28	Spain (ESP)	1	4	1	6
29	Canada (CAN)	1	3	7	11
30	Sweden (SWE)	1	3	3	7
31	Czech Republic (CZE)	1	3	1	5
32	Kenya (KEN)	1	2	2	5
33	Slovenia (SLO)	1	1	2	4
34	Georgia (GEO)	1	1	1	3
35	Dominican Republic (DOM)	1	1	0	2
35	Switzerland (SUI)	1	1	0	2
37	Lithuania (LIT)	1	0	1	2
38	Venezuela (VEN)	1	0	0	1
38	Algeria (ALG)	1	0	0	1
38	Grenada (GRN)	1	0	0	1
41	Mexico (MEX)	0	3	2	5
42	Colombia (COL)	0	3	1	4
43	Egypt (EGY)	0	2	0	2
44	Slovakia (SVK)	0	1	3	4
45	India (IND)	0	1	2	3
45	Azerbaijan (AZE)	0	1	2	3
45	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	2	3
45	Armenia (ARM)	0	1	2	3
49	Mongolia (MGL)	0	1	1	2
49	Norway (NOR)	0	1	1	2
49	Indonesia (INA)	0	1	1	2
49	Serbia (SBR)	0	1	1	2
49	Tunisia (TUN)	0	1	1	2
49	Estonia (EST)	0	1	1	2
55	Cyprus (CYP)	0	1	0	1
55	Finland (FIN)	0	1	0	1
55	Guatemala (GUA)	0	1	0	1
55	Malaysia (MAS)	0	1	0	1
55	Thailand (THA)	0	1	0	1
55	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	0	1
61	Greece (GRE)	0	0	2	2
61	Moldova (MDA)	0	0	2	2
61	Singapore (SIN)	0	0	2	2
61	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	2	2
65	Uzbekistan (UZB)	0	0	1	1
65	Hong Kong (HKG)	0	0	1	1
65	Argentina (ARG)	0	0	1	1
65	Kuwait (KUW)	0	0	1	1
65	Morocco (MAR)	0	0	1	1
65	Puerto Rico (PUR)	0	0	1	1
65	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	0	0	1	1
65	Trinidad & Tobago (TRI)	0	0	1	1
65	Turkey (TUR)	0	0	1	1

London 2012 Olympics: Joy of six for Great Britain on Super Saturday

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

SIX gold medals - yes, that's SIX. And, just like the old football vidiprinter announcing a high-scoring win for a team, it still seems barely believable.

The middle Saturday of the London 2012 Games - 4 August - had been billed in its run-up as 'Super Saturday', because of the number of gold medals to be awarded.

However, no one dared to think it would result in Great Britain's best ever day in the entirety of the 116 years of modern Olympic history.

Overall, 25 gold medals were awarded at the XXX Olympiad yesterday. Incredibly, nearly a quarter of them went to Britons.

They came in three disciplines - rowing, cycling and athletics. And it all began at the Eton Dorney rowing lake in Berkshire where the team there added to its record Olympic haul with a successful defence of its men's four title and victory for the first time in the women's lightweight double sculls. Simply oar-some!

Those two medals, before 1pm, put Great Britain into third in the medal table, behind only the powerhouses of United States and China. It will hopefully be a position they will not relinquish.

Whether that is actually the case or not, the slightly desperate front-page headline from The Sun newspaper on Tuesday - "Wanted: Gold Medal" - is rather redundant now.

For, ever since that early sense of panic, Britain has been on a roll with five medals on Wednesday, six on Thursday, seven on Friday and another seven yesterday.

It was off to the velodrome after the rowing as Great Britain added another gold in its other recognisably strong sport - cycling.

Indeed, this was a cycling masterclass from Laura Trott, Dani King and Jo Rowsell who crushed the United States to win the women's team pursuit in 3:14.051.

Remarkably, that time was their sixth successive world record. It had already been another great day.

But, then, as the clock ticked past nine, the greatest evening in British athletics history began.

It starred Sheffield heptathlete Jessica Ennis - though, to be honest, she had already done most of the hard work.

Golden girl Ennis led the heptathlon competition from the start after setting personal bests in the 100m hurdles (12.54s) and 200m (22.83s) on day one.

She also produced creditable performances in her slightly weaker events - the high jump and the shot-put - and that pattern was repeated on day two in the javelin, where she scored another PB, and the long jump.

Going into the final event - the 800m - Ennis had a lead of 188 points. Short of tweaking a hamstring and having the hobble around, the title was hers - although, just for good measure, she won it anyway in 2:08.65.

Ennis - with a personal best overall points total - thus justified her position as the poster girl of the London 2012 Olympics and proved that, while some may wilt under the pressure, the very best rise to the occasion.

Of course, there are greater expectations for certain athletes as compared to others, and it would be fair to say that few people had Greg Rutherford down for long jump gold before the Olympics began.

Nevertheless, that is what the 25-year-old delivered after his fourth round leap of 8.31m was enough to beat off his main competition from Australian Mitchell Watt (8.16m) and American Will Claye (8.12m).

The unexpected nature of Rutherford's victory made it even more special as the national anthem blasted out once again for the starry-eyed 80,000 crowd at the Olympic Stadium.

Then, to complete an astonishing night in east London, Mo Farah applied the coup de grace by becoming the first ever British male to win the 10,000m after running an excellent race tactically.

Having kept pace throughout with the Kenyans and the Ethiopians, Farah moved up to third with five laps to go and took to the front alongside defending champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and American Galen Rupp.

At the bell, Farah made his first decisive burst and led by a metre and then he kicked on again in the final straight to go clear and make yet more history.

Britain's six gold medals in one day beat the previous marker of five set in 1908 - one of the previous two occasions on which London has hosted the Games.
 
But, back to these Games, and the best thing is that British competitors do not show any sign of letting up.

For a start, Farah also goes in the 5,000m next weekend and his coach Alberto Salazar promised 11 months ago that "when we've done the work, [he] will be a contender for both gold medals".

Before then, there are two definite medals to come in the tennis at Wimbledon after what has been an excellent week for Andy Murray.

The Wimbledon finalist has reached the final of men's singles (2pm, today), where he will again face Roger Federer, as well as the mixed doubles with Laura Robson (4pm, today).

Meanwhile, in the sailing, Ben Ainslie is in striking distance of a fourth gold medal in the Finn class, and in the Star class, duo Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson enjoy an eight-point buffer.

It is the last day of competition in both events and we should know if Britain has one, or even two, more gold by 2.30pm this afternoon.

As it stands this morning, Great Britain is on target to surpass its haul from four years ago in Beijing of 19 golds and 47 medals overall.

Indeed, after the extraordinary events in the Olympic Stadium last night, Team GB now stands clear in third in the medal table with 14 golds and 29 medals overall.

Hat's off once more, then, to Alex Gregory, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, and Tom James in the men's four; Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking in the women's lightweight double sculls; Trott, King, and Rowsell in the women's cycling; and Ennis, Rutherford, and Farah in the Olympic Stadium.

The superlatives can barely do justice to your achievements yesterday. For this British sports fan, Saturday 4 August 2012 was a golden day and will simply never be forgotten.

London 2012 Olympics: Let the Games begin

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

AT LAST, the wait is almost over. In just a few hours, the Games of the XXX Olympiad - that is London 2012 to you and me - will officially begin with the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

It has indeed seemed like a long seven years since that euphoric moment on 6 July 2005 when International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced the London bid had won.

In the meantime, the gap has been filled by all sorts of events and landmarks ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Perhaps the best thing to happen in the build-up was the Olympic torch relay which has drawn huge crowds around the country even when the British summer weather was at its worst.

Yes, it might have been dragged out over two and a half months, and at times undoubtedly had too much exposure on the news.

But, the length of the relay at least ensured the promise that it would pass within 10 miles of 95% of the population seemed to be kept.

Other events such as the Hackney Weekend and the World Shakespeare Festival were loosely tied into the Olympics courtesy of the all-encompassing London Festival.

However, so much has been going on that the result has been an unavoidable mass blare, which has been off-putting for some.

Admittedly, the London 2012 organisers LOCOG have given plenty of ammunition to the firmest detractors of the Olympics.

For a start, the positioning of anti-aircraft missiles on the top of residential blocks of flats near the Olympic Stadium is more than slightly disconcerting.

Worse still has been the rather fascist approach of LOGOC towards the protection of its brand and sponsors - as, even in our twisted capitalist existence, some of the methods have seemed rather extreme.

More recently, of course, there has been what could only be described as the G4S security fiasco. In fairness to LOCOG on that front, the firm's own boast of it being the "biggest security company in the world" should have inspired some sort of confidence.

However, what transpired was the dawning realisation just weeks before the Games that the private security firm was unable to fulfil their obligation to cover all the events.

Subsequently, additional police were pulled off the beat and and even army personnel were drafted in. Meanwhile G4S chief executive Nick Buckles was hauled up in front of Parliament, and humiliated.

It was not just the private sector causing bother, though. On the eve of the Games, the Public and Commercial Services union - of which I am a member - rather ridiculously considered organising a strike among Borders Agency staff.

This was despite a woeful lack of public support and, thankfully, the union eventually saw sense, calling off the industrial action on Wednesday.

All of these stories have combined to make the road to London a rocky one and matters were little helped by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday.

Mr Romney said: "The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, supposed strike of immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging."

But Prime Minister David Cameron was quick to rebuke the White House hopeful, stating: "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world.

"Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

That line was seemingly a reference to the Winter Olympics in 2002 which were organised by Mr Romney in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Similarly, London mayor Boris Johnson spoke at a Hyde Park concert which marked the end of the torch relay.

"There's guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready," he bellowed, prompting jeers from some of the 60,000-strong crowd. "Are we ready? Yes we are!"

At least, Mr Romney avoided a monumental gaffe such as getting North Korea and South Korea mixed up.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Olympic organisers at Hampden Park in Glasgow who introduced the North Korean footballers on the big screen alongside the South Korean flag.

Unsurprisingly, given that the two countries are still officially in a state of war, the North Koreans stormed off the pitch and only ended up playing - and winning - the match after a one-hour delay and a repetition of the pre-match formalities.

It truly could have been a scene from Twenty Twelve, the BBC's superb parody of the Olympic organisers' preparations.

Indeed, the omnipresence of the Olympics on the BBC has been another undoubted feature of the build-up to the Games.

There has been a trio of sports documentaries on Jamaican sprinter Usian Bolt, and Britons Victoria Pendleton and Tom Daley - the latter 

And, in addition to Twenty Twelve, the comedy department produced an on-form special of Absolutely Fabulous and a live appearance of the torch relay in soap EastEnders. 

Now, not everything which the BBC has done has won my approval.

The attempt to predict Team GB's place in the medal table seems a rather unhelpful exercise, only adding further pressure onto the home athletes.

But, while the wall-to-wall coverage during the Games will undoubtedly irk a sizeable proportion of licence fee payers, in my view the corporation is simply giving due prominence to an event which will go down in British history, in one way or another.

Indeed, maybe the only thing more tiresome than the slow-burning build-up has been the unfortunate British propensity to have a moan about... well, anything really.

It really is time to stop grumping and instead sit back and enjoy the greatest show on earth.

For, now it is time for the memories to be made as the visions of the stadium designers and artistic directors are superseded by the men and women who matter most - the athletes.

After all, the Olympics motto remains 'Citius, Altius, Fortius!' Who, indeed, will be the fastest? Who will go the highest? And who will be the strongest?

We're about to find out... let the Games begin!