Golden hours of sport that were touched by genius...
AFTER Super Saturday, it was Sensational Sunday — perhaps the most astonishing weekend in British sporting history. Britain’s tally of Olympic gold medals for the weekend rose to an incredible total of eight, thanks to Andy Murray and Ben Ainslie.
Meanwhile, Usain Bolt ran the fastest 100 metres in Olympic history before an ecstatic crowd in London last night.
Bolt successfully defended his title of fastest man on the planet in front of a global TV audience estimated at almost three billion.
The 25- year- old Jamaican retained his sprint crown in an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds — a mere 0.05 outside his world best and the second- fastest run in history.
Earlier, amid scenes of wild celebrations unprecedented on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, Murray beat Roger Federer to take the Olympic title in thrilling fashion.
The 25- year- old Scot was inspired just one month after suffering the devastation of losing to Federer in the Championship final on the same court.
Down on the South Coast, to cries of ‘Rule Britannia’, 35-yearold Ben Ainslie became the mostdecorated sailor in Games history with his fourth individual gold.
The victories capped a weekend that saw Britain leap to third in
Mo Farah celebrating — part of Britain’s glorious gold rush the medals table with a total of 16 he had been inspired by Saturday golds — with a week still to go — night when Sheffield-born Jessica plus 11 silvers and ten bronze. Ennis stormed to the heptathlon
The feel- good factor has gold before a crowd of 80,000. prompted a huge last-minute On the same night, Greg Rutherford surge for tickets. The 2012 website took the long jump title and attracted 25million hits as fans Mo Farah won the 10,000 metres, chased just a few thousand the first Olympic distance gold remaining seats. that Britain has ever won.
Olympics chief Lord Coe said Both Farah, 29, and Ennis, 26, yesterday: ‘Thank you, Britain, for wept openly after their glorious embracing the Olympics.’ He said victories. All this followed two gold medals in the rowing and one for the cyclists.
A record 719,000 people turned out to watch Olympic events on Saturday — 92 per cent of London 2012’s capacity.
And there was not a spare seat in the house for last night’s 100m final, in which Bolt pipped his fellow Jamaican Yohan ‘the Beast’ Blake, and the American Justin Gatlin, a former Olympic champion who competed controversially in London having completed a four-year ban for doping.
Members of the 80,000- strong crowd paid up to £725 for a ticket to be among those who could say: ‘I was there.’ In Britain alone the TV audience was an estimated 15 million — a quarter of the nation — with theatres and cinemas putting on special screenings.
Despite heavy rain and soggy conditions, thousands who had been at other venues inside the Olympic Park stayed to watch the race on the big screens.
In this unforgettable weekend of sport, it is the glorious sight of Ennis and Farah in their moment of hard-earned triumph that will remain forever in the minds of all who were lucky enough to witness it.