Congrats Great Britain with 6 Gold’s on Day 8

[xcel]

Hodge, Reed, Gregory, James, Hosking, Copeland, King, Rowsell, Trott, Ennis, Rutherford and Farah.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Aug. 4, 2012

The British Flag being projected on the Parliament building for the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games last week.

While I was traveling out to one of the many National Parks located in sunny Central Southern California, something spectacular was going on in London and I wish I saw it live… Or even delayed

Most of the US continues to cheer on the US Olympic team members with the ferocity of war but it was a feat that took Great Britain from a question mark in these 2012 Olympic Games to having their own Olympic day in the sun. I cannot show how proud I am of the host country, Great Britain, for doing so well and I hope they continue to have similar successes as the games continue and wind down through next weekend.

It has been 104 years since Great Britain has won so many Olympic Gold medals (6) in a single day. Here are those Great Britain team members and who they toppled in their respective events.

Rowing Men’s 4

Team GB “Gold”: Gregory, Reed, James, Hodge

Team Australia “Silver”: Lockwood, Chapman, Ginn, Dunkley-smith
Team USA “Bronze”: Ochal, Rummel, Cole, Gault

Woman’s Lightweight Double Skulls

Team GB “Gold”: Copeland, Hosking

Team China “Silver”: Xu, Huang
Team Greece “Bronze”: Giazitzidou, Tsiavou

Women's Team Pursuit

Team GB "Gold": King, Rowsell, Trott

Team USA "Silver" Bausch, Hammer, Tamayo, Reed
Team Canada: Carleton, Glaesser, Whitten

Heptathlon

Team GB “Gold”: Ennis

Team Germany “Silver”: Schwarzkopf
Team Russia “Bronze”: Chernova

Mens Long Jump

Team GB “Gold”: Rutherford

Team Australia “Silver”: Watt
Team USA “Bronze”: Claye

10,000 Meters

Team GB “Gold”: Farah

Team USA “Silver”: Rupp
Team Ethiopia “Bronze”: Bekele

With Great Britain’s best sports day in history behind us, I still hope the US does well all the while I enjoy the “Big Show” like the rest of the world appears to be doing.

And this is being posted with the delayed 100 meter heats and final on NBC in California as I type

[MikeMarsUK]

Pretty amazing results so far, a lot more than I imagined was possible. I watched the cycling time trials where we got a gold & bronze, there were big cheers for every cyclist passing regardless of their nationality. There has been big investment in elite sportspeople here ever since London was picked. The fear here is that the budget will shrink to zero after the Olympics have finished (although I hope not).

[strikethrough]Does anyone know what the GB medal totals were in recent previous Olympics?[/strikethrough]

Totals from previous years were:

2008 Beijing 19g, 13s, 15b rank 4 <-- First olympics after investment starting going in
2004 Athens 9g, 9s, 12g rank 10
2000 Sydney 11g, 10s, 7b rank 10
1996 Atlanta 1g, 8s, 6b rank 36
1992 Barcelona 5g, 3s, 12b rank 13

People were already surprised by the Beijing total and mostly we didn't think we would be able to beat that.

[xcel]

Hi Mike:

I hope Great Britain can find the $'s to support your athlete’s in the future. I cannot imagine what it is like for a Greek Olympian right now

Wayne

[xcel]

Hi All:

My office is upstairs and the TV is downstairs so for a quick lunch I turned on the Olympics to see US Woman score a second goal and they are up 2-0 for the Gold. NBC went back to the aquatic center and are showing woman’s water polo. The US woman are up against the favorite Spain and are up 6 – 2 in the third. I wish I had more to watch some of this with just 3 days of competition left.

Wayne

[xcel]

Hi All:

While the closing ceremony is being wrapped up, there was some absolutely stupendous competition in a number of events.

Woman’s Team Gymnastics with the US’ Fab 5 was great. When the US’ Maroney was caught smirking in disgust on the podium after taking Silver in some individual earlier this week pissed me off. Gabby however is the Media star of the team and she deserves it!

Woman’s swimming? My favorite moment was the 15-yr. old Ledecky schooling the 2 experienced and past Gold medal champions in the 800 Free. Missy Franklin was an absolutely fantastic ambassador for US sports and I only wish there were more like her. Schmidt, Vollmer and Soni were great too. It was great to see Phelps break the most Olympic medals count but I thought he was a bit flat in his response when he lost early in the games.

Lochte was arrogant coming on but settled down after he realized he is not great. Adrian was also a great Olympian and US spokesperson.

Erikson in Judo and Serena in Tennis. Wow!

For team GB, Farah, Ennis and Murray for Team were to cool for words.

Woman’s US track was great but the Jone’s tiff took away some of the 4x100 (Jeter, Felix, Madison and Knight) and 4x400 (Trotter, Felix (again), McCorory and Richards-Ross) relay accomplishments glory. Of all the events, I was on my feet in front of the TV for the 4x100 and 4x400 if that tells you how much I enjoyed those two events.

The double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius from South Africa was the inspiration of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Bolt? Greatest sprinter on the planet but his proclamations about being the best athlete the same day Eaton won the decathlon made me cringe. Saying “I am now a living legend” and “Bask in my glory” prove to me he is the world’s greatest a jack@$$!

Misty and Kerry? What else can you say? Humble and the best beach volleyball team there ever was.

Team USA Woman’s water polo (Maggie Stefans) and soccer (Karly Loyd and Hope Solo) was stupendous!

David Bodia to win gold after barely making the field was great too!

Woman’s basketball was a great watch but that Italian named US player (Turrasia???) was an arrogant jerk in her interviews after the team took the Gold.

Men’s Basketball? Who gives a @($# as there were ego’s and prima donna’s on both sides of the court. I was actually hoping the Spanish team was going to win after what they did to Uganda or whoever it was in game 1.

I absolutely loved watching the Russia’s 0-2 comeback to take the Gold over Brazil 3-2 in Men’s Volleyball final today.

All in, thank you Great Britain and Team USA. And if I screwed up any names plus not given credit to so many others I have not provided a synopsis for, forgive me.

That was my Summer Olympics. How about yours?

Wayne

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

It's an impressive total for GB, a result of a deliberate investment in winning.

For those that don't know, since 1994 the UK has had a National Lottery, which results in funding for arts and sports (as well as debt for addicts and fools, profit for the operator and more income for the convenience stores). Previously, the funding had to come from taxpayers and "Culture" would always be squeezed in budget and funding was divisive. Although the poor showing in Atlanta in 1996 led to some questions over whether athletes were now having it too easy, the results since then have been pretty obvious.

[xcel]

Hi INATM:

I am glad you brought that up. I saw a quick explanation from Kostas a few nights back but not nearly as detailed as you provided.

I also wanted to mention the Philip Phillips "Home" song was the theme being played during the US woman's gymnastics highlight feature(s). It chokes me up when I hear it...



Wayne

[frv]

Fantastic performance by Team GB - the whole Olympics has been superb viewing - never thought I'd watch so much TV!

As Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post said: "Urged on by massive home crowds and a cheerleading press that defied predictions of Olympic cynicism, British athletes ran, cycled and rowed their way to their highest medal count since Britannia ruled the seas in 1908. At these Games, the United States and China might be coming home with more gold, but this country of 62 million roughly the size of Michigan reminded itself of its uncanny ability to punch above its weight."

Congratulations to the US team too.

[CRT1]

I thought these Summer Games were exceptionally well planned and executed, at least looking at it from across the pond. There were some grumblings a year or two back about how this might be a let-down after Beijing but no way, no how, it was awesome fun!

For me, one of the best moments of the games was watching Brit Mo Farah fly away with the 10,000m and tow teammate American Galen Rupp across the finish line for a the Silver. He knew he had it in the bag but he kept looking back not wanting to leave Rupp behind. Incredibly inspired performance that will stick with me for a long time.

[PaleMelanesian]

Originally Posted by CRT1

For me, one of the best moments of the games was watching Brit Mo Farah fly away with the 10,000m and tow teammate American Galen Rupp across the finish line for a the Silver. He knew he had it in the bag but he kept looking back not wanting to leave Rupp behind. Incredibly inspired performance that will stick with me for a long time.

Absolutely! That was a great race.