Team GB celebrates Olympic gold rush
Saturday, 16 Aug 2008 18:50
Rebecca Adlington took her second gold medal of the games in the 800m freestyle
Britain's Olympic athletes were celebrating after taking nine medals in one day.
The team won four gold, a silver and four bronze medals. It is the biggest one-day medal haul for the British Olympic team in 100 years. The wins take Team GB to seventh in the overall standings.
Rebecca Adlington kicked off proceedings with her second gold medal of the Olympics after smashing the oldest world record in the women's 800m freestyle. She was swiftly followed by Britain's Olympic rowers who took gold in the coxless fours and then the cyclists who took a further two gold medals.
Adlington had already been victorious in the 400m freestyle and the confidence gained from that race earlier in the week saw her power clear of the field in her preferred event.
The 19-year-old finished the course in 8mins 14.10secs, 2.12secs faster than the previous world best set by American Janet Evans in 1989.
She finished six seconds ahead of Italy's Alessia Filippi who won the silver medal, while Lotte Friis of Denmark took the bronze. Britain's Cassandra Patten finished in eighth place.
Adlington said: "I absolutely can't believe that has happened. I knew when I touched I had won and that was a great thing because I was just going for gold.
"I didn't expect that record at all. It has always been a goal of mine but I never really expected it at this moment in time."
Britain's Olympic rowers took gold in the coxless fours taking the medal in a nail-biting comeback that saw them steal first from Australia in the last few hundred metres of the race.
Andy Triggs-Hodge, Peter Reed, Steve Williams and Tom James trailed by three-quarters of a length with 500m to go but won by a similar margin in Shunyi.
The defending Olympic champions looked to be struggling heading towards the crucial part of the race and were having to fight off Slovenia who were level with them with 500m to go.
However, the Australians began to tire and Britain upped their stroke rate to row down their opponents leaving the rest of the field in their wake.
"I don't know where that last 250m came from. I was in so much pain - I've never been in that pain in my entire life," said Hodge.
Williams, who won alongside Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell four years ago, said the effort in the closing stages was "primeval".
"That was very tough, I am absolutely delighted," said Williams.
"For the last four to five months our coach Jurgen Grobler has told us 'there's no-one who can beat you', but some days you don't feel like that.
"I didn't realise we were ahead until very close to the finish. I just had a sniff that we could do it in the last 200m. The last 10-15 strokes were phenomenal. It was beyond skill, it was just something primeval."
Recent recruit to the boat James added: "I nearly blacked out in the last 250m."
And Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy took two golds in the Olympic velodrome with Ross Edgar earning silver and bronze medals going to Steven Burke and Chris Newton.
Bradley Wiggins retained his Olympic 4000m individual pursuit title as Britain continued to dominate the track cycling.
Wiggins gradually upped his pace to beat Hayden Roulston of New Zealand by more than two seconds. Wiggins is the first man in the event's history to defend the Olympic title.
His GB team-mate Steven Burke took an unexpected bronze after beating Alexei Markov.
And in the men's points race, Britain's Chris Newton rode an astute tactical race to take another bronze medal.
Newton, who finished behind Spain's Joan Llanenaras, covered every move of his rivals until a slight error of judgement on the final sprint saw Germany's Roger Kluge snatch the silver medal.
Meanwhile, Chris Hoy blew away the opposition in the keirin to win his second gold medal in Beijing.
The Scot looked to be slightly boxed in, but an explosive burst saw him accelerate well clear of the pack to cruise over the finishing line - just as he did in his opening round.
Edgar then edged out Kiyofumi Nagai of Japan to make it a British one-two. Hoy's win earned him his third Olympic gold medal, having won the 1km in Athens, making him the most successful Scottish Olympian of all-time.