Thursday 2 August 2012

Fantastic Five For GB

Three more golds make it five in two days for team GB as Olympic fever really kicks in. After starting the day on two gold medals, GB got off to the best possible start with two medals in the Men's Double Canoe event. A time of 106.41 seconds was enough for Tim Baillie and Etienne Scott to claim GB's third gold medal. Just over .30 seconds later, David Florence and Richard Hounslow clocked in to claim the silver medal behind their compatriots.

Our fourth gold medal came in the form of Peter Robert Russell Wilson who finished just two points behind the Olympic record. Dorchester's Wilson competed in the Men's Double Trap Shooting event and scored a magnificent 143, six points ahead of silver medallist Hakan Dalby of Sweden.

Sir Chris Hoy became a household name after his stunning display in Beijing. But he has now levelled with Steve Redgrave for the most gold medals won by a Briton, notching his fifth, as well as Britain's fifth, in the Men's Team Sprint. Hoy, alongside Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny made history in the semi-finals by setting a new World Record, but then surpassed that by setting another new World Record in the final with an astonishing time of 42.600.

Alongside these three gold medals, team GB also walked away with a further two silver medals. Adding to our two medals already won in the rowing, the Men's Lightweight Four team have also managed to notch silver. The team of Peter and Richard Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley finished just 0.25 seconds behind the South African team in a nail-biting final that almost went our way.

Our final medal today comes in the Judo where Gemma Gibbons also walked away with a silver medal. Gibbons, from Greenwich, faced American Kayla Harrison in the Women's 78kg final and it would be the American that won the contest with two Yukos. Harrison becomes the first American woman to take gold in Judo alongside Gibbons' amazing feat.

A special mention has to go to 23-year old Anthony Ogogo. The boxer from Great Yarmouth has been entwined with hopes of a similar destiny to the likes of Amir Khan and James DeGale. Despite being in the draw from hell, Ogogo has booked his place in the quarter-finals by beating World Champion, Levgen Khytrov. The pair were so evenly matched that they were level on points after the three rounds and even a judge's count back couldn't separate the two. With the drama rising, it came to an agonising judge's decision who voted in favour of the Brit. Much to the annoyance of the Ukrainians, they lodged an appeal that was quickly refuted, granting Ogogo his place in the last eight.

Not wanting to damper Sir Chris Hoy's achievements, all eyes were on Michael Phelps earlier this week who, once again, cemented himself in all-time Olympic history. The American took his phenomenal 16th career gold medal in the Men's 200M Individual Medley, finishing just 0.04 seconds outside of his own Olympic record. It is a feat that will never be likely to be matched as a further four medals takes his enormous tally to 20, overtaking the previous record which was held by Russia's Larisa Latynina who won a colossal 18 golds.

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