There was a lot of TV and press coverage for the Beijing Olympics and Britain did fantastically well finishing overall in fourth place with 19 Gold medals, 13 Silver and 15 Bronze.
We did brilliantly in the velodrome with the British cyclists missing out on only 3 of the 10 Gold medals up for grabs. We did so well in fact that other countries are now looking at Britain for inspiration. According to an article in The Times, the Germans described themselves as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ operation in comparison.
I found it disappointing that there wasn’t very much coverage of the Paralympics. I think that people who compete at such a high level with a disability deserve more coverage. I was amazed today to see that we have finished second in the medal table for the Beijing Paralympics with 42 Golds, 29 Silvers and 31 Bronze. One British competitor, Dave Roberts, broke the world record in his 400m freestyle final and won his third Gold medal of the games, his 10th Paralympic title. Fantastic!
I really hope that all our British winners in both the Olympics and the Paralympics and recognised for their achievements.
I also hope that we can host the 2012 games with the same flair, organisation and flamboyance that we saw in Beijing. Unfortunately we are at a slight disadvantage with four of the top Olympic sponsors already pulling out. Kodak have pulled out despite being sponsors since 1896, a Canadian financial services company called Manulife have also pulled out, as have computer group Lenovo. Johnson & Johnson are also expected to cut it’s spend.
Hopefully Boris Johnson and his team will be able to find more big sponsors otherwise our 2012 Olympics may be slightly less dramatic.
September 17th, 2008
Are you supporting Team GB at the Olympics?
So far to date we have notched up a total of 7 medals, 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. The country leading the table are China with 35 medals in total, 22 Gold. The complete medals table can be found on The Times website.
Our first Gold medal was won by Nicole Cooke in the road cycling event in an amazing sprint finish. Nicole was reported in The Daily Mail describing how she felt when she crossed the finishing line,
‘I made so much noise but I guess that’s just the girl that I am. I don’t think it has sunk in yet. I still feel like the normal Nicole from before the race. But it’s just so exciting.’
Our second Gold was won in the swimming pool. I had the pleasure of watching Rebecca Adlington take the Gold medal in the women’s 400m freestyle. Out of nowhere she managed to find the strength in the last length to fend off Katie Hoff of the United States by just seven 100ths of a second. Rebecca is Britain’s first female Olympic swimming champion for 48 years. The win for Britain was made all the sweeter by her team mate Jo Jackson taking the Bronze.
Unfortunately our lovely badminton doubles team have not been so successful. High hopes were on Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson winning a medal in Beijing following their silver medal win in Athens but they were beaten in the quarter-final by South Korea’s Yongdae Lee and Hyojung Lee.
As the week progresses we start to think about athletics and what our chances are of winning more medals. Perhaps our best chance lies with Phillips Idowu in the Triple Jump. Phillips has jumped the two longest jumps outdoors this season and won the world indoor title in March. He is also the only Briton to start his event as the favourite.
As soon as these games are finished all eyes will be looking towards London as we prepare to host the 2012 games. From what I have seen so far Beijing have done a fantastic job and it will be a hard act to follow.
August 14th, 2008
