After a month's absence, I return with a million and one topics that I could talk about. The intense but subsequently triumphant victory of Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France; the quintessentially British opening ceremony to the Olympics; the dramatic slump the English cricketers suffered in the first Test to South Africa; Andy Murray's tears at Wimbledon; even the cheek of QPR and Joey Barton trying to speed up his 12 match ban. Naturally though, this week can only be a discussion on one topic - the Olympics. However, once again, there are choices galore - the cyclists, Michael Phelps, the rowers, including our first gold-medal oarswomen, unexpected bronze's in the judo, Chinese dominance in the diving, American dominance in the pool; London 2012 has produced hundreds of stories already and we are only half-way through the Olympiad.
Last night though was special. 'Super Saturday' is the middle day, where 25 gold medals are up for grabs. I think you would have got great odds if you said Great Britain would win 6 of those, yes 24% of the gold medals were eventually put around British necks. The gold-rush began down at Eton Dorney, where although we always expect to do well in the rowing, for all of our 13 boats to make the final, and for nine to eventually medal, goes above and beyond the expectations set of the team. We had never had a gold-medal oarswomen, this year we have produced six in three different boats. Yesterday's was a shock, as Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland had only teamed up this year but destroyed the field. Their reaction suggesting they had come no better than second before true realisation began to dawn on them. Their success followed our flagship boat, the men's four, winning gold for the fourth successive Olympiad. Team GB rowers have once again underlined ourselves as the number one rowing nation.
After a brief interlude when Andy Murray and Laura Robson took themselves to a mixed doubles final to guarantee Britain two tennis medals this year, eyes then focussed on the velodrome and the women's team pursuit, the only medal up for grabs there on the big day. Facing a USA team who had made the final by shocking Australia, the British girls were not going to take them lightly. In the end they destroyed them. The margin of victory being over 5 seconds, as the trio of Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell, smashed their own world record for the sixth successive time in consecutive races. They sped around the track so quickly that they could see their opponents in front of them on the final couple of laps. Another fantastic feat achieved, and with four of the five velodrome medals going to Team GB so far, it is looking like another fantastic Olympics for them.
Then in the evening, the stage was set. The Olympic Stadium was a cacophony of noise as the atmosphere built. This was based predominantly on the work of Jess Ennis over the previous two days in the heptathlon. She had built a practically unassailable lead in the heptathlon. A world best in the 100m hurdles, a personal best in the 200m and javelin, she stood nearly 200 points clear of her nearest competitor. In the end she went out in the 800m determined to take in the adulation of the crowd as she led the majority of the race, eventually kicking down the home straight and winning in style. She was the poster girl of this Olympics and the gorgeous golden girl delivered. As somebody who had tickets to see the women's 100m hurdles on Tuesday, I am disappointed she isn't going to compete then, but why should she? A deserved Olympic champion, and one whom is truly adored by the British public.
Next thing we knew, another gold was in the bag. The men's long jump has been open all year, no-one has taken a decisive grip on the event, which led to murmurs that Greg Rutherford may potentially medal, but nothing more than that. Instead, a jump of 8.31m turned him into the Olympic champion. His interview afterwards with the BBC was fantastic, full of happiness and joy. He has had a tough career, but spurred on by compatriot Chris Tomlinson, who also nearly medalled, he pulled out a majestic leap, that none of his competitors ever looked like matching. A surprising gold in some respects, but once more it caused a huge roar in the stadium, the atmosphere was electric by this point. It was a night to savour, and dreams were unravelling that nobody had contemplated.
The night was technically concluding with the women's 100m final, but to Brits the night would be concluding with the men's 10,000m and whether Mo Farah could upsurge the great Kenenisa Bekele from earning a third consecutive title. The race was a strange one. The noise remained for all 25 laps of the track but the pace fluctuated and nobody seemed to want to take a grip on the race. Those that did ended up doing so by jostling and pushing which only infuriated their fellow runners rather than doing any good, a move very much not in keeping with the Olympic spirit. But Farah just held his nerve and ran his own race, he was always sat in contention, just waiting, knowing he had to time it well. And time it he did, the slower pace of the race was always going to favour his great finish and so it proved. Working with his American training partner they pushed the race up with two laps to go and really opened their legs on the bell. When they came around the final bend, the gap widened and despite the American being in touching distance, nobody was going to stop Mo Farah achieving his dream and completing a wonderful evening and an incredible day for Great Britain in the Olympics.
Super Saturday turned out to be sensational, and easily the best athletics session a British team has ever had at the Olympics. The morale inside Team GB now must be ridiculously high and it looks a certainty that we will beat at least our gold medal total from Beijing, and potentially our medal haul overall. I have seen some football and volleyball this week and the atmosphere was fantastic, even when Britain were not participating. How anyone has ever doubted why this country is hosting the Games, hopefully now, is having their questions being answered. It truly is inspiring stuff so far, and generations should be inspired, just as Lord Coe promised they would be. We will never know the legacy of this Games until five to ten years on, but so far, Britain is certainly feeling Great, and long may it continue!
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