2012 Olympic Moments
London’s two-week long extravaganza came to an end this evening as the Olympic flame was handed over to Rio De Janeiro during a gala celebration of everything that is great about both the both host nation’s cultures.
The 2012 games will long be remembered for their excitement, unpredictability and truly fabulous moments that fans and athletes shared during the summer days of July and August. Whilst the English capital still has the distinction of holding the Paralympic Games to look forward to, here is a reminder on the best and most memorable moments of this summer’s games....
The 2012 games will long be remembered for their excitement, unpredictability and truly fabulous moments that fans and athletes shared during the summer days of July and August. Whilst the English capital still has the distinction of holding the Paralympic Games to look forward to, here is a reminder on the best and most memorable moments of this summer’s games....
Team GB’s Glorious Gala Entrance
Much had been made of how London 2012’s Olympic opening had to live up to the spectacle of Beijing’s synchronised spectacular four years previous, and whilst the organisers refused to spend as much money as the Chinese capital had, there was still plenty to look forward to as Danny Boyle took directorial control over the opening ceremony for the games.
Whilst there were many spectacular sounds and images from the ceremony itself, the crowning moment was when the home nations arrived in the stadium to a huge ovation from the fans packed inside the stadium. Flag bearer Chris Hoy led the team around their lap of honour, decked in gold outfits with David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ playing the team soaked in the applause of the adoring public.
The cheers and roars not only displayed Britain’s patriotic spirit for their sporting starts, and their enthusiasm for the Olympic Games being held in London, but was a fitting tribute to the hard work that the athletes and organisers had put on to make the event happen.
Zonderland Raises the Bar
Largely unknown, even in his homeland of the Netherlands; Epke Zonderland performed gravity defying feats on the horizontal high bar which appropriately earned him the nickname, The Flying Dutchman. The 26-year-old won Holland’s first gold medal in gymnastics for 84 years with a display that wowed the judges and crowd inside the Excel arena.
Competing against an extremely difficult field including reigning champions Zou Kai of China and Fabian Hambuchen of Germany, both of whom recorded excellent scores of 16.366 and 16.400 respectively the Dutchman kept his cool and didn't look at all out of place in amongst the talented field. Unperturbed by the task facing him, Zonderland performed an unprecedented routine with the hardest possible release dismount; a Cassina to a Kovacs to a Kolman. His bravery was rewarded as with a score of 16.533 points and earned a heroic round of applause from the capacity crowd.
Yey for Ye
With most of the attention from Team GB followers on Rebecca Adlington after her successes in Beijing, it was ironically a female from the nation that last hosted the Olympics who impressed most in the pool at the 2012 games. Ye Shiwen the latest of an impressive crop of Chinese swimmers became a star overnight after two staggering performances in the female swimming events.
Having announced herself as a force in Asian sport aged just 14; the swimmer travelled to the Olympics aged just sixteen hoping to gain experience and perhaps make a mark during the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Blowing away the expectations of many Ye qualified for the final of the 400m medley with ease, and looked to be well positioned to fight for a bronze medal with 100m to go. Not satisfied with such a staggering performance in the biggest race of her life soon the teenager pulled away and even after the turn into the last 50m the gap between the Chinese and second place Elizabeth Beisel had start to grow. Ahead of Stephanie Rice’s World Record – set in Beijing four years earlier – Ye reached out in the final stroke and recorded a new world best with a time of 4:28:43.
A few days later, Shiwen returned to the pool in the 200m medley final. Unnerved by her performance in her previous gold medal winning effort, the race was again led by the Chinese prodigy as the race entered the last 50 metres. Despite the challenge of Australia’s Alicia Coutts and Caitlin Leverenz of the United States, Shiwen held off her competitors and recorded a new Olympic best of 2:07:57.
Pistorius Breaks Barriers
Oscar Pistorius is a name familiar to many people across the world, despite the fact that many may not know exactly what event he competes in. During the 2012 Olympics, the South African made history as the first double amputee to compete at the Games, and months later when he competed in the Paralympic Games, he became the first person in history to compete that unique double.
Taking to the track the 25-year-old received warm applause as he finished second in his 400m heat in a time of 45.44 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals. After fighting a long battle with the IAAF to win the right to compete alongside able bodied competitors it mattered not that he was unable to qualify for the final in an intensely competitive race. ‘Winning’ the right to be able to take part in the largest sporting event on earth represented years and years of hard work for Pistorius, and he was rewarded for his perseverance when South Africa made the final of the 4x400m relay which gave him the opportunity to compete at the highest level on the world’s biggest stage.
Mo digs deep for distance crowns
Building confidence the previous year with a gold medal at the at the World Championships, Mo Farah attempted to delight the home fans with successful performances in both the 5000m and also the 10,000m, which was the first of the two to take place.
The British runner was hoping to feed off the intensity of the partisan crowd, but knew that the usual contingent of African runners would make his life difficult in the early stages of the race. As the race began, his plan was to stay close to the leaders which he managed to do, but soon the Brit began to fall back as Kenenisa Bekele and his brother Tariku took a stranglehold on the pace as the field began to scatter.
Around thirteen or fourteen runners still remained in the chasing pack as Farah struggled to stay in touch during the middle portion of the race. The pace began to slow down as Ethiopian Gebregziabher Gebremariam ran to the front and this played perfectly into the hands of Farah as he was now able to prepare a strategy to slowly creep his way back into the race and attack in the final stages. With two laps to go Tariku Bekele regained the lead, but Farah went with him and then took the lead as the bell sounded for the final lap.
Nobody from the following group appeared willing to make a move and as he hit the final bend, Farah began to pull away from the both Bekele brothers who tried desperately to follow the surging Brit. In a time of 27:30 he won Britain’s third gold medal of the day and secured the first part of what he hoped would be a unique double.
Four days later Farah was back in action as the first heat of the 5000m took place with the Brit doing enough to qualify for the final by finishing third in the slower of the two heats.
On another exciting evening inside the Olympic Stadium, the crowd urged Farah on as the race began at a pedestrian pace. Yenew Alamirew moved to the front and accelerated the place slightly, but Farah was ideally positioned inside the leading pack as several challengers bid to take the race back to their pace, but soon faded.
It looked to be a close call for all three medal positions as the final lap began, but nobody seemed willing to take charge and attempt to break away from the rest of the field – a tactic which played perfectly into the hands of the fast finishing Brit. Down the backstretch three runners were packed closely together with Farah tucked just in behind. Ethiopian Dejan Gebremeskel and Kenyan Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa seemed favourites to claim gold, but Farah took a risk and accelerated with just 200m remaining taking the pair with him. Both runners fought hard to try to stop Farah from pulling away but with the deafening roar of the crowd spurring him along, eventually he was able secure certain victory with 50m to go. Farah spread his arms out wide to take in the adulation of the fans and secure a double in the middle distance races.
Usain’s Triple Double
Never before had so many expectations been placed on the shoulders of an Olympian as Usain Bolt at London 2012. The Jamaican sprinters electrifying performances four years earlier in Beijing had crowds in the English capital expecting big things from a man with an even bigger personality.
In the run-up to the Olympics, many had questioned the form of Bolt particularly after he had been disqualified from the World Championship Final a year earlier in Daegu allowing his compatriot Yohan Blake to take gold and grow in confidence ahead of the London 2012 games.
Both competitors came through to the final, and were joined by Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin, who qualified in the fastest time out of all those expected to compete for a medal. Bolt’s injury worries had dogged him before the competition, but he was in relaxed and confident mode before the starting gun.
In the much-anticipated showdown, Bolt showed his true class with a dominating performance from start to finish. Whereas he had begun to celebrate before the finish line in 2008, he never cruised at any stage during the race passing all his competitors and making up for a distinctly average start, finishing in a time of 9.63. In winning the race, he broke his own Olympic record set four years earlier and became only the second man in history to repeat as 100m champion in successive Olympics.
The Jamaican superstar then had only a single days rest before the 200m competition began, where he was facing pressure from Blake once again, and also another Jamaican Warren Weir as well as Wallace Spearmon from the United States. After his performances in the 100m final, Bolt continued his spectacular form recording a 20.18 in a relaxed semi-final win.
It seemed as though his countryman and training partner Yohan Blake would once again pose the biggest threat as he clocked in a 20.01 as part of his semi-final victory but having won the 2008 Olympic Final in the world record time of 19.30 and regained his 100m title Bolt was still the man to beat. Once again the Olympic Stadium was packed to see the fastest man on earth attempt to retain his title. His qualifying time meant that Bolt was out in Lane Seven for the final, but inside the first 50 meters he was already ahead of teammate Weir, and coming off the bend into the final 100-metre straight his lead grew by several meters allowing him to ease off despite the challenge of Blake inside the last portion of the race. Winning the 200m gold he became the first man to do the ‘double-double’ in claiming the 100m and 200m at successive Olympics, and before the end of the Games he moved onto the relay in a bid to create yet more history.
Having set a record at the World Championships in Daegu, the team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt were expected to dominate after success in their individual races. After qualifying easily for the final without Bolt, the sprint king returned to the team in a bid to claim his third gold medal of the championships. The team started poorly with the USA slightly ahead at the first change-over, but when Frater handed over to Blake, the gap narrowed as he overtook Tyson Gay and passed on to Usain Bolt who led the team home in a new world record time of 36.84.
His performances on the track during the 2012 Olympics were almost surpassed by his antics on the podium after collecting his gold medal. Demonstrating why he is popular with so many fans the treble medal winner celebrated alongside British hero Mo Farah in front of a capacity crowd showing off the unique personality, charm and confidence that is so rarely shown by an athlete under so much pressure to perform.
British cyclists ride high
Team GB came into their home Olympics off the back of their successes in 2008, and also with Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins as the talisman of a strong team. In Beijing the team won fourteen medals, including three for Chris Hoy, who made a decision to compete at London 2012 for the final time before retiring.
With so much expectation on their shoulders, many imagined that the team couldn't repeat their successes of four years previous, but with twenty seven competitors involved across four disciplines there were plenty of opportunities to win medals for the home team.
From the moment the cycling competition started it was almost a continuation of the successes that Team GB had experienced in Beijing. In the road cycling events, Bradley Wiggins brought home gold and Chris Froome bronze in the men’s time trial, whilst for the women Nicole Cooke came second and claimed silver in the road race.
Inside the arena of the Velodrome dominant performances from the home team continued as at least one member of Team GB medalled in each of the disciplines for both the men and the women. In the omnium, Ed Clancy claimed gold and Laura Trott bronze as the medal count started to pile up.
The four man team won the pursuit, beating Australia to claim gold, as did the women’s trio in the female section of the competition, beating the USA in a new world record time.
Jason Kenny claimed men’s sprint gold with Victoria Pendleton claiming silver in the women’s equivalent and the men’s winner medalled once again as he teamed up with Philip Hindes and Chris Hoy to claim gold in the men’s team sprint.
It was then left to two heroes of the Beijing Olympics to crown the cycling competition in style as Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy claimed gold medals in Keirin events. For Pendleton it was her second gold in consecutive Olympics, a fitting way to bow out of competition. In victory Chris Hoy passed Steve Redgrave as the Britain with the most gold medals (six), and this brought him even with Bradley Wiggins in terms of overall medals (seven).
France Stuns USA in the pool
The all-conquering United States swimming team had been claiming medals and breaking individual records en-route to the 4x100m freestyle relay event. Team mates Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps had both claimed individual medals and teaming up together to take on the rest of the field it seemed as though they would both be adding another gold to their collection.
The USA managed to record the second fastest time in qualifying without either of their two leading men, but returning for the final it seemed a question of how much they would win by, and whether or not they could break their own record of 3:08:24 that had been set by a Phelps-led team in Beijing.
Having qualified as the fastest team, Australia were expected to be Team USA’s man challengers, but after the first leg, the Aussie’s were out of the medal positions and the USA only lay in second place. When Michael Phelps took over to swim the second leg the team managed to claw their way ahead establishing a two metre lead, and looking set to help their talisman to a 17th Olympic medal.
Cullen Jones maintained the American’s lead, but going into the final leg, it was much closer than many predicted. Making the final turn Ryan Lochte maintained the US lead but found himself being chased hard by Yannick Agnel of France, and eventually with 20m to go the European swimmer pulled ahead and touched the wall first to claim a tremendous victory. Defeating the favourites was a great achievement for the French but it also made up for a defeat in 2008 in the same event when they lost in by 0.08 of s second.
This time it was their turn to celebrate however as all four men raised their arms aloft and roared with delight at doing the seemingly impossible and overhauling the seemingly invincible Americans.
Murray’s Breakthrough at Wimbledon
Just weeks before the Olympics started, Andy Murray was left weeping in front of his faithful public after an agonising Wimbledon final defeat to Roger Federer.
The Scotsman became the first British male since Bunny Austin in 1938 to reach the Wimbledon Final, but was narrowly defeated in his fourth appearance in a Grand Slam final.
As the crowd favourite many hoped that Murray could take advantage of playing on the grass of the All-England club and prove to the doubters that he is truly in the same class as the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Murray’s road to gold was made slightly easier by the withdrawal of the Spaniard Nadal but the Scot remained focussed on one round at a time after beating Marcos Baghdatis in a closely fought third round match before dispatching Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. In the semi-final he was matched up against the number two seed Novak Djokovic, a player who experienced a breakout year in 2011 capturing three Grand Slam titles and a competitor who possessed a great record against Andy Murray.
The Brit proved his mettle against the Serbian star winning 7-5, 7-5 to set up a repeat of the Wimbledon final in which he faced off against Roger Federer. Having only just struggled through in his semi against Juan Martin Del Potro (19-17 in the final set) Federer looked shaky and lost the opening two sets 6-2, 6-1.
The Swiss put up more of a battle in the final set, but Murray managed to break his opponents serve and celebrated a 6-4 victory in the final set to claim a gold medal on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon.
For his encore act Murray teamed up with fellow Brit prodigy Laura Robson for the mixed doubles and defeating the Czech and Australian pair, they found themselves in the final after beating Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Cas of Germany where they were up against Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi. The Belarusian pair lost the first set 6-2, but took the second 6-3, and eventually the weight of his schedule seemed to collapse on Murray’s shoulders as he showed visible signs of tiredness in the ‘Super Tie Break’.
The British pair battled hard but eventually had to settle for silver after losing 10-8, but with a debut victory at Wimbledon, Murray will be inspired to succeed once more in 2013.
Ruta Meilutyte Triumphs
Lithuania is not a country famous for its Olympic gold medal pedigree at the summer Olympic games, but at London 2012, the European nation found a star that it can latch on to heading well into the next decade.
Coming to prominence at the age of 14, Ruta Meilutyte broke the Lithuanian national swimming record in the women’s 50m and 100m breaststroke before going onto compete at the European Youth Olympic Festival the following year.
At the event held in Turkey she triumphed in the 100m breaststroke winning gold and also claimed medals in the 50m freestyle (silver) and 100m freestyle (bronze). Success at the world championships followed as hype around the now sixteen-year-old began to build. She won a silver medal in the 100m medley but went one better claiming goal in both the 100 and 50m breaststroke. This caused her to arrive on many people’s radars six months ahead of the Olympic Games, but Meilutyte’s performance in the Games themselves still shocked the world.
After earning a selection, she became the youngest ever Lithuanian swimmer to compete at the Olympic Games, and in her first ever event, the 100m breaststroke, she showed no signs of nerves. In her first heat she placed first in a time of 1:05:56 breaking the national record in the event and in the semi-finals she went one better breaking her previously set record with a time of 1:05:21 and also set a 100m breaststroke European record.
In the final she stormed to gold before taking her performances into both the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle. She made the semi-finals of both events, setting a new national record of 25.55 seconds in winning her 50m heat. At such a tender age, the Lithuanian exceeded all expectations, and has now set her sights on retaining her title at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Rudisha’s Run
With so many fantastic events taking place in the Olympic Stadium featuring British athletes and world renowned stars such as Usain Bolt, the performances of one history-making athlete on the track didn’t receive the credit it deserved.
Reigning world champion David Rudisha went into the event as the favourite, but he knew that strong competition would come from United States pair Duane Solomon and Nick Symonds, as well as fellow Kenyan Timothy Kitum. Primed to win Olympic gold Rudisha looked in impetuous form as he qualified comfortably from the first round of heats before storming through his semi-final.
The final looked as though it would be an epic event, with the world’s best 800m runners all present, and any one of the eight competitor looking as though they could claim a medal.
Kenyan Rudisha already held the world record, but after a frenetically paced first lap it seemed as though that would come under threat as there appeared to be no specific tactics and all eight runners had the intention of sprinting their way to the finish line.
Rudisha led as the athletes took the bell in a time of 49.28 and although Kitum and Kaki attempted to hold on the Kenyan seemed intent on streaking away from all the competition. Coming down the home straight second placed Nigel Amos gained some ground on the world record holder, but Rudisha stretched ahead crossing the line in a new record time of 1:40:91, Amos finished second with Kitum third.
The finishing times of all the athletes involved in the race were the fastest recorded time for each placing and it was the first time that eight athletes had run under 1:44:00 in the same race. All finishers in the 2012 would have finished in first place had they run in the previous final in Beijing.
Analysing the individual performance of the race, many described Rudisha’s 800m win as being part of the “Greatest Race of all-time” and part of the reason for the race being considered so highly is because every single athlete involved achieved some kind of record or personal best when crossing the finish line. First place Rudisha broke world, Olympic and national records. Second placed Amos broke a world junior record, and also shattered a national record as did Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia who finished sixth.
Abubaker Kaki who faded towards the end of the race secured a season’s best whilst the other four runners Timothy Kitum (3rd), Duane Solomon (4th), Nick Symmonds (5th) and Andrew Osagie (8th) all secured personal bests.
Much had been made of how London 2012’s Olympic opening had to live up to the spectacle of Beijing’s synchronised spectacular four years previous, and whilst the organisers refused to spend as much money as the Chinese capital had, there was still plenty to look forward to as Danny Boyle took directorial control over the opening ceremony for the games.
Whilst there were many spectacular sounds and images from the ceremony itself, the crowning moment was when the home nations arrived in the stadium to a huge ovation from the fans packed inside the stadium. Flag bearer Chris Hoy led the team around their lap of honour, decked in gold outfits with David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ playing the team soaked in the applause of the adoring public.
The cheers and roars not only displayed Britain’s patriotic spirit for their sporting starts, and their enthusiasm for the Olympic Games being held in London, but was a fitting tribute to the hard work that the athletes and organisers had put on to make the event happen.
Zonderland Raises the Bar
Largely unknown, even in his homeland of the Netherlands; Epke Zonderland performed gravity defying feats on the horizontal high bar which appropriately earned him the nickname, The Flying Dutchman. The 26-year-old won Holland’s first gold medal in gymnastics for 84 years with a display that wowed the judges and crowd inside the Excel arena.
Competing against an extremely difficult field including reigning champions Zou Kai of China and Fabian Hambuchen of Germany, both of whom recorded excellent scores of 16.366 and 16.400 respectively the Dutchman kept his cool and didn't look at all out of place in amongst the talented field. Unperturbed by the task facing him, Zonderland performed an unprecedented routine with the hardest possible release dismount; a Cassina to a Kovacs to a Kolman. His bravery was rewarded as with a score of 16.533 points and earned a heroic round of applause from the capacity crowd.
Yey for Ye
With most of the attention from Team GB followers on Rebecca Adlington after her successes in Beijing, it was ironically a female from the nation that last hosted the Olympics who impressed most in the pool at the 2012 games. Ye Shiwen the latest of an impressive crop of Chinese swimmers became a star overnight after two staggering performances in the female swimming events.
Having announced herself as a force in Asian sport aged just 14; the swimmer travelled to the Olympics aged just sixteen hoping to gain experience and perhaps make a mark during the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Blowing away the expectations of many Ye qualified for the final of the 400m medley with ease, and looked to be well positioned to fight for a bronze medal with 100m to go. Not satisfied with such a staggering performance in the biggest race of her life soon the teenager pulled away and even after the turn into the last 50m the gap between the Chinese and second place Elizabeth Beisel had start to grow. Ahead of Stephanie Rice’s World Record – set in Beijing four years earlier – Ye reached out in the final stroke and recorded a new world best with a time of 4:28:43.
A few days later, Shiwen returned to the pool in the 200m medley final. Unnerved by her performance in her previous gold medal winning effort, the race was again led by the Chinese prodigy as the race entered the last 50 metres. Despite the challenge of Australia’s Alicia Coutts and Caitlin Leverenz of the United States, Shiwen held off her competitors and recorded a new Olympic best of 2:07:57.
Pistorius Breaks Barriers
Oscar Pistorius is a name familiar to many people across the world, despite the fact that many may not know exactly what event he competes in. During the 2012 Olympics, the South African made history as the first double amputee to compete at the Games, and months later when he competed in the Paralympic Games, he became the first person in history to compete that unique double.
Taking to the track the 25-year-old received warm applause as he finished second in his 400m heat in a time of 45.44 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals. After fighting a long battle with the IAAF to win the right to compete alongside able bodied competitors it mattered not that he was unable to qualify for the final in an intensely competitive race. ‘Winning’ the right to be able to take part in the largest sporting event on earth represented years and years of hard work for Pistorius, and he was rewarded for his perseverance when South Africa made the final of the 4x400m relay which gave him the opportunity to compete at the highest level on the world’s biggest stage.
Mo digs deep for distance crowns
Building confidence the previous year with a gold medal at the at the World Championships, Mo Farah attempted to delight the home fans with successful performances in both the 5000m and also the 10,000m, which was the first of the two to take place.
The British runner was hoping to feed off the intensity of the partisan crowd, but knew that the usual contingent of African runners would make his life difficult in the early stages of the race. As the race began, his plan was to stay close to the leaders which he managed to do, but soon the Brit began to fall back as Kenenisa Bekele and his brother Tariku took a stranglehold on the pace as the field began to scatter.
Around thirteen or fourteen runners still remained in the chasing pack as Farah struggled to stay in touch during the middle portion of the race. The pace began to slow down as Ethiopian Gebregziabher Gebremariam ran to the front and this played perfectly into the hands of Farah as he was now able to prepare a strategy to slowly creep his way back into the race and attack in the final stages. With two laps to go Tariku Bekele regained the lead, but Farah went with him and then took the lead as the bell sounded for the final lap.
Nobody from the following group appeared willing to make a move and as he hit the final bend, Farah began to pull away from the both Bekele brothers who tried desperately to follow the surging Brit. In a time of 27:30 he won Britain’s third gold medal of the day and secured the first part of what he hoped would be a unique double.
Four days later Farah was back in action as the first heat of the 5000m took place with the Brit doing enough to qualify for the final by finishing third in the slower of the two heats.
On another exciting evening inside the Olympic Stadium, the crowd urged Farah on as the race began at a pedestrian pace. Yenew Alamirew moved to the front and accelerated the place slightly, but Farah was ideally positioned inside the leading pack as several challengers bid to take the race back to their pace, but soon faded.
It looked to be a close call for all three medal positions as the final lap began, but nobody seemed willing to take charge and attempt to break away from the rest of the field – a tactic which played perfectly into the hands of the fast finishing Brit. Down the backstretch three runners were packed closely together with Farah tucked just in behind. Ethiopian Dejan Gebremeskel and Kenyan Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa seemed favourites to claim gold, but Farah took a risk and accelerated with just 200m remaining taking the pair with him. Both runners fought hard to try to stop Farah from pulling away but with the deafening roar of the crowd spurring him along, eventually he was able secure certain victory with 50m to go. Farah spread his arms out wide to take in the adulation of the fans and secure a double in the middle distance races.
Usain’s Triple Double
Never before had so many expectations been placed on the shoulders of an Olympian as Usain Bolt at London 2012. The Jamaican sprinters electrifying performances four years earlier in Beijing had crowds in the English capital expecting big things from a man with an even bigger personality.
In the run-up to the Olympics, many had questioned the form of Bolt particularly after he had been disqualified from the World Championship Final a year earlier in Daegu allowing his compatriot Yohan Blake to take gold and grow in confidence ahead of the London 2012 games.
Both competitors came through to the final, and were joined by Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin, who qualified in the fastest time out of all those expected to compete for a medal. Bolt’s injury worries had dogged him before the competition, but he was in relaxed and confident mode before the starting gun.
In the much-anticipated showdown, Bolt showed his true class with a dominating performance from start to finish. Whereas he had begun to celebrate before the finish line in 2008, he never cruised at any stage during the race passing all his competitors and making up for a distinctly average start, finishing in a time of 9.63. In winning the race, he broke his own Olympic record set four years earlier and became only the second man in history to repeat as 100m champion in successive Olympics.
The Jamaican superstar then had only a single days rest before the 200m competition began, where he was facing pressure from Blake once again, and also another Jamaican Warren Weir as well as Wallace Spearmon from the United States. After his performances in the 100m final, Bolt continued his spectacular form recording a 20.18 in a relaxed semi-final win.
It seemed as though his countryman and training partner Yohan Blake would once again pose the biggest threat as he clocked in a 20.01 as part of his semi-final victory but having won the 2008 Olympic Final in the world record time of 19.30 and regained his 100m title Bolt was still the man to beat. Once again the Olympic Stadium was packed to see the fastest man on earth attempt to retain his title. His qualifying time meant that Bolt was out in Lane Seven for the final, but inside the first 50 meters he was already ahead of teammate Weir, and coming off the bend into the final 100-metre straight his lead grew by several meters allowing him to ease off despite the challenge of Blake inside the last portion of the race. Winning the 200m gold he became the first man to do the ‘double-double’ in claiming the 100m and 200m at successive Olympics, and before the end of the Games he moved onto the relay in a bid to create yet more history.
Having set a record at the World Championships in Daegu, the team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt were expected to dominate after success in their individual races. After qualifying easily for the final without Bolt, the sprint king returned to the team in a bid to claim his third gold medal of the championships. The team started poorly with the USA slightly ahead at the first change-over, but when Frater handed over to Blake, the gap narrowed as he overtook Tyson Gay and passed on to Usain Bolt who led the team home in a new world record time of 36.84.
His performances on the track during the 2012 Olympics were almost surpassed by his antics on the podium after collecting his gold medal. Demonstrating why he is popular with so many fans the treble medal winner celebrated alongside British hero Mo Farah in front of a capacity crowd showing off the unique personality, charm and confidence that is so rarely shown by an athlete under so much pressure to perform.
British cyclists ride high
Team GB came into their home Olympics off the back of their successes in 2008, and also with Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins as the talisman of a strong team. In Beijing the team won fourteen medals, including three for Chris Hoy, who made a decision to compete at London 2012 for the final time before retiring.
With so much expectation on their shoulders, many imagined that the team couldn't repeat their successes of four years previous, but with twenty seven competitors involved across four disciplines there were plenty of opportunities to win medals for the home team.
From the moment the cycling competition started it was almost a continuation of the successes that Team GB had experienced in Beijing. In the road cycling events, Bradley Wiggins brought home gold and Chris Froome bronze in the men’s time trial, whilst for the women Nicole Cooke came second and claimed silver in the road race.
Inside the arena of the Velodrome dominant performances from the home team continued as at least one member of Team GB medalled in each of the disciplines for both the men and the women. In the omnium, Ed Clancy claimed gold and Laura Trott bronze as the medal count started to pile up.
The four man team won the pursuit, beating Australia to claim gold, as did the women’s trio in the female section of the competition, beating the USA in a new world record time.
Jason Kenny claimed men’s sprint gold with Victoria Pendleton claiming silver in the women’s equivalent and the men’s winner medalled once again as he teamed up with Philip Hindes and Chris Hoy to claim gold in the men’s team sprint.
It was then left to two heroes of the Beijing Olympics to crown the cycling competition in style as Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy claimed gold medals in Keirin events. For Pendleton it was her second gold in consecutive Olympics, a fitting way to bow out of competition. In victory Chris Hoy passed Steve Redgrave as the Britain with the most gold medals (six), and this brought him even with Bradley Wiggins in terms of overall medals (seven).
France Stuns USA in the pool
The all-conquering United States swimming team had been claiming medals and breaking individual records en-route to the 4x100m freestyle relay event. Team mates Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps had both claimed individual medals and teaming up together to take on the rest of the field it seemed as though they would both be adding another gold to their collection.
The USA managed to record the second fastest time in qualifying without either of their two leading men, but returning for the final it seemed a question of how much they would win by, and whether or not they could break their own record of 3:08:24 that had been set by a Phelps-led team in Beijing.
Having qualified as the fastest team, Australia were expected to be Team USA’s man challengers, but after the first leg, the Aussie’s were out of the medal positions and the USA only lay in second place. When Michael Phelps took over to swim the second leg the team managed to claw their way ahead establishing a two metre lead, and looking set to help their talisman to a 17th Olympic medal.
Cullen Jones maintained the American’s lead, but going into the final leg, it was much closer than many predicted. Making the final turn Ryan Lochte maintained the US lead but found himself being chased hard by Yannick Agnel of France, and eventually with 20m to go the European swimmer pulled ahead and touched the wall first to claim a tremendous victory. Defeating the favourites was a great achievement for the French but it also made up for a defeat in 2008 in the same event when they lost in by 0.08 of s second.
This time it was their turn to celebrate however as all four men raised their arms aloft and roared with delight at doing the seemingly impossible and overhauling the seemingly invincible Americans.
Murray’s Breakthrough at Wimbledon
Just weeks before the Olympics started, Andy Murray was left weeping in front of his faithful public after an agonising Wimbledon final defeat to Roger Federer.
The Scotsman became the first British male since Bunny Austin in 1938 to reach the Wimbledon Final, but was narrowly defeated in his fourth appearance in a Grand Slam final.
As the crowd favourite many hoped that Murray could take advantage of playing on the grass of the All-England club and prove to the doubters that he is truly in the same class as the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Murray’s road to gold was made slightly easier by the withdrawal of the Spaniard Nadal but the Scot remained focussed on one round at a time after beating Marcos Baghdatis in a closely fought third round match before dispatching Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. In the semi-final he was matched up against the number two seed Novak Djokovic, a player who experienced a breakout year in 2011 capturing three Grand Slam titles and a competitor who possessed a great record against Andy Murray.
The Brit proved his mettle against the Serbian star winning 7-5, 7-5 to set up a repeat of the Wimbledon final in which he faced off against Roger Federer. Having only just struggled through in his semi against Juan Martin Del Potro (19-17 in the final set) Federer looked shaky and lost the opening two sets 6-2, 6-1.
The Swiss put up more of a battle in the final set, but Murray managed to break his opponents serve and celebrated a 6-4 victory in the final set to claim a gold medal on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon.
For his encore act Murray teamed up with fellow Brit prodigy Laura Robson for the mixed doubles and defeating the Czech and Australian pair, they found themselves in the final after beating Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Cas of Germany where they were up against Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi. The Belarusian pair lost the first set 6-2, but took the second 6-3, and eventually the weight of his schedule seemed to collapse on Murray’s shoulders as he showed visible signs of tiredness in the ‘Super Tie Break’.
The British pair battled hard but eventually had to settle for silver after losing 10-8, but with a debut victory at Wimbledon, Murray will be inspired to succeed once more in 2013.
Ruta Meilutyte Triumphs
Lithuania is not a country famous for its Olympic gold medal pedigree at the summer Olympic games, but at London 2012, the European nation found a star that it can latch on to heading well into the next decade.
Coming to prominence at the age of 14, Ruta Meilutyte broke the Lithuanian national swimming record in the women’s 50m and 100m breaststroke before going onto compete at the European Youth Olympic Festival the following year.
At the event held in Turkey she triumphed in the 100m breaststroke winning gold and also claimed medals in the 50m freestyle (silver) and 100m freestyle (bronze). Success at the world championships followed as hype around the now sixteen-year-old began to build. She won a silver medal in the 100m medley but went one better claiming goal in both the 100 and 50m breaststroke. This caused her to arrive on many people’s radars six months ahead of the Olympic Games, but Meilutyte’s performance in the Games themselves still shocked the world.
After earning a selection, she became the youngest ever Lithuanian swimmer to compete at the Olympic Games, and in her first ever event, the 100m breaststroke, she showed no signs of nerves. In her first heat she placed first in a time of 1:05:56 breaking the national record in the event and in the semi-finals she went one better breaking her previously set record with a time of 1:05:21 and also set a 100m breaststroke European record.
In the final she stormed to gold before taking her performances into both the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle. She made the semi-finals of both events, setting a new national record of 25.55 seconds in winning her 50m heat. At such a tender age, the Lithuanian exceeded all expectations, and has now set her sights on retaining her title at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Rudisha’s Run
With so many fantastic events taking place in the Olympic Stadium featuring British athletes and world renowned stars such as Usain Bolt, the performances of one history-making athlete on the track didn’t receive the credit it deserved.
Reigning world champion David Rudisha went into the event as the favourite, but he knew that strong competition would come from United States pair Duane Solomon and Nick Symonds, as well as fellow Kenyan Timothy Kitum. Primed to win Olympic gold Rudisha looked in impetuous form as he qualified comfortably from the first round of heats before storming through his semi-final.
The final looked as though it would be an epic event, with the world’s best 800m runners all present, and any one of the eight competitor looking as though they could claim a medal.
Kenyan Rudisha already held the world record, but after a frenetically paced first lap it seemed as though that would come under threat as there appeared to be no specific tactics and all eight runners had the intention of sprinting their way to the finish line.
Rudisha led as the athletes took the bell in a time of 49.28 and although Kitum and Kaki attempted to hold on the Kenyan seemed intent on streaking away from all the competition. Coming down the home straight second placed Nigel Amos gained some ground on the world record holder, but Rudisha stretched ahead crossing the line in a new record time of 1:40:91, Amos finished second with Kitum third.
The finishing times of all the athletes involved in the race were the fastest recorded time for each placing and it was the first time that eight athletes had run under 1:44:00 in the same race. All finishers in the 2012 would have finished in first place had they run in the previous final in Beijing.
Analysing the individual performance of the race, many described Rudisha’s 800m win as being part of the “Greatest Race of all-time” and part of the reason for the race being considered so highly is because every single athlete involved achieved some kind of record or personal best when crossing the finish line. First place Rudisha broke world, Olympic and national records. Second placed Amos broke a world junior record, and also shattered a national record as did Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia who finished sixth.
Abubaker Kaki who faded towards the end of the race secured a season’s best whilst the other four runners Timothy Kitum (3rd), Duane Solomon (4th), Nick Symmonds (5th) and Andrew Osagie (8th) all secured personal bests.