The Rio 2016 weekend highlights
Phelps’ Schooling in the pool
It was the end of an era as Michael Phelps swam in what looks to be his last Olympic Games, bowing out after winning his 23rd Olympic gold medal in the men’s 4x100m medley relay. He has won 28 medals from five Olympics after making his debut in 2000, and although he took five golds in Rio, his silver was all anyone was talking about. Singaporean Joseph Schooling beat his idol in the men’s 100m butterfly, claiming Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold in the process. After the event, a photo began to circulate of a young Schooling meeting Phelps in Singapore just before the Beijing Games. Schooling attributes his success to Phelps, saying the American is “the reason I wanted to be a better swimmer”, and his success is a true testament to the value of the Olympic spirit.
The fall and rise of Mo Farah
One of the heroes of London’s Super Saturday and Quorn-peddler Mo Farah was back, eager to protect his 10,000m title. It seemed as though it was all over for Farah midway through the race as he was accidentally tripped up by his training partner Galen Rupp with 16 laps to go, but he was on his feet almost immediately, easily surging past Kenya’s Paul Tanui to take the gold medal. As he looked forward to the defence of his 5,000m title, he revealed what kept him going after his fall: he wants to win a gold medal for each of his four children.
Mo and Usain were celebrating yet again this weekend. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Steven Lewarne
GB’s sensational Sunday
Talking of ‘Super Saturday’, Rio offered us a sensational day of golds of its own – this ‘Sensational Sunday’ saw Team GB take home five gold medals and three silvers, in their best ever day at an overseas Olympics. The day started with Max Whitlock claiming two golds; the first becoming the first British man to take gymnastics gold. In between Whitlock’s performances, Justin Rose took the first Olympic golf gold for 112 years, and cyclist Jason Kenny just pipped his roommate Callum Skinner in the cycling men’s sprint. It was rounded off by an historic tennis singles gold win from Andy Murray, moving Great Britain into second place in the medal table.
Record-breakers
It is hard to understate the history being made at this Olympics. We’ve already mentioned some of the triumphs, but records seem to be being broken faster than you can write it down. Bryony Page became the first Briton ever to win an Olympic trampolining medal (taking silver, narrowly behind Canada’s Rosannagh MacLennan). Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British athlete to win eight medals with a gold in the men’s team pursuit, and Laura Trott became the first female Briton to win a third goal medal (in the women’s team pursuit, claiming a new world record in the process). Our athletes aren’t content with just taking medals – they want to break all the records they can too.
Bolt is back
Usain Bolt is a name that has transcended his sport, although his prowess cannot be understated. All eyes were on him to see if he could win a third successive 100m title, and Bolt did not disappoint, running 9.81 seconds to beat his rival Justin Gatlin and becoming the first track athlete in Olympic history to win three golds in one discipline. Bolt could go on to make further history – fans everywhere are waiting to see if he will win the ‘treble-treble,’ winning golds in 200m and the 4×100 relay and writing yet another chapter of his own in the history books.
Comments