Super saturday
Super saturday
Over the weekend we didn’t take a break, instead driving to our friends Tricia and Chris’s, north of Reading, for a BBQ and a university get together. On the drive up we listened to 5live and our two golds and a silver in the rowing. There was commentary on sailing too, and Victoria Derbyshire was very excited about everything.
Once there it was much of the same, seven of us chatted, but gathered around the TV watching whatever sport was on. A bit of trampolining, a bit of equestrian. Snacking on biscuits from a London 2012 tin.
Later we won the Women’s team pursuit in the Velodrome, smashing the world record. And then, what a phenomenal night of athletics. Jessica Ennis stormed home in the 800m to win gold in the women’s heptathlon. Shortly thereafter Mr. Rutherford put in an enormous jump to win Team GB the men’s long jump. And to top off the night, Mo Farah won the 10,000m in style, our first long distance medal winner, and utterly brilliant.
As I’d tweeted, what an incredible day to be watching the Olympics with friends. Six gold medals and a silver. And to top it off, a tasty late night barbecue with some rather scrumptious spicy BBQ’d prawns. Yum yum yum.
As the night drew on, and became morning, we played Xbox Kinect sports, making fools of ourselves as our computer characters flailed in the 100m, threw a javelin at the floor or simply battered down every single hurdle — but impressively still going on to win! There was a spot of bowling and beach volleyball too
The next morning I was rather subdued, but the hot chocolate croissants put pay to that. On the TV the women’s marathon was on, passing all the major sights of London. But outside it was bucketing it down, thunderous, horrible. A giant shower head of a cloud.
Murray gold
Cinema? Dark Knight Rises? Ok let’s go! A half hour drive to Reading, parked, just in time for the film… but they’d sold out. Alas, we found a pub, had some burgers and watched Andy Murray play Roger Federer at Wimbledon in the men’s tennis final. Again, another awesome thing to watch with friends, as Andy thrashed Federer, breaking him five times, never losing a service match and winning in straight sets. Brilliant, Murray played like a different man.
On the drive home, 5live was on again, and Murray mustered up the energy for the mixed doubles final. Best of three sets, it went down to the last tiebreak, but it was all too much and the pair had to settle for silver. Another memorable sports moment in its own right.
Not too much action for the weekend? At home my mum was waiting for us, she’d driven from Bristol to come and see Table Tennis with me, on Monday. (And in the downtime we booked a flight to Cambodia).
100m final
But wait! There’s more sport! The unmissable Men’s 100m final was tonight, with the man of the Olympics, Usain Bolt. Unlike Beijing, everyone knew who he was this time around, and they were waiting, expecting. There was a new Jamaican on the scene too, one Yohan Blake, who’s been known to beat Bolt in the past. We had a race on our hands.
Marks. Set. FIRE. And they’re off, Bolt and Blake break from the pack, a good few metres ahead now, but Bolt is pulling free, he’s leaning forward, he’s won. 9.63 seconds. An Olympic record. Blake second with a personal best 9.75. But should we ever have doubted Bolt? Of course not. He retains his Olympic gold, and once again we’re awed. Despite breaking the record in Beijing, he actually ran faster tonight, just not as fast as his world record set in Germany of 9.58.
That left us buzzing, and it was hard to get to sleep.