COLIN MURRAY
BRITAIN SITTING PRETTY AGAIN AFTER SO MANY AMAZING FEATS
I’M SORRY, but Team GB’s gold medal haul at Tokyo 2020 just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. At the time of writing, 16 podium-topping performances and not a single one of them won exclusively on foot!
The closest Great Britain has come to an Olympic crown in a fully vertical position was the team triathlon, and while it finished with an epic run, that was only after some serious swimming and seismic cycling, so I’m ruling it out!
There’s Max Whitlock on the pommel horse, but bar the start and finish, the whole aim is to make sure those legs don’t touch anything! And don’t give me blatant divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee. They did it in mid air!
The last time Britain didn’t bag a ‘feet gold’ (copyright) was back in 1996, when only Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent reigned victorious. Quite frankly, it’s just not good enough. The National Lottery and UK Sport need to launch an immediate enquiry.
I’m being silly, of course. The physical and mental heroics of all of GBs success stories have been something to savour, and hopefully my random stat will be made redundant by one of the 4x100 relay teams, or have a hole punched in it by either Galal Yafai or Lauren Price.
I said in this column before a single medal was bestowed that, despite the politics, ballooning costs and empty stadiums, the athletes would save the day and that’s exactly what has happened.
From a Team GB perspective, history has been made at every turn. Swimmer Duncan Scott became the first British athlete to win four medals at a single Games, while Adam Peaty successfully defended a title in the pool, a feat never before achieved by a Brit in budgie-smugglers.
Charlotte Dujardin became the most decorated British female ever thanks to that sixth medal in the horse dancing, while Jason Kenny became Britain’s most successful ever Olympian with an eighth podium finish in the velodrome. Enough for you? I’m not even half done.
Hannah Mills now tops the all-time list of female British sailors in terms of medal haul, while 13-year-old Sky Brown, who brought smiles at every turn, rode her skateboard to bronze and a place in the record books as Britain’s youngest ever medallist.
I can confirm that she did, indeed, rip it.
At the other end of that scale, the epic return of 35-year-old Helen Glover. Fourth place with Polly Swann in the coxless pair, and the first-ever mum to row for Team GB!
Alice Dearing, who co-founded the Black Swimming Association, became the first female black swimmer to don a British Olympic tracksuit, and the medal collection in the boxing has also left us flat out on the living-room rug, with more to come.
Let me continue to pound you with history makers.
Beth Shriever, Kye Whyte and Charlotte Worthington in the BMX, the latter’s 360 backflip being landed for the first time ever in female competition. May they never have to pay for a single spoke ever again.
Let’s chuck in a first team eventing gold since 1972 and Whitlock retaining his pommel title. I think I’ve made my point.
Yet, the thing is, there are so many of my favourite moments not listed above. I’ve just had a lump in my throat watching Holly Bradshaw win a pole vault bronze after a career of just missing out at the highest level. Jonny Brownlee in that team triathlon finally getting his hands on gold, and I’m completely bowled over by Georgia Taylor-Brown, with a team gold and individual silver.
Oh, and let’s just leave Tom Daley out of this or I may go again. Just beautiful.
Yes, there was heartbreak and disappointment, but that is, quite simply, the Olympics.
It can be so remarkably uplifting and so crushingly cruel all in the time it takes to polish off a packet of hob-nobs from the comfort of the sofa.
So, forget the cold, calculated medal count, and applaud Team GBs history makers. Taking everything into consideration, I think that they all deserve a sitting ovation. @colinmurray