ContinueWill we ever see a sporting weekend like that again, at least from a British perspective? I hope we will, but it may take some time.
On Saturday I was lucky enough to be present at four of the six finals where Team GB won gold medals - the glorious, multiple world record-breaking team pursuit girls in the velodrome, cheered on by Sir Paul McCartney, the wonderful Jess Ennis in the heptathlon inside a packed, partisan and emotional Olympic Stadium, the self-styled ginger wizard Greg Rutherford who caught most of us out with an unexpected long jump gold, and then the supreme Mo Farah, turning the heat and the volume up to a cacophony of noise as he led the rest of the 10,000 metre runners home. It was simply sensational stuff.
Earlier the men's coxless fours and women's lightweight double sculls also took gold at Eton. Six gold medals in one day! Yesterday it carried on, with Andy Murray winning a final on Centre Court, albeit the Olympic as opposed to the Wimbledon final, and Ben Ainslie winning a staggering fourth gold medal to add to an initial silver in the past, five Games, proving that if he had been around in the 1600s he would have outsmarted the Armada as well.
In what has become a wonderful celebration of this country - something we self-deprecating lot are unused to - we allowed one man in on the party, but what a man?
He was supposed to be injured, plagued with doubts, eating too many chicken nuggets and crashing his car. So what did Usain Bolt do? Break the Olympic record as he defended his 100 metres crown last night. All bets, I humbly suggest, are now off for the 200 metres.
Amid all this there were near misses and disappointments. Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson turned gold to silver in the final few metres of their medal Star race in Weymouth, Helen Jenkins, an overwhelming favourite in the women's triathlon, was phlegmatic in defeat because she had picked up an injury, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter were distraught in finishing second and failing to defend their Olympic title, Louis Smith was impressive in accepting a silver medal having matched the world and Olympic champion in score on the pommel horse, and Christine Ohuruogu, who nobody expected to win gold for the second Games running, was visibly upset in falling short of gold by inches.
Even Andy Murray appeared downcast after losing the mixed doubles final with Laura Robson, an hour after winning the men's singles gold! This nation's sports stars are now no longer happy to accept second best. It is all about winning, all about the big G, and long may this continue.
