BBC SPOTY 2014: Hamilton finishes first again

2014 BBC SPOTY WINNERS

SPOTY	Lewis Hamilton	Formula One
Team of the Year	England women's team	Rugby Union
Coach of the Year	Paul McGinley	Golf
Overseas SPOTY	Cristiano Ronaldo	Football
Young SPOTY	Claudia Fragapane	Gymnastics
Lifetime Achievement	Sir Chris Hoy	Cycling
Unsung Hero	Jill Stidever	Swimming
Helen Rollason Award	Invictus Games competitors	Various

FORMULA ONE world champion Lewis Hamilton won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in a star-studded show at the SSE Hydro arena in Glasgow.

Hamilton had been a SPOTY runner-up in 2007 and 2008, having won his first world crown in the latter year.

But this time he finished in his more familiar position of first, with 209,920 (34%) of the 620,932 votes cast.

That was enough to beat pre-show odds-on favourite, world number one golfer Rory McIlroy, while third place went to athlete Jo Pavey.

In fairness to him, McIlroy could not have done much more to win the annual award, having triumphed in two of golf's four majors before playing a leading role in Europe easily retaining the Ryder Cup.

McIlroy should not despair, however. Perhaps he will win SPOTY next year having completed his very own "Rory Slam" by taking the first two major titles of 2015.

Third-placed Pavey had the most engaging human interest story of the year. Aged 40, and a mother of two, the Devonian won the first major title of her career in taking 10,000m gold at the European Championships in Zurich.

In doing so, she became the oldest female to win a gold medal in the history of the championships, and - for good measure - added a bronze in the 5000m in the Commonwealth Games.

Nevertheless, Hamilton's season-long title tussle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg also really captured the public attention.

Flashpoints in Monaco, Hungary and Belgium culminated in a final race in the United Arab Emirates where the controversial double points ruling had kept Rosberg's challenge alive.

But, as a result of Hamilton's brilliant start and Rosberg's subsequent mechanical problems, the much-anticipated Duel in the Desert never materialised - and so the Englishman became just the 16th man to win multiple world titles.

On the way, he had picked up 11 Grand Prix victories, taking his overall total to 33, more than any other British racer.

And it was clear, just a few weeks ago, exactly how much his second world title had meant to him.

He said at the time: "2008 was a great year in my life. The feeling I have now is way, way past that. The greatest feeling ever." 

On Sunday, he was similarly unable to express just how much the award meant to him.

"I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who called in, I really wasn't expecting it," he said. "I am so speechless. I'm so proud and honoured to be among such great sporting talent."

Other awards
Meanwhile, Sir Chris Hoy carried off arguably the biggest prize of the night, a Lifetime Achievement award, in a worthy acknowledgement of Britain's most successful Olympian.

The Scot, who claimed the main SPOTY prize in 2008 following a hat-trick of golds at the Beijing Olympics, won six Olympic titles overall.

And he was clearly emotional as he picked up his trophy in Glasgow last night.

"I never thought I'd see my name alongside Sir Steve Redgrave, David Beckham and Seve Ballesteros," he said, before adding: "I became a dad eight weeks ago. He was in hospital for eight weeks and finally came out last week and we got him home.

"I'm sure he'll be watching it on telly."

Unusually, the triumphant European Ryder Cup squad did not win the Team of the Year - although it was difficult to argue against the actual winners, the England women's rugby union team, who won the World Cup in August.

Instead, the Ryder Cup golfers gained representation in the ceremony through Paul McGinley, the 48-year-old Irishman becoming the first golf coach to win in this category.

The Overseas SPOTY was always likely to go to a footballer in World Cup year - but, ultimately, the month-long extravaganza in Brazil had little effect in the outcome.

For, while Portugal went out as early as England, their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo had a marvellous individual year, hitting 51 goals in 2013-14 as his club Real Madrid won a record 10th European Cup.

Meanwhile, the first award presented on the night - the Young Sports Personality of the Year - went to 17-year-old gymnast Claudia Fragapane.

She became the first Englishwoman to win four golds at a single Commonwealth Games in 84 years and celebrated with a SPOTY selfie on Twitter.

Finally, in terms of the other two awards: 77-year-old swimming coach Jill Stidever took the Unsung Hero prize for dedicating her life to helping thousands of children with special needs.

And the Helen Rollason award - for athletes who have shown "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity" - went to all of the inaugural Invictus Games competitors.

SPOTY 2012: Wiggo wins again

SPOTY
BRADLEY WIGGINS hailed his "greatest sporting achievement" after he won the 59th BBC Sports Personality of the Year award at the ExCel Arena in London on Sunday night. 

Wiggins - or Wiggo as he has been nicknamed - beat heptathlete star Jessica Ennis and tennis ace Andy Murray in the most prestigious staging of the awards ceremony in its history.

The 32-year-old cyclist won the toughest SPOTY choice ever having been the first Briton in history to win the Tour de France before he took Olympic time trial gold on the streets of London.

And, while Wiggins' win was well deserved, this was frankly such an outstanding year for British sport that any of the 12 contenders would have won the prize in any other year.

After all, double Olympic champion Laura Trott did not even make the cut - in sharp contrast to some of the winners in earlier, rather more inauspicious years.

Personally, my preference was for the main award to go to Mo Farah for providing prime-time must-watch viewing on successive Saturday nights in his 5,000m and 10,000m triumphs in the Olympic Stadium. 

But, Mo-Bots and Wiggo sideburns aside, all of the contenders for the main award had an amazing backstory or a unique selling point. 

Runner-up Jessica Ennis, for instance, was an athlete under pressure like no other this summer. As the great American sprinter Michael Johnson pointed out in an excellent video, she was the accepted "Face of the Games", and was expected to win. 

Thankfully, Sheffield-born Ennis is a steely character and she opened her account by running 12.54s in the 100m hurdles, a time that would have won gold in the individual event in 2008. 

Overall, Ennis stormed to gold with victories in three of the seven disciplines over two days, and the golden girl of British sport summed up perfectly just how well these Olympics were going. 

It was no surprise, meanwhile, that Andy Murray took third place in the voting. Remarkably, Britain had been craving a male Grand Slam champion for 77 years and, this year, the man from Dunblane finally delivered. 

First, though, Murray had to suffer more heartache as he broke down in tears after Roger Federer had beaten him in four sets in the Wimbledon final. 

But, if anything, that setback - his fourth Grand Slam final defeat - only spurred Murray on more and he gained revenge over Federer in the Olympics final, again at Wimbledon, winning in straight sets in one of his most complete performances ever. 

That same day, Murray partnered Laura Robson as an unseeded pair in the mixed doubles final. But, despite a gallant effort in which they took the first set, Murray-Robson ultimately had to settle for silver against their opponents, the number one seeds from Belarus. 

Murray was not finished yet. There was one last Grand Slam of the year to go: the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York. 

There, Murray excelled again, beating Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic in an epic see-saw battle to fulfil his destiny. 

Britain's wait for a Grand Slam champion was over - as was Murray's own wait for a Grand Slam. It was as if the Olympics had never finished.

Murray's fellow Scot, Katherine Grainger, had endured a similar sporting tale. If Murray, until this year, had been the nearly-man, then rower Grainger had been the ultimate nearly-woman with three successive Olympic silvers in Sydney, Beijing and Athens. 

This was a "home" Games, though, and the feeling was that if Grainger could not win Olympic gold at Eton Dorney, then she never would. 

In the end, her superb partnership with Anna Watkins held firm. On the way to the final, the pair broke the double sculls world record, and then - importantly - in the final, they crossed the line first.

One man who has never struggled with doing that is another Scot on the shortlist, Sir Chris Hoy, who won the main award in 2008 after winning three gold medals in Beijing. 

In London, Hoy added another two golds to his collection to take his total to six golds (and one silver). 

And the comeback on the last bend of the Keirin race effectively made him Britain's most decorated Olympian in history, ahead of Sir Steve Redgrave. It is a remarkable career achievement.

Similarly, Paralympians Sarah Storey and David Weir can reflect on an amazing year with four gold medals each. 

Storey - who won five golds as a swimmer in the 1992 and 1996 Paralympic Games - has now added six golds to her tally as a cyclist in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. 

Meanwhile, Weir is now the recognised as the most versatile wheelchair athlete of all time after winning in London over four different distances ranging from 800m to the marathon.

But, for all of Weir and Storey's success, it was quickly established that it was Ellie Simmonds who would be "The Face" of the Paralympic Games. 

Just like Ennis before her, Simmonds delivered brilliantly under pressure, winning two golds, a silver and a bronze in the pool, setting world records in the 200m and 400m S6 freestyle.

Incredibly, Simmonds has just turned 18, and so - without trying to tempt fate - you would expect many more shiny honours will head her way in the years to come.

At the opposite end of the age scale is 35-year-old Ben Ainslie, who made his Olympics debut at Atlanta in 1996, taking silver at the age of 19. 

Since then, Ainslie has only ever known victory and he won his fourth successive gold at Weymouth to become the most decorated sailor in Olympic history.

It was not all plain sailing, however. In the early stages of the competition, Ainslie struggled to keep up with Danish rival Jonas Høgh-Christensen - and matters only got worse when Ainslie was forced into making a penalty turn in race two.

It turned out to be the worst thing that Høgh-Christensen could have done as an angry Ainslie simply became even more determined to win the Battle of the Bay in front of unprecedented crowds for an Olympic sailing event.

The support was also magnificent at the ExCel where Nicola Adams was another British Olympian making history as the first woman in history to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. 

Adams easily defeated Chinese world number one in the final of the flyweight bout - but it was probably her beaming smile and her effervescent personality which people will most remember of the Leeds lass.

And so, that just left Rory McIlroy, an outsider in this selection as the only one of the 12 contenders not to have taken part at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games.

It is not hard to see why McIlroy was chosen, however. The 23-year-old has had another fantastic year out on the course, climbing to the world number one ranking, and winning his second major championship, the PGA, by eight strokes.

Then, just as the sporting summer seemed ready to be put to rest, the Northern Irishman was part of the greatest comeback of the year - by Europe in the Ryder Cup.

This was the sporting year which just kept on giving.


OTHER AWARDS
Unsurprisingly, though, it was the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which dominated proceedings in all of the other awards as well.

Team GB and Paralympics GB took the Team of the Year award, even though - technically - the decision was against the original rules.

While it does indeed seem like somewhat of a cop-out, the feel-good atmosphere generated by all of the home athletes in London 2012 made it no surprise that the regulations were changed unanimously by the panel.

Having said that, though, the above could have just as appropriately applied to another great team at London 2012, the Games Makers.

The Coach of the Year was Dave Brailsford, a fitting honour for a man who has done so much for elite cycling in this country.

Brailsford has not only overseen the successes of the Team GB cyclists as performance director of British Cycling - but he has also led Team Sky as its general manager, and boldly made the claim that a Briton would win the Tour de France.

His statement was roundly mocked at the time, particularly in the French press - but it is the likes of Wiggins and Brailsford who have got more and more Britons on their bikes and produced this incredible emergence of two-wheeled talent.

The Overseas Sports Personality of the Year was Usain Bolt who takes the prize for the third time in the last five years.

London 2012 was the Olympics in which Bolt went from being a fast man to a self-proclaimed legend after he defended his 100m and 200m Olympic titles in the face of strong competition from his protege Yohan Blake.

Bolt and Blake then teamed up as part of Team Jamaica to storm to a world record 4x100m title, making it six Olympic golds for the Fastest Man on the Planet.

If it was not for Jamaica, the award would have surely gone to Alex Zanardi, and perhaps it still should have done. Former F1 man Zanardi lost both his legs in a Champ Car crash in 2001 but has still managed to sate his competitive instincts by taking up road cycling.

Not only that but the Italian has succeeded, winning gold in the T4-category road race and road time trial, and adding silver in the road race relay. I suppose it just came down to the fact that Bolt is (understandably) a bigger name.

At least I did entirely agree with the Young SPOTY prize going to 15-year-old Jarrow swimmer Josef Craig, Britain's youngest gold medal winner from either the Olympic or the Paralympic Games.

This is, no doubt, a bit parochial - but, rather than the excellent Simmonds, the wonderful Weir, or the supreme Storey, it was Craig smashing two seconds off his own world record in the 400m freestyle S7 final pool which was the highlight of those Games for me.

But it was not just the action which will prove unforgettable from this summer. Yes, actions usually speak louder than words but sometimes it can be the other way around as Lord Sebastian Coe proved in picking up his Lifetime Achievement award.

Lord Coe was simply a fantastic orator this summer and genuinely moved me and made me proud when he signed off the London 2012 Games as chairman with the words: "When our time came, Britain, we did it right."

The speech of the night on Sunday, though, went to Martine Wright, who won the Helen Rollason award as someone who has shown "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity".

Wright's story will forever be intertwined with London 2012. On 6 July 2005, when it was announced by IOC chairman Jacques Rogge that London would host the Olympics seven years later, Wright went out for a few drinks with her work colleagues in celebration.

The following day, running late and attempting to take a shorter route to her office, Wright was caught up in the 7/7 bombings which would kill 52 people.

Wright lost both her legs at Aldgate tube station, and was lucky not to lose her life. Ever since, she considered it her destiny to be part of the London 2012 Games.

That dream was not to go unfulfilled and she qualified as a Paralympics GB team member as a sitting volleyball player.

And there was surely not a dry eye in the house as Wright said: "Thank you all so much for an absolutely fantastic summer."

To which I say - no, thank you for being part of it, Martine.

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: 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: Cyclists lead breathless British gold rush

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

CYCLISTS Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes set a new world record to give Great Britain a fantastic start in the velodrome at the London 2012 Olympics.

The trio won the team sprint in 42.600, beating their own marker of 42.747 from the previous round to crush France in the final of the team sprint.

This truly stunning victory in a wonderfully raucous atmosphere means Hoy has now equalled Sir Steve Redgrave's overall Olympic gold haul of five and, in fact, the Scot has six medals at the Olympics in his career.

A chance of a seventh medal will come on Monday in the individual sprint - and a top-three finish there would see him join the brilliant Bradley Wiggins as Britain's most decorated Olympian.

Wiggins, who only last month won the most gruelling of contests - the Tour de France - stormed to time trial gold on the streets of London yesterday.

Despite falling behind early on, the 32-year-old kept his cool to finish in 50 minutes 39 seconds, ahead of German Tony Martin.

Only Swiss threat Fabian Cancellara followed the Londoner out of Hampton Court Palace but he finished almost three minutes off the pace in seventh.

And, if Wiggins' success was somehow not enough to sate your appetite, his loyal GB and Sky team-mate Chris Froome picked up an excellent bronze.

Britain was on a roll. Indeed, earlier on day five, the gold rush had officially begun when Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won in the women's pair at Eton Dorney rowing lake.

Theirs was also a historic gold. Not only was it the first British gold of London 2012 but it was also the first British gold in Olympic rowing history by female competitors.

It was a remarkable success, and the story behind Glover and Stanning is something of an Olympic dream.

An unlikely partnership, they were brought together after Glover joined Royal Artillery officer Stanning after picking up an oar for the first time in 2008.

Little was expected of the pair when they were set up but they showed their potential last year by winning world silver before embarking on a year-long unbeaten run. Rather wonderfully, it has all culminated in Olympic gold.

Minutes after Glover and Stanning had finished, they were almost joined at the top of the podium by the men's eight.

The eight took on a German team which had not lost in four years, and the Great British boat - which included 40-year-old Greg Searle - actually led at the half-way stage.

Everything had been put towards winning gold and so it was perhaps no surprise that they faded in the last 500m. Both the Germans and Canada took advantage - though at least the GB crew could console themselves with bronze.

Indeed, it was a complete sea-change from the first four days of competition during Team GB 'only' took two silvers and two bronzes.

Nevertheless, those early medals were hugely impressive and should not be understated. Rebecca Adlington could not defend her 400m freestyle title but she did take bronze despite qualifying a lowly eighth.

Better still, the Mansfield-born swimmer is considered to have a much better chance for gold in defending her other Olympic title, the 800m freestyle on Friday.

In the gymnastics, the men's team produced the best result for Britain since 1912 in the all-round event, taking bronze.

And, in the three-day eventing, Great Britain went one better than four years ago in Beijing by winning a team silver.

There was a nice touch when Zara Phillips was awarded her medal by her mother Princess Anne, herself an Olympian in 1972.

However, the highlight from those early stages was Lizzie Armistead just being pipped to gold in the women's road race by Dutch rider Marianne Vos. "Elizabeth the Second" was clever reaction in The Times to Britain's first medal.

Elsewhere, though, the British press could be seen as less kindly after Armistead's fellow-cyclist Mark Cavendish missed out on what had been seen as a dead-cert medal on day one.

On Monday, the Sun urged the public not to be too downhearted or panicky - but, by Tuesday, its own front page seemed to ignore that advice. "Wanted: Gold Medal" was its demand.

Meanwhile, the BBC, which has otherwise provided excellent coverage on television and online, and the Guardian both published articles agonising over when Britain would break its duck.

In fairness to the Guardian, it also published a data blog which compares Britain's record of achievement to the Olympics of four years ago.

Those statistics show that, even in the first few days of London 2012, Britain was not far behind matching its historically excellent result in Beijing. Now Team GB is actually doing better in terms of medals.

Day five was the breakthrough which the Sun demanded as, with Michael Jamieson's silver in the 200m breaststroke adding to the aforementioned success of Wiggins and Glover/Stanning, the complexion of the medal table has certainly changed.

It has only just got even better today. But, while the sixth day may have ended in the velodrome, it all began again back at Eton Dorney where the men's lightweight four held off Denmark to take silver.

Later in the afternoon, Britain scored an even greater success on the water in the canoe slalom.

Incredibly, both Tim Baillie/Etienne Stott and David Florence/Richard Hounslow finished ahead of Slovakian triple Olympic champions Peter and Pavol Hochschorner in a 1-2 at the Lee Valley White Water centre. It could not have been more perfect.

Around the same time as that, Great Britain was also winning gold in the shooting as Peter Wilson held his nerve with his final shot in the double trap before sinking to his knees.

Wilson's victory was exactly the sort of personal moment which the Olympics were made for - and there was a similar feeling at the ExCel Exhibition Centre in the judo.

For, while Gemma Gibbons lost in the final to American Kayla Harrison, her silver medal far exceeded her own expectations in an otherwise disappointing British judo campaign.

Elsewhere at the Olympics, China has led the medal table since the first very day with success in a wide array of sports including swimming, gymnastics, diving, fencing, shooting, table tennis, and weightlifting.

However, it has not all been plain sailing for the Chinese. In the pool, double gold medallist Ye Shiwen was suspected of cheating by senior USA coach John Leonard after her world record in the 400m individual medley.

"History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this - 'unbelievable'. History shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved," said coach Leonard.

But his speculation is currently groundless on the basis that Ye has never tested positive for banned substances. Meanwhile, Leonard's case was hardly helped by British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan who later backed the 16-year-old.

On a slightly separate note, what could not be denied was a disgraceful attempt by four pairs to rig the women's doubles badminton competition.

All eight players - two pairs from South Korea, and one each from China and Indonesia - have been disqualified after playing deliberately badly so as to avail an easier draw in the knockout stage.

Gail Emms, the retired British silver medallist from the Athens Olympics in 2004, blamed the introduction of a round-robin for the scandal, suggesting that such a format is simply unsuitable for a racket sport.

Nevertheless, the failure of some of badminton's finest to adhere strictly to Olympic values has been a rare black mark so far on the London 2012 Games.

Already there have been so many happy British memories, and my own impressions of the Olympics have also been really positive.

For, while I failed to get tickets for anything outside of the football, my personal Wembley début on Sunday was a moment to be cherished.

Surrounded by good friends, I saw Daniel Sturridge cap a 3-1 win over the United Arab Emirates with a brilliant chipped finish.

Then, yesterday at St James Park, a young Brazil team entertained on their way to beating New Zealand 3-0 and topping Group C.

That result means the Brazilians will return to Newcastle on Saturday for a quarter final against Honduras, and I will also be back to watch them.

The London 2012 Olympics have arrived and it is truly great to see them here. With the athletics, boxing and various team sport finals to come, it only promises to get even better!


MEDAL TABLE (End of Day 6)

Rank	Country	G	S	B	Total
1	CHINA (CHN)	18	11	5	34
2	United States (USA)	18	9	10	37
3	South Korea (KOR)	7	2	5	14
4	France (FRA)	6	4	6	16
5	Great Britain & NI (GBR)	5	6	4	15
6	Germany (GER)	4	8	5	17
7	Italy (ITA)	4	5	2	11
8	North Korea (PRK)	4	0	1	5
9	Russian Federation (RUS)	3	6	8	17
10	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	3	0	0	3
10	South Africa (RSA)	3	0	0	3
12	Japan (JPN)	2	6	11	19
13	Netherlands (NED)	2	1	3	6
14	Hungary (HUN)	2	1	2	5
15	Ukraine (UKR)	2	0	4	6
16	Australia (AUS)	1	7	3	11
17	Romania (ROU)	1	3	2	6
18	Brazil (BRZ)	1	1	2	4
19	New Zealand (NZL)	1	0	2	3
20	Slovenia (SLO)	1	0	1	2
21	Lithuania (LIT)	1	0	0	1
21	Georgia (GEO)	1	0	0	1
21	Venezuela (VEN)	1	0	0	1
24	Mexico (MEX)	0	3	1	4
25	Canada (CAN)	0	2	5	7
26	Colombia (COL)	0	2	1	3
26	Cuba (CUB)	0	2	1	3
28	Sweden (SWE)	0	2	0	2
29	Mongolia (MGL)	0	1	1	2
29	Belarus (BLR)	0	1	1	2
29	Norway (NOR)	0	1	1	2
29	Indonesia (INA)	0	1	1	2
29	Spain (ESP)	0	1	1	2
29	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	1	2
35	Egypt (EGY)	0	1	0	1
35	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	1	0	1
35	Thailand (THA)	0	1	0	1
35	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	0	1
35	Poland (POL)	0	1	0	1
40	Slovakia (SVK)	0	0	3	3
40	Azerbaijan (AZE)	0	0	1	1
40	Greece (GRE)	0	0	1	1
40	Belgium (BEL)	0	0	1	1
40	India (IND)	0	0	1	1
40	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	1	1
40	Serbia (SBR)	0	0	1	1
40	Singapore (SIN)	0	0	1	1
40	Uzbekistan (UZB)	0	0	1	1
40	Moldova (MDA)	0	0	1	1