London 2012: The very best of

No actual words to really describe how brilliant London 2012 has been… It came, it delivered, it inspired and it will live on! I feel extremely lucky and privileged to have been around in London to have experienced it, to revel in the glory and to have some great memories of it. From the good, great and truly super human moments, my god, the Olympics didn’t disappoint and as per usual its spirit was sprinkled on all corners of the Games from start to finish…

My top 12 moments sealed with that Olympic magic..

12- Putting the Bad in Badminton

Ok, so there wasn’t that many controversial moments of London 2012.. everyone seemed to get along quite well, the only shockers I can think of was the Korea flag blunder and those bloody empty seats when apparently all the tickets had ‘sold out’. Apart from that I can’t think of…. OH! Wait a minute, I remember… shit kicked off on the Badminton courts a few days in. Let’s face it, I mean badminton rarely hits the Olympic headlines, but did when 8 players from China, South Korea and Indonesia were sent home in disgrace after deliberately trying to lose matches. They deliberately threw their games in a bid to gain a better draw in the next round, in violation of the Olympic spirit. Basically the teams were hitting the shuttle cock into the net each serve they had. It was ridiculous and so obvious, maybe if they had been a bit more clever with their game tactics and had not taken the blatant piss, they may of had an argument.

11- Ben ‘Don’t get me angry’ Ainsley

Ben Ainslie became the greatest Olympic sailor in history as he won a fourth consecutive gold medal with victory in the Finn class, but it long looked like he was out of luck as he continually finished behind Denmark’s Jonas Hogh-Christensen. However, the Dane and Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma made a fatal mistake in teaming up against Ainslie. It pissed the hell out of him basically… and he didn’t keep quiet about it either: ‘That’s a mistake, they don’t want to make me angry’.. Ainslie said in his BBC interview, and how right he was. He hasn’t won 4 gold’s for nothing! On the final race he came out like a man possessed and true to his word he cut down the not-so great Dane in his tracks and emerged with the big G! Love a bit of chat on sports field.. its exciting at least for us punters! Go Ben!

10- Blade Runner

When Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee from South Africa with carbon-fibre blades for legs, finished last in the semi-final of the 400m, Grenada’s eventual gold medallist Kirani James went to him, exchanged vest numbers and shared an embrace. A beautiful moment of sportsmanship. Kirani said.. “Oscar is special. It’s a memorable moment for me to be out there competing with him’.. His participation in the 2012 Olympics represents a new chapter in sports history and proof that even disabilities cannot hinder a determined and inspired athlete. Only at the Olympics!

9- The Flying Dutchman

Although the final lap of Mo Farah’s races were genuine hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck stuff, for a minute of pure Olympic hedonism I would go for the flamboyant, breath-taking routine of Epke Zonderland to snatch the horizontal bar title. I remember I was eating beans on toast when I saw this and was solid throughout his piece, eyes didn’t move! Zonderland’s routine was pretty much all-or-nothing, silky smooth throughout and nailing some of the worlds most difficult moves! A back-to-back-to-back (that’s three) release combination and then accompanied the crowds ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’ he pulled off the ‘Cassina’ the ‘Kovacs’ and the ‘Kolman’. His gamble was rewarded and he ended the Netherlands’ 84-year wait for an Olympic gymnastics gold.

8- Do the MoBot

As soon as Usian Bolt clinched gold in the 100m, people everywhere were doing the Bolt. I did it way too many times! In fact all Games long the abiding images of victory had been the Jamaican’s ‘Bolt’ where basically one hand is extended diagonally towards the sky while the other hand bends towards the same direction and let’s not forget Farah’s MoBot where he touches the top of his head with both hands, repeatedly forming the letter ‘M’…

In a camera man’s dream, on the last night of athletics both fella’s ended up on the podium doing the other man’s trademark move. Tis the stuff of montage gold and possibly the excusable face of the London 2012 razzmatazz… Iconic!

7- World Record of the Games

Kenya’s David Rudisha, a Maasai tribesman who was trained by an Irish priest, crushed his world record in a breathtaking 800m race which for me was defiantly the most gob-smacking new world record of the Games by far. He finished in 1 minute, 40.91 seconds, taking 0.10 seconds off his mark from 2010 and he lead from the very start. He looked invincible. The race was blistering. Our man who came in last place, Team GB’s Andrew Osagie, ran a time that would have won him a gold in any of the last 3 Games.

After the race, David said in his BBC interview that he hoped he had made Seb Coe proud..

6- Team GB at the Velodrome

Cycling offered many favourite moments for me, haven’t been this obsessed since.. erm, 4 years ago! Ok, so we’ve got good old Wiggo speeding past Luis León Sánchez in the time trial, the women’s pursuit team closing on the Americans in the final, Laura Trott’s utter mastery of the elimination and the final chapter of Pendleton and Mears rivalry, both wining a gold each in the end…. The British domination of track cycling summed up the London Games. A passionate and deafening home crowd cheered Britain on to seven of the 10 gold medals on offer. Reminder for the next Olympics.. Velodrome tickets just as important as the track! Perhaps the single greatest moment at the Velodrome was Chris Hoy’s 6th gold medal of his career when he put on a display of raw sprinting to rewrite how the keirin can be won. He was fighting til the bitter end and had the nation on the edge of their seats. When he started to cry on the podium, I was an actual mess..

5- Michael Phelps the greatest of them all..

He may have not had the most productive Olympics of his career.. He only got 4 golds? You mad bro? Seriously, he did by anyone’s standards have a stellar time at London 2012, as he moved his tremendous tally to 22 medals *18 of them gold* to become the most decorated Olympian of all time. Put simply, Phelps has won more medals as an individual than many nations in over 100 years of competition. These staggering accolades were attained with 4 golds (men’s 4x100m medley, men’s 100m butterfly, men’s 200m individual medley and men’s 4x200m freestyle relay) and 2 silvers (men’s 200m butterfly and men’s 4x100m freestyle relay) in the London Aquatic Centre.

Greatest of all time? What a pointless discussion. Let’s just all agree that he is a special athlete and that his dominance was both pulse raising and worthy of our unbridled respect..

4- The Hulk

Not many gold medal celebrations could top Germany’s Olympic discus champion Robert ‘The Hulk’ Harting. As soon as he found out the gold was his, he ripped open his competition vest and took off down the hurdle course laid out for Sally Pearson’s final. Fair play to the fella, he cleared every single hurdle, belly out and the German flag around his neck! It was a beautiful sight! His 1st Olympic gold medal adding to his 2 world titles. The wild celebrations didn’t end at the track. After his night out, Harting fell asleep on the train and had his official kit and Olympic accreditation stolen. Total hero!

3- Bert Le Clos the people’s hero!

A nice reminder that behind every athlete, there’s a proud family. The reaction of Chad le Clos’s father after his son beat the seemingly inhuman Michael Phelps was instant TV gold. It was one of the shocks of the games when South African Chad beat Phelps on the 200m Fly, and although the swim was remarkable it had nothing on his father’s delightful, overly emotional interview with the BBC. Speaking to Clare Balding, the older Le Clos was fulsome in his praise for his ‘beautiful, down-to-earth’ boy and said ‘I’ve died and went to heaven and whatever happens in my live now, it’s plain sailing, it’s plain sailing’. I honestly can’t get enough of it. Crying with laughter or just tear’s of joy, Bert Le Clos’ emotional reaction took the gold medal for the Games’ most tear-jerking moment. By a mile.

2- Usian Bolt: legend

My favourite athlete of all time! End of. It wasn’t just the double-double, Bolt won a magnificent double-triple, taking gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay for the second Games in a row. As the only person to achieve the feat, it’s hard to argue with his boast that he’s a legend and the greatest athlete of all.

His gold in the 100m was dominant, the 200m was supreme, but his role in Jamaica’s world record relay win summed up his brilliance. With Ryan Bailey taking the baton for the US perhaps centimetres in front of him in the final leg, Bolt swallowed him up in no time and set sail into history.. *Doing the Bolt*

1- Super Saturday

It would be utter sacrilege if this wasn’t number 1 right? A day that will go down in history as the greatest day of British sport ever, with 6 gold medals and an unprecedented 3 track and field titles in the one session, well 45 minutes to be precise! It started off with two of Team GB’s super powers in the velodrome and rowing lake.

The men’s four came up trumps and double sculls pair of Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking also managed to pick up gold before Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell smashed their own team pursuit record for a 6th time whilst powering away to glory.

Victory in those venues may have been expected, but such success is never guaranteed inside the Olympic Stadium. Jess Ennis had responded to the huge crowds by putting herself in pole position for heptathlon gold, and the evening session saw her run ‘victory laps’ around the final 800m event being roared on all the way. She had done it. Poster girl was now golden girl and she completed it was record breaking PB’s and a smile throughout! Moment’s later Greg Rutherford won Team GB’s first long jump gold since 1964 as Ennis celebrated, and with the crowd wound up into a frenzy they cheered every one of Mo Farah’s 25 laps in the 10,000m, none more so than a pulsating final 400m as he went for glory. Our Golden night was wrapped up when Mo Farah won his first gold in the 10,000m. It was simply sensational; no Brit had ever won the Olympic event and there had not been a non-African winner since 1984. Farah’s follow-up win a week later in the 5,000 was even more remarkable given he had to recover fast from the 10,000 and had to see off a fleet of strong challengers on the nail-biting final lap. Mo’s infectious smile/shocked face is the one image I’ll take away from the Games and will continue to be inspired by. Can’t get enough…

Another Super Saturday…. Day 15 at London 2012

The penultimate day at London 2012…. Ahhh! I don’t want this to end! Talk about finishing with a bang though… and an explosion of more gold medals!

Our gold’s went to Luke Campbell who saw off Ireland’s John Joe Nevin to win in the bantamweight boxing and another for Ed McKeever, dubbed the Usain Bolt on water, who picked up the top  prize in the men’s K1 200m canoe sprint. Jon Schofield and Liam Heath took a bronze medal in the men’s K2 200m sprint and at the aquatics centre, in the most nail-biting final of the games, our poster boy Tom Daley won a massively deserved bronze medal in a thrilling 10m platform diving competition. When they do the handstand on the edge of the platform… I swear I could have a heart attack at that time… for me it looks the most toughest and physically challenging exercise in the entire Olympics! The balance, the strength and focus is irrefrutibly the best of any athletes. A heck of a lot of respect… it was nerve-racking, I could barely watch!

Ed McKeever and Luke Campbell’s gold medals thrilled, and Tom Daley’s bronze was sheer delight and relief for our little cutie, this day belonged to Mo Farah without a doubt. He completed a sensational long distance double with gold in the 5,000m. Along with this triumph last weekend it bookended the week of athletics perfectly, and today’s evening heroics sent the 80,000 Olympic Stadium crowd into raptures one last time. I could only imagine the atmosphere to be euphoric, I could watch the footage of him crossing that line over and over, his big wide eyes in total disbelief! Makes my heart melt every time..

Today, the final 15 medals of London 2012  will be handed out and Team GB could be good for 2 gold’s in the boxing ring. Welshman Freddie Evans goes for gold against Kazakhstan’s Serik Sapiyev in the welterweight final and then an hour later, Londoner, who is built like a brick shit house, Anthony Joshua takes on Roberto Cammarelle, of Italy, for the super heavyweight title. It’s excitement til the bitter end… Could Team GB’s gold medal tally reach a whopping 30? Come on boys…..

How could this emotional and utterly awe-inspiring evening get better? Easy… Mo doing the Bolt and Bolt doing the Mo-Bot! Only at the Olympics…

Day 11 and TEAM GB make history…

The Team GB class of 2012 will go down as the golden bunch… Today we broke our gold medal record and have won more medals at London 2012 than at any other modern Olympic Games! So far we have 22 golds and 48 in total of all 3 colours and we continue to sit pretty at number 3 in the medal table! 60 years ago Team GB had its most rubbish Games at Helsinki 1952 when we finished a crappy 18th in the medal table after claiming just 11 medals – 1 gold, 2 silver and eight bronze! And just another fact for good measure… The United States’ haul of 83 golds at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 is the highest ever! Cool huh? Don’t say I never teach you anything!

Right then, lets roll.. Ok.. seriously, who knew that Team GB were so bloody good at the Triathlon? Like, we’re pretty much a dictatorship in the Triathlon, or at least one family is. The gold rush started today after the 2 hour brutal race around Hyde Park… the 1500m swim, 43km cycle and then a 10k run which has gotta be the toughest event in the Olympics when it comes to physically strength and endurance, right?  Pleased to say though, Alistair Brownlee became Great Britain’s first ever triathlon champion, to seal the nation’s 19th gold of London 2012. The best thing about this victory was that his baby bro Jonny came in just behind him and clinched the bronze medal… Who are the parents? You’ve created super humans!

Just a few hours later, our brilliant horse riders won Britain’s first-ever gold in the dancing horse team dressage event and at the final day in the pumped velodrome Chris Hoy our cycling superstar netted his 6th gold medal in the men’s keirin final to overtake rowing giant Sir Steve Redgrave’s haul of 5 big g’s! Fellow cyclist Laura Trott who is only 20 took her 2nd gold in the women’s omnium and will finish her games taking the baton from Victoria Pendleton as Queen of track. A bitter-sweet end for Vicky though, who grabbed a sprint silver after her rivalry hit its final note with Aussie Anna Mears who claimed gold. Booo! Was genuinely gutted for her, but she seemed relieved it was all over, her final ever race. She can now go and have a huge wedding and makes lots of babies and look back on a stunning career which she ended almost perfectly… 1 gold, 1 silver, a few world records and in the best form of her life isn’t too bad actually. I love her because she is a loose cannon, she wears her heart on her sleeve and you never know what she will do or say next… maybe she will be tempted to just take a quick break and come back?

On the track Usain Bolt took a step closer to becoming the first double-double sprint champion as he eased into the semi-final of the 200m. And in his 4th Olympic Games Welshman Christian Malcolm also gets his place in the semi’s! Thursday night is the big final and is set to be another epic evening for Team GB as Andrew Osagie was just outside his personal best  to finish second in his semi-final and qualify automatically for the men’s 800m  final! Gutted for Phillips Idowu, whose dream of Olympic glory was crushed once again on home soil.. bowing out of the triple jump at  the qualifying stage after his sluggish jump of 16.53cm wasn’t enough to get the top 12 finish he needed for a final spot… At least he managed to jump, even though he wasn’t fit and after all that pre-games rowing with UK Athletics… I wonder if this will be end of Philips? If he sticks around for Rio 2016 that will be his 5th Olympics.. Insane for someone to be top of their game for that long! Long live Idowu..

Wasn’t all lost in the field though, our final medal of the day which was the ‘medal’ we needed to surpass our record at Beijing, was a surprise bronze in the men’s high jump. The medal presentation was very unconventional for a third spot though, not just a tie, but a three-way tie for this bronze position. Mutaz Barshim of Qatar, Derek Drouin of Canada and our very own Team GB’s Robert Grabarz all get to walk home with Olympic hardware. All three jumpers had the same amount of failed jumps at different heights, which is how tie-breakers are usually determined, so all pick up a medal. Finally, Sally Pearson of Australia strikes gold in the 100m hurdles, edging over the line in a dramatic photo finish.. And thank God, the Aussie’s who are having a rubbish games needed that, I think they’ve started to forget what their National anthem sounds like..

More action tomorrow as Team GB bid for more medals on the stunning BMX course, the kayaking events and equestrian! Let’s AVE IT!!

Week 2 and Day 10 at London 2012

Another day down, I’m scared, I don’t want to go back to normal life after the Olympics! Day 10 was pretty special though.. Team GB are churning out these medals like Henry Ford’s conveyor belt! Two more golds which gives us 18 in total.. 1st a dramatic jump-off as Team GB won its first showjumping team gold for 60 years. Then Jason Kenny, The King of cat and mouse, thrilled a frenzied velodrome with gold in the men’s sprint track cycling beating world champion Greory Bauge… fingers crossed Victoria Pendleton can join him with another gold in the women’s final later!

Another highlight today was Beth Tweddle - at last. Chuffed to pieces for this girl! The woman hailed as a pioneer for British gymnastics finally has an Olympic medal, a bronze in the uneven bars. She missed out 4 years ago coming in at 4^th place, so decided to continue her sport until she added that missing piece to the collection! The three-time world champion can now walk proudly into the sunset as she retires.

Biggest upset has gotta be Welshman Dai Greene finishing 4th in the men’s 400m hurdles, such a bitch of a position to place! Gutted! GUTTED! This would have been a perfect ending after winning his European, Commonwealth and World titles… I hope he isn’t one of these ‘Olympic cursed’ athletes! The race was fast, the leading bunch went out flying. He didn’t get a great start and looked weak compared to the field but bloody hell, in true Dai style he didn’t half power through to nip his 4th place which in the Olympic final is painful but also freaking awesome! The winner..  Felix Sanchez, the 34 year old Dominican athlete completed a remarkable renaissance with his gold win. His time, 47.63, was exactly the same as the one he ran to win gold 8 years ago in Athens. He was sobbing uncontrollably on the podium, such a poignant moment! At least someone worthy got Dai’s gold..

All in all a pretty flat day when it came to the track.. Holly Bleasdale was equal 6th in the women’s pole vault and Medal hope Perri Shakes-Drayton missed out on a place in the 400m hurdles final. She was granted a reprieve when Denisa Rosolova was disqualified, but then saw her hopes crushed when the Russian was reinstated. Hopefully Team GB will fight again for another appeal.. will be such a shame as Eilidh Child also missed the final spot as well. We are long over due a new Sally Gunnell…

Good news for the boxers though as Monday in the Team GB office finished on a high… The biggest, built like a brick shit house, Anthony Joshua, and the most stubborn, Anthony Ogogo, got through to the semi-finals and have guaranteed bronze medals..

So, still plenty more action to come… Although the end is getting near, its time to soak it up more than ever now and get really stuck in and support Team GB! We need to pick up 2 more gold’s for this to be our most greatest and successful ever Games… Easy! I’m counting on the our trailblazers at the Velodrome, Hoy and Pendleton are almost dead certs.. maybe if Vic wins her 2nd gold, Hoy could persuade her stay for another 4 years?

GO Team GB!

Super saturday follwed by a Stunning Sunday

Things went a little nutty over the last few days, especially for Team GB… in a good way though, in a very good way! Who knows what is going on in the athletes village (apart from a lot of sex) but whatever our athletes are having for brekky, keep it coming!

Super Saturday lived up to it’s name and will be one day never to be forgotten. Team GB already in a ball pit of medals, no one was quite prepared for what was about to come. In the glorious settings of the Olympic Stadium one of the UK’s biggest nights in sport was about to unfold. There was already a feel-good factor about the day after Team GB had won 2 rowing gold medals and another in the velodrome, and our athletes took up the baton immaculately. You couldn’t have written a better script for British track and field that night, a bustling arena awash with Union Jack flags, 80,000 people craving home success and 3 athletes at the top of their game delivering it on a golden platter.

Jessica Ennis triumphed in the heptathlon, with points so far ahead by the time she reached her final event, the 800m, it was pretty much gonna be 2 victory laps for our golden girl, however, during her ‘real’ lap of honour, Greg Rutherford, the new sexy ginger in town, won the men’s long jump in a surprise gold!  And only 20 minutes later in what was the most epic 10,000m race I’ve ever seen, saw Mo Farah clinch the title in front of a mesmerized and ecstatic crowd. It looked europhic and although I wasn’t in the stadium to see it live, I saw it like millions of others sat on the sofa watching it unfold on telly, in total awe, what a thrill and utter privilege! I would defy any Brit NOT to feel a surge of pride in their country as Ennis, Rutherford and Farah brought home the bacon..

When Sunday rolled in, we continued to win medals left, right and centre.. Even at Wimbledon! Yeah… Revenge is sweet! Only 28 days ago we saw Murray sob his little Scottish socks off after his defeat to Federer, but managed to nail him this time round to claim an emphatic straight sets victory! He then went to pick up a silver in the mixed doubles! It’s like a sporty cupid went around our athletes and fired them with passion and belief! Other medals added to the pile came from Ben Ainslie who in the process became the most successful sailor in Olympic history as he claimed gold for the fourth Games in a row… WOW! And there were more medals in the gymnastics as Louis Smith and Max Whitlock took silver and bronze respectively in the men’s pommel horse final.

Zipping back to the track for another evening of brilliance.. although, Christine Ohuruogu picked up a silver in the 400m, which she stormed down the home straight like a train to clinch, the real star of stunning Sunday was not a Brit, but a Jamaican and I’m sure us Brits would adopt him any day!

BOLT!

Any doubts about the form and fitness of Bolt were blown to smithereens as the boss of the track shot past the field to claim a clear victory in 9.63sec. The 2nd fastest EVER time. Blake made it a Jamaican one-two, taking silver in 9.75, with Gatlin third in 9.79. What a machine! He went out that night clubbing with the Swedish Handball team til 3am… its cool, he only has the 200m final to contest on Thursday night! He says he will only be a true ‘legend’ if he takes the double! I think he is utterly supreme and although I was a little scared he may lose his title, I always believed in him really! The greatest athlete in a pair of spikes, even when he does break world records with the laces untied!

The Greatest ever Men’s 100m Final?

Men’s 100m Final

BBC One 9.50pm

For many this is the highlight the of the Games, the heart of the Olympics and the most wanted, pricey ticket in town.. Now with the prelims and heats away, the men’s 100m final will kick off in just over 24 hours and world will stop to watch. An estimated 15 million viewers in the UK will tune in from their sofa’s and thousands more will hit the cinema to see the fastest men on earth.

The Olympic stadium track or now dubbed the magic carpet, is already producing some extraordinary times with America’s 3rd string representative, Ryan Bailey, clocking a blistering 9.88sec, the fastest ever 1st round time in Games history. Bolt shrugged off any doubts about his fitness with his heat run which was basically a stroll in the park, notoriously a slow starter he managed to progress and obviously take the win of 10.08secs.

In 5 years Bolt has been defeated only 3 times. That is quite a record… Remember, he won the 100m in Beijing in record-breaking time after eating chicken nuggets and running with his shoelace untied. God, love him! For nearly all of the past 4 years he remained untouchable. He has been the athlete in world sport without peer. Simply mind-blowing and infectious to watch…

Can bolt laugh in the face of all this pre-Olympic doubt? I really hope so… but if he falls short of the mark, it will be one of the following men to take his crown..

Yohan blake, fellow countryman and a close friend of Bolt could cause the biggest upset of the Games tomorrow night. He is only 22 years old and they call him ‘the Beast’! He has credited his surge in form after his decision to leave his school coach and join Bolt under Glen Mills at the Racers Track Club in Kingston… I wonder who Glen has got his money on? The facts are that Blake IS the 100m world champion (after Bolt false-started in the final last year) although, in a move that shocked the sporting world Blake beat Bolt in the Jamaican Olympic trials last month… No way! YES way.. and then he beat him again the 200m final… If anyone can inherit bolt’s supreme reign, my money is on this fella! Let’s call this 10 times more exciting than our very own Ovett v Coe clash…

Asafa Powell, often the forgotten man of Jamaican sprinting, but still the last man to hold the world record before Bolt is also in contention and of course the whippet Tyson Gay and the tank Justin Gatlin, who lead the American charge hitting top form when it matters most. Gay, the ‘2^nd fastest man ever’ has never medaled at the Olympics so will be hungry to get amongst it. Gatlin is the tainted 2004 olympics champion, having failed a drugs test for testosterone 2 years after his greatest triumph. He first denied all knowledge of doping and then blamed sabotage and his masseur… What? A pathetic cheat if you ask me. But regardless he will line up and will have something to prove. Revenge is mighty powerful. Finally, it would be stupid to rule out Ryan Bailey who qualified the fastest in a personal best time, obviously in the best form of his life, if he doesn’t chink Bolts chain, possibly the other America boys. So, we 3 against 3. The American’s take on the Jamaicans, which nation will ruin the picture on the podium?

With London’s track looking pretty snappy indeed, the athletes fired up knowing that there IS a possibility to take Bolts crown, I recon the most competitive final in years is likely to unfold. If you know someone with a ticket, steal it! Seriously though, if you’re not there to watch it live make a date in front of the telly and if you hate sport altogether and you only watch one Olympic event, its only gonna be less than 10 seconds of your precious time, make it this one!

Day 6 and more medals come rolling in..

Team GB won 3 gold and 3 silver medals in one of their best ever days at an Olympic games meaning Great Britain have now shot up from 11th to 5th in the medal table. Its been a flipping marvellous day of sport and I spent it glued to the sofa once again, with endless cups of tea and a new weetabix eating record *I think I scoffed 10 today* Ok, so here is what went down on Day 6…

Britannia ruled the waves and current as our canoeing lads delivered Team GB’s first one-two medal haul of London 2012… who would have thought? Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie proved the most rapid by claiming gold in the C2 two-man slalom event while Richard Hounslow and David Florence bagged silver…

Literally about 10 minutes after that… a lovely fellow, who was most defiantly, head boy in school, Peter Wilson nabbed another gold in the men’s double trap! The nation was hooked for a solid 10 minutes to the shooting event… and that will be it for another 4 years now when hopefully w’lle see young Petey boy back in action at Rio 2016!

Next up was a tear-jerker and total shocker! Although, I think Judo looks like a drunken fight after a night out in hotel dressing downs, this was a truly great moment for team GB, a silver medal win from London gal, Gemma Gibbons! Team GB’s first judo medal in 12 years, which was won back in Sydney by her coach which was lovely, however, the moment that gripped the nation was when Gemma ­dedicated her ‘win’ to her late mother. Her mum died of leukemia back in 2004 and finsihed the fight she looked up to sky and mouthed ‘I love you Mum’.. winning the hearts of people sat at home across the nation! Go Gemma, inspired!

Next up thrills, spills, world records, controversy… and a British gold medal to boot! The first day at the Velodrome certainly did not disappoint! Talk about DRAMA! After a blistering heat (Victoria Pendleton is in wikid shape) came disaster in the shape of an illegal change-over which denied Pendleton and her partner Jess Varnish a shot at Olympic gold in the women’s team sprint. Although, Jess bows out of London 2012, Vic goes again tomorrow in the individual events! And its cool… the boys, Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes, were dominant in the men’s team sprint! Well.. there was a shaky start after new boy *German born* Hindes had to flag a re-start after what appeared to be a mechanical problem when he came wobbling like crazy out of the gates. It’s all a bit shady now whether, he just lost balance or not, but who cares, the 3 men lined up again and they won the heat in a new world record and then smashed the French half hour later in the final with another world record and taking gold! A magic moment! That’s a 5th gold medal for Chris Hoy making him the greatest ever Olympian in Great Britain! Fair play, we have some pretty sporty people living in the UK!

More of my highlights came poolside once again, I haven’t been this obsessed with swimming since, erm.. like, 4 years ago! I’m massively loving Clare Baling, Ian Thorpe and Mark Foster the pundit team for the BBC… it’s bloody hilarious, knowledgable without being boring and Ian Thorpe is rather pretty to look at and a bit little silly at times which is refreshing, bless him! He is actually a great pundit.. articulate, cool and a great dresser, he can give Gary Lineker a run for a money any day! The Thorpedo, star of the Sydney Olympics, failed to qualify for London and Australia’s loss has only been our gain.. *I’m in love*

Michael Phelps claimed the 16th Olympic gold medal of his amazing career and 20th in total with a thrilling victory in the men’s 200m Individual Medley… ridiculous, the best human in the world basically! Also during the morning sesh at the Aquatics Centre, Team GB’s Rebecca Adlington, who already picked up that bronze in the 400m freestyle, qualified fastest for the 800m final which takes place tonight!! Come on Becky!!!

So….. roll on day 7! Shit, its been a week already! Forget about all that handball, shooting and table tennis stuff you’ve become addicted to over the past week, today the Games opens the gates to the Olympic Stadium fiiiiiinally! Hello track and field, oh, you make me weak at the knees! Today our poster girl Jess Ennis kicks off the most important day of her athletics career so far.. a serious medal contender.. can the ‘Face of Team GB bag her ultimate dream? 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m are the events on day 1 and the action starts at 10am! Good bloody God i’m excited!! And also big shouts to Dai Greene, Welsh boy, in the heats of the 400m hurdles! Lets GO…..

Day 5 at London 2012 and Team GB’s gold rush begins…

What a lovely way to wake up with news of Team GB’s first gold medal… and from the girls! When you need a job doing.. send in the ladies! Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won gold in the women’s Pair and have now become the first British women in history to take an Olympic Rowing gold. Australia pipped world champions the Kiwi’s to win silver but neither crew was able to live with the blistering pace set by the British pair.. It was mind-blowing and more so to the fact, that Helen only got into rowing after being inspired ‘to give it go’ whilst watching the Beijing Olympics 4 years earlier… what a story she has!

10 minutes later, on the Eton’s same stretch it was time for the Men’s 8! At one point it looked as if Team GB were on course for gold, but a late push from our arch rivals the Germans and the Canadians meant they had to settle for 3rd. It was a gut-wrenching final 500m that left the rowers (and me when I saw the replay) doubled over with elation and exhaustion… A pure gutsy race from the boys as they went for Gold or nothing, just as well they ended up among the medals…

Hot of the heels of our first gold medal… incomes WIGGO, the only man who get an entire nation to wear stick on ginger bushy sideburns! Quick change out of his yellow jersey which he picked up after winning Tour de France 10 days ago, he storms the time trial to claim gold! BOOM! Oh and that was his 4th Olympic Games gold and 7th medal in all, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave with a British record haul of Games medals! Why did I only hear about this man 2 weeks ago? I’m ashamed.. but Wiggo fever is hot, he’s a breath of fresh air, outrageously talented and such a lad! Let’s not forget fellow Briton Chris Froome who picked up a bronze medal in his 1st Olympics! We basically rule the tarmac!

Okay.. so we’re on 2 golds and 2 bronze…And that’s not it…. I know!

Our medal haul continued into the evening at the pool in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke. Michael Jamieson had the quickest time in qualifying, smashing the British record, while his training partner, Andrew Willis, beat his personal best to qualify third overall! Could this be a double whammy? The final was gonna be electric and the noise of the British fans in the aquatic centre was sure to be deafening! Tick and tick… nail-biting to the bitter end where Jamieson in the swim of life fought until the touch. He made up some serious ground on the final leg and gave half the nation mini heart attacks, didn’t quite catch Hungry’s Gyurta who won by just 0.15sec (Just you wait til Rio 2016 Gyurta) who himself finished inside the previous Olympic record time. It is the first medal for a British man in the pool since Steve Parry’s bronze in Athens in 2004 and the best since Paul Palmer took silver in 1996… A total heroic performance from this Scottish lad who adds to Team GB’s medal tally that nobody saw coming outside his training base in Bath. My favourite Team GB win so far….

Apart from our the utterly fantastic efforts of Team GB.. London 2012 were tainted today by some dumbass badminton players.. or were they just extremely clever?  What could possibly be so scandalous on the Badminton courts?  Ok, so… 8 players were chucked out of the Games today for throwing matches in a bid to secure more favourable draws later in the tournament.. The players had been accused of ‘not making best efforts’ to win the matches, and the hearings concluded that they had breached the players code of conduct ‘in such a way that was detrimental to the sport’. Yeah, basically, it was ridiculous, the pair’s played horribly and kept serving to the net, the longest rally was only 4 shots in 1 game! Maybe if they weren’t so obvious they could have got away with it, but this was a blantat piss take in the face of their sport. Disgraceful sportsmanship and thank God the Olympics don’t fuck about either when continuing to protect the integrity of the Games! Although the players were gunning to win the gold in the most easiest of ways, any kind of cheating won’t be tolarated! Go London 2012!

Day 4 at London 2012

For me the most exciting day so far… I spent about 6 hours on my arse in front of the telly and I only moved once to make beans on toast, which is perfect food for olympic viewing by the way! Epic day, nail-biting and inspiring!  And thanks to an overweight South African in the Aquatic Centre we even had one of those ‘special, but bonkers’ Olympic moments which has captured the hearts of millions..

It started off with Chad le Clos from South Africa nipping Michael Phelps for 200m butterfly gold.. it was so close, the announcer claimed Phelps was the winner at first and quickly backtracked! A dramatic and emotional victory from Chad le Clos which ended the reign of the two-time Olympic champion in the 200m butterfly. Phelps had been trying to become the first man to win an Olympic swimming event 3 times in a row, but was edged out in the final stroke. And here is where our brilliant moment of the games comes from so far… Moments after Chad denied Phelps the gold.. the BBC sat down with an ecstatic Bert Le Clos to talk about his son’s surprising victory. He was sweating like crazy, beaming with pride which was so bright it could blind you! His chat was funny, bizarre and pretty unintelligible due to Bert’s gruff Afrikaanglish but only adding to the beauty of it all! A total must-watch interview and the sort of thing you’d never usually see the because some producer would freak out and cut away early. Every last portion of that video is pure magic. And yes, this is what the Olympics are all about, not athletes who assume they are in for gold, but those that are beyond ecstatic when they get to the podium, and the families who root them on. Highlight of London 2012 so far, just what the Olympics were made for moments like these…

Bert Le Clos BBC Interview

Don’t panic though Phelps fans… about 30 minutes after picking up the silver.. He breaks the Olympic record with 4x200m freestyle gold, but that’s not the most exciting bit! That win made him the most ‘decorated’ Olympian of all time! History re-written in London winning his 19th Olympic medal in 3 Games! He had finally broken the record held by Larisa Latynina, the gymnast from the former Soviet Union who was awarded the last of her 18 medals in 1964..

Go Phelps, what a hero!

Meanwhile, Team GB continued to plod along…

Flawless performances from William Fox-Pitt and Mary King helped Team GB’s eventing team medal for a 3rd consecutive Games taking silver behind Germany… which also meant Zara Philips picked up her first Olympic medal which was presented by her mum! Weird, but lovely! Big up to all horses! Urgh…

After our Team GB boys picked up bronze yesterday in gymnastics, it was the girls turn today to show us what they got and it was impressive, but unfortunately not medal quality! So, zero medal’s and zero teddy bear rolls performed, there were some epic scrunchies and shit loads glitter spray on show.. God bless ‘em! 6th place overall isn’t too bad as they are the first team in a final appearance since 1984 and I recon Team GB showed enough promise to suggest a medal could well be on the cards these Games. Rebecca Tunney and Hannah Whelan compete in tomorrow’s individual all-round final, although, our real hope is Beth Tweddle in the uneven bars on Monday. Again, I don’t wanna jinx it, but it was a bloody dazzling display on her favourite apparatus earlier during the team event which was the highest score in the field! This is a dead cert on the podium, right? Come on Beth!

Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow finished 5th in the women’s 10m synchronised diving. Thank God it wasn’t 4th place, as yesterday we found it to be the most tragic when Tom and Pete were awarded the dreaded position!

Other highlights today came from Andy Murray who reached the 3rd round of the singles after beating Jarkko Nieminen, and was given a mixed doubles wildcard with Laura Robson. Also brilliant news for Great Britain’s women footballers who beat Brazil 1-0 in the final group game at Wembley Stadium to maintain their 100 per cent record! Jesus… are we better than the boys? Amazing!

Tomorrow, the men’s time trial! Get ya bikes out again.. and the sideburns and let’s get behind Bradley Wiggins! Hopefully he won’t have the same misfortune as Cav and can bring us the big G we are all craving for!! Wiggins has six Olympic medals to his name already 3 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronzes, all in track cycling but another medal would seal his place as Britain’s most successful Olympian. Yes, Redgrave… the wiggo is on you!

Roll on Day 5 I say and let start with this gold rush already… Obviously, I’m betting Wiggo for the men’s time trial and then its also set to be an exciting time down at Eton Dorney for the rowing with 3 gold medals to be decided… Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the women’s pair are set to take gold after setting a huge new Olympic record in the heats.. Lets GO!

Day 3 at London 2012

And we have another medal! Bronze… no, silver, no actually bronze! Great Britain’s men won an astonishing Olympic BRONZE medal in the gymnastics team final having originally taken silver before a Japanese appeal… what a kick in the balls, robbed by the Jap’s, but who care’s… after not even expecting to even place in the Team event any colour medal is a dream win for these boys! And to be fair the Japanese rightly so deserved their silver swag!

Louis Smith, Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Dan Purvis *the fab 5* sealed GB men’s first Olympic team medal since a bronze in 1912.. which basically was a different sport back then, apparently ‘rope climbing’ was part of the competition 100 years ago! Go fella’s… they were gobsmacked and over the moon!

More good news (before we hit the bad) Ben Ainslie continued his charge for his fourth consecutive Gold medal in the Finn class as he ended day 2 in 3rd place with six races left.

A good day for Team GB in the cross country element of the three-day eventing. Team GB now find themselves in silver medal position going into the show jumping. The best bit was of course, all of Zara’s cousins watching in the crowd, the whole bunch… Will, Harry, Kate and the two ugly sisters, I mean Beatrice and Eugene!

Zoe Smith finished 12th in the women’s 58kg weightlifting after watching China’s Li Xueying take the gold. 12^th is nothing to shout out, although, it kinda is in this case… Zoe is only 18 and during the competition set a new British clean and jerk record of a whopping 121kg and a new personal best total of 211kg in what was her first taste of Games action in front of electric home support! There was a superb documentary before the Games started about her ‘road to 2012’ and she seemed like the most lovely, down to earth girl out there, humble, but a true talent! BBC iPlayer must still have it!

I don’t wanna jinx this, as so far we’ve had so many ‘dead certs’ not make the cut for gold, but Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins seemed to underlined their status as favourites by setting a new Olympic best time as they qualified for the final of the women’s double scull.

The double world champions destroyed the previous mark, set by Germany 20 years ago, by nearly 5 seconds as they won their heat. All eyes on this event final on Friday for what could be our 1^st Gold in the games!

So the bad news, well lets just say it wasn’t our day in the water…

Zero  medals in the Aquatics Centre unfortunately, two-time world champion Liam Tancock finished 5th in the 100m backstroke final, which was gut wrenchingly close… Gemma Spofforth also finished 5th in the women’s equivalent event, with favourite Missy Franklin, a 15 year old from the States claiming gold. Robbie Renwick finished 6th in the 200m freestyle and after the race clamied is confident that his time will come in 4 years time. RIO RIO RIO!

The most painful watch of the day was at the diving end of the aquatics centre… It was Tom Daley and Pete Waterfields time to shine and become life long Olympic heroes! Surely they were gonna medal, right? The pair led after the first 3 rounds and looked sharp as hell but a bad execution of the three-and-a-half somersault with tuck in the 4th round dropped them into 4^th place! The slightest mistake in this ever so detailed event can cost massively and it bloody well did! The boys narrowly missing out, in possibly the worst position ever. Urghh 4th should be banned! Painful! Anyway.. onwards and upwards for the indiuvual events this weekend… will it be Tom’s destiny to shine in the spotlight on his own, just like out of the water? Got everything crossed for him…. oh and Pete too obviously!

Roll on DAY 4!!