…A new world record was set and greatly anticipated events such as the men’s 200m finals meant the world stood or sat still for at least 20 seconds yesterday. Jamaica’s clean sweep was a thing of beauty and whether you’re Jamaican or not, you know you felt a bit of pride after the results came in…
Nearly 11m viewers tuned in to BBC at 8:55pm last night – that’s nearly half of the available TV audience who opted to view the track event final. ‘The King of sprinting,’ Usain Bolt, went into the event hoping to win a second gold in the 200m finals. In true ‘Lightning’ style Bolt was confident entering the stadium, conversing with officials and posing for and playing with the crowd. Arguably the biggest threat to his victory, was ‘The Beast’ Blake, but Usain had previously told him he had ‘no chance’ of beating him.
Mirroring the outcome of the 100m final, Bolt blazed over the 200m finish line first followed by Blake. ‘This is what I wanted and I got it,’ commented Usain Bolt who finished with a time of 19.32seconds, followed by Blake with a time of 19.44seconds. The stadium was ablaze with cheers but who was third? 22-year-old, Warren Weir had crossed the finish line with a personal best of 19.84seconds. The baby-faced sprinter claimed bronze making it a clean sweep for Jamaica who have proved they are the masters of sprinting.
Commenting on not beating his own world record of 19.19seconds, Usain said ‘I was fast but I wasn’t fit enough.’ Although the race did look tight at one point when Blake began to gain on Bolt, who’s eyes were keeping an eye out. Bolt then turned up the speed, to take gold. He has become the first man to win gold in both the 100m and 200m events on two successive occasions. The celebrations were endless and a twenty second event turned into almost twenty minutes of celebration, check out the images below, the photo bottom left was taken by Usain Bolt himself.
There was also celebrations galore when Kenyan, David Lekuta Rudisha, broke his own world record taking gold in the 800m with a time of 1.40.91. This is the moment he has been waiting for and he ‘was well prepared this year’ and was waiting for the ‘perfect conditions to break the world record’. He knew he was in good shape and with today’s ‘beautiful’ weather Rudisha finished ‘I decided just to go for it’. Former athlete Seb Coe described David’s performance as one of the ‘greatest runs in Olympic history’. Rudisha also said it would be fun to take on Usain Bolt at 400m, so that could be in the pipelines too. Fellow Kenyan, Timothy Kitum, took bronze whilst Botswana’s Nijel Amos took home silver.
Great Britain continued to add to their gold success yesterday. Charlotte Dujardin took gold in the indivdual dressage equestrian event. 19-year-old Jade Jones inspired a generation as she took home gold too. She beat China’s, Yuzhuo Hou, in the Women’s -57kg taekwondo event. Jones told BBC Sport: ‘To be the first ever British taekwondo athlete to win Olympic gold is amazing. To win Olympic gold is special, but to perform in front of all my friends and family is just amazing.’ Jones’ Grandfather introduced the 5’1″ gold medallist to taekwondo at eight and she describes him as her ‘inspiration.’
Perhaps the biggest gold win for Great Britain yesterday was, Nicola Adams. She made history – becoming the first woman to become a Olympic boxing Champion. She was announced winner ‘by score of 16 points to 7’ beating China’s Cancan Ren in the Women’s Fly (51kg) match-up. Team GB’s Adams had been waiting for this victory and she headed into the final round with a 14-5 lead against world championship boxer, Ren. Following the victory, Nicola ‘Babyface’ Adams said ‘I’ve been dreaming about this since I was 12-years-old and the moment’s finally come. I’ve got my gold medal for Great Britain… This is what I’ve been working for, we got the tactics spot on, I’ve trained hard, I’ve worked hard. Especially after my injury I never though I’d box again and to think that I’ve come back now and got a gold medal to top it off. I couldn’t ask for more, this is definitely what dreams are made of.’
Ireland also secured their first gold medal of the games, Katie Taylor carried the flag as she took gold in the women’s light (60kg) boxing event. In terms of gold medals, Great Britain are still in third place on the table with 25 while the USA sit in first place with 39 after overtaking China who are now in second place with 37. Overall the USA are in first place, China second, Russian Federation are now in third place as Great Britain slips to fourth place overall. Can Team GB get back to third in the final few days of the games?
