ContinueSo, was it only a few days ago that we were all getting into a bit of a tizzy over Team GB's apparent lack of gold medals at their home Games? It was, as I wrote back then, down to the event schedule, not any perceived failures.
Indeed, the only slight setback before Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won Team GB's first gold on the water at Eton Dorney on Wednesday was Mark Cavendish losing out in the men's road race last Saturday. Apart from that we have picked up loads of medals where they were not perhaps expected, and that includes golds, whilst our "bankers" have so far stepped up to the plate.
Bankers? Like who? Well Bradley Wiggins for starters, plus Katherine Grainger, alongside Anna Watkins earlier today, and the Knight of the velodrome, Sir Chris Hoy, together with Jason Kenny and the, shall we say, accidental Philip Hindes in last night's team sprint.
Throw in the slightly more unexpected, such as Glover and Stanning, the C2 canoe boys and Peter Wilson in the clay pigeon (although he was highly fancied) and with six gold medals already we find ourselves 4th in the overall medals table. Trust me, though, there are plenty more to come, starting tonight at the acquatics centre where Rebecca Adlington is poised to become the first British swimmer to ever successfully defend an Olympic title in the 800 metres freestyle and the men's team pursuit back at the velodrome look good for gold too.
If you thought today and the past two have been golden, however, wait for tomorrow. I predict a minimum of five - yes 5 - gold medals starting in London's Hyde Park where Helen Jenkins is the favourite to win the women's triathlon. Just to the west the men's coxless fours and the men's lightweight double sculls are both defending Olympic champions and both look good to repeating their feat from Beijing.
In the velodrome the women's team pursuit are hot favourites whilst on the track Jess Ennis hopes, nay expects, to round off a perfect two days by striking gold in the heptathlon. Of course, if you want to get greedy there's always Mo Farah in the 10,000 metres final too. So, with Adlington tonight, and 5 to 6 golds tomorrow, that's 12 to 13 golds by Sunday morning, and with Ben Ainslie and the Star boys, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson looking good for more Olympic titles on Sunday, plus Andy Murray at Wimbledon, Christine O in the 400 metres and Louis Smith on the pommel horse, we can all start next week with Team GB sitting on between 16 to 18 gold medals, and well in touch of Beijing's overall total of 19. Am I getting too far ahead of myself? You'd better believe it.
