Jess we can
More medal glory as athletes target our best-ever haul
BRITAIN’S sporting heroes started our Super Saturday party in style last night with yet another gold and silver in the glorious Rio medal rush.
Jolly gold giant Paul Bennett led the men’s eight rowing to victory in the city’s beautiful Lagoa Stadium.
Less than an hour earlier, the loyal band of Union flag waving fans saw the women’s team take silver in the same event.
It left Team GB third in the medal table of 206 nations on eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze, with London 2012 superstars Mo Farah, Jess Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford fighting it out for more early today.
The race is now on to beat our best “away” Games haul of 47 at Beijing, including 19 gold medals.
Team UK’s all-time record haul was London 2012 with 65 medals including 29 gold, although countries are known to scoop more with their “home advantage”.
Millions of sports fans were staying up to see the biggest day of action so far, with superstar Usain Bolt making his first appearance on the track in the opening rounds of the 100m.
After towering 6ft 9in rower Paul led home the men’s eight, 5ft 7in cox Phelan Hill leapt into the air as they crossed the finishing line in 5:29:63, a full 1.33 seconds ahead of Germany.
Rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave described them as the best team he had ever seen in the event.
EMBRACED
For Andrew Hodge, 37, and Pete Reed, 34, it was their third Olympic Gold after twice winning the men’s fours.
The crew were embraced by coach Christian Felke who joked: “I am not sure of Paul’s exact height but giving him a hug is difficult.”
Paul, 27, said: “It is an incredible feeling crossing that line. Beforehand you have so many things going through your mind, it is bizarre, you are looking for people you know in the crowd, people who have been there for you.
“You worry about things that have gone wrong, think about everything you have missed, the birthdays and everything. I just want to thank everyone who has been there for me, the coaches and staff for supporting me through the years.”
Phelan, 37, of Bedford, a senior policy advisor for HM Treasury, added: “They were absolute gladiators. That was the angriest, the fiercest, most ruthless, we gave absolutely everything. It was very, very aggressive. It was a fist fight.”
Veteran Reed added: “We’ve never been so ready. That was a big, big race.”
A late surge saw the women just snatch silver from Romania in six minutes 3.98 seconds – just 0.12 seconds ahead of the bronze medallists.
Frances Houghton, 35, was in her fifth Olympics, taking her third silver medal.
Sir David Tanner, rowing team manager, said his crews, top of the medal table in their sport, were inspired by Team GB’s achievements. He said: “We are now among the top nations overall. It is great watching the other sports do so well.”
Elsewhere, queen of the track Laura Trott, 24, is looking for her third gold medal in cycling after a stunning debut Olympics in 2012 where she came first in the omnium and team pursuit events. Laura was in the women’swo teamte pursuitpurs last night alongsides ide Ci ara Horne, ElinorE B Barker ar k e r, K Katie Archibald and Joanna RowsellShand. The team posted a world record time in qualification of 4: 13.26 minutes on Thursday, with Sir Bradley Wiggins taking a record eighth medal in the team pursuit. Rutherford, from Milton Keynes, the world, European and Commonwealth long jump champion, said his personal inspiration would come from a video of his 21-month-old son Milo jumping up and down with a Union flag
in his hand saying he is cheering for Daddy and Team GB.
He tweeted: “One of the best videos ever!! I miss my boy like mad and I’ll be watching this just before I set off into the stadium.” He only just made the final after missing two jumps in qualification.
Farah, 33, due home in the 10,000m, is beginning his campaign to seal his place as one of the greats of athletics by winning the double-double with victories in the 5,000m and 10,000m.
Michael Phelps, right, the greatest Olympian of all-time, also took his final bow of the Games in the medley relay after four gold and one silver in Rio – though his mum Debbie hinted he may yet return for Tokyo 2020. Sheffield star Jess, 30, was locked in a nail- biting bid to hang on to her heptathlon crown last night. The London golden girl was beaten in the long jump by Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam, 21, and went into the final two rounds, in s e cond pla c e . Thiam is also stronger than Jess in next event. Brit Katarina Johnson-Thompson, 24, had a strong showing on the first day of the seven-event competition, even breaking the British record in the high jump. Last night she moved up to third place. UK Sport has set a target of at least 48 medals, with analysis of the latest performance suggesting Team GB are on track to win 47 to 79.
Sir Steve, five-times Olympic rowing champion, said: “It is all about the gold medals for me. While we may not beat the 29 of London, I think we can beat the 19 of Beijing. Anything more than that would be absolutely amazing.”