Belfast Telegraph

SPORTING FLASHBACK

- In shock: Mo Farah takes 5000m gold

Background

Super Saturday at London 2012 was Team GB’S best day at the Olympics in 104 years.

It culminated in three stunning gold medals on a magnificen­t evening at the Olympic Stadium.

The start of the gold rush Super Saturday is mostly remembered for the evening entertainm­ent in the Olympic Stadium but it started earlier in the day at Eton Dorney. The men’s four of Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge won gold and then, 10 minutes later, women’s double sculls pair Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking did the same to kick off an historic day.

Velodrome victory

The Velodrome was the scene of huge success for Team GB at London 2012 — and Super Saturday had its share. Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell broke the world record in their heat against Canada, then smashed it again in the final as they easily beat the United States in the women’s team pursuit.

At 21.02, Ennis (above) crossed the line first in the 800 metres to claim gold in the heptathlon ahead of Germany’s Lilli Schwarzkop­f. The home favourite had been tipped for victory and was almost certain of gold going into the final event, finishing 306 points ahead of Schwarzkop­f.

Rutherford raises the bar

The celebratio­ns continued soon after when Greg Rutherford (below) was confirmed as the long jump champion. He had got under way at 19.55 and went top of the leaderboar­d with his second jump of 8.21m, before his fourth jump of 8.31m extended his lead to wrap up the title ahead of American Mitchell Watt.

Farah finishes the job

With Rutherford cheering from the sidelines, Mo Farah claimed the first of his four Olympic gold medals in the 10,000m. He beat then training partner Galen Rupp into second with Ethiopia’s Tariku Bekele third. Farah went onto win the 5,000m before defending both titles four years later in Rio.

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 ??  ?? Jessica Ennis starts the latedrama
Jessica Ennis starts the latedrama
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