With coaches yelling instructions from the sidelines, anxious parents with tears of pride in the crowds, friends and family cheering from home, fans screaming from the stands and the eyes of the world on them;
the Athletes have pushed their bodies to the limit to reached new heights and achieve greatness. Two weeks with the most talented, most experienced, most agile, fastest, fittest and strongest athletes of the world striving to be the best. The 30th Olympiad from London has come to a close and the World has witnessed history being made.
Moments to look back on:
A man who single handedly changed the sport and inspired a generation Michael Phelps hangs up his suit with 22 medals; 18 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals. Undoubtedly the greatest swimmer of all time, the most decorated Olympian of all time Micheal Phelps goes out on top with a gold medal in the men’s 4x100m IM. The 27 year old swam in 7 events in the 2012 games and is going home with 4 gold medals in the 4x100m Individual Medley, 100m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle and silver medals in the 4x200m Freestyle and 200m butterfly. He also became the first man to successfully defend his gold medals twice in the 100 fly and 200m IM.
Phelps’s 22 medals are a mind-boggling total. If he were a country, he would rank in the top 60 in modern Olympic history. His 18 golds would put him No. 36, just ahead of Argentina. Phelps addressing the public said “the one thing I wanted to do when I retire was to have no regrets and I am pleased to say that I am hanging my suit up with no regrets” and with no regrets the end of the Micheal Phelps era is here.
Missy Franklin became the first female athlete to enter in seven events. The 17 year old American goes home with a total five medal with 4 gold and 1 bronze medal. American team mate Allison Schmitt also takes home 5 medals; 3 gold, silver and a bronze medal. A week into the Olympiad the American swim team put together a stellar performance in the pool collecting a total of 30 medals (16 gold, 8 silver and 6 Bronze) at the end of the swimming meet.
Lightning strikes twice as Usain Bolt broke his previous Olympic record with a time of 9.63. The fastest human being in the history of the world became just the 3rd sprinter to win back to back Olympic gold in the 100m sprint. Bolt was a part of the fastest race in the history of the world as 7 of the eight athletes clocked in under 10 seconds. His team mate and training partner Johan Blake finished in a silver medal place with a timing of 9.75s. American Justin Gatlin finished in 3rd with a time of 9.79. Bolt also won two more medals in the 200m event becoming the 1st man to win back to back gold in that event and back to back doubles in the 100 and 200m. The 200m event finished with 3 Jamaicans on the podium with Blake and Wendal Weir taking silver and bronze respectively.
British long distance runner Mo Farah picked up two medals for the hosts when he won both the 5000 and 10000m finals. The athlete clocked in a time a 27:30.42 for the 10000m and 13:41.66 for the 5000m events.
VINOKUROV Alexandr raced through the streets of London on his bike to take gold in the road race on day two. Alexandr upset the favorites Great Britain and showed great experience and power in the final stretch to take the gold. The experienced Kazakhstani won his first gold medal in the Olympic games after having competed in 3 separate games.
On day five the Shwagger sisters of Austria won the first set of their match against Misty May-Trainor and Kerry Walsh-Jennings in the preliminary round of the beach volleyball competition to end a 32 set unbeaten streak in Olympic competition. Trainer and Walsh came back in the second and third set to continue their 19 match unbeaten streak in Olympics which ended with them winning their 3rd consecutive Olympic gold medal. The American pair beat fellow Americans April Ross and Jen Kessy in the Gold medal final to make it an American gold and silver.
Oscar Pistorious took to the track becoming the first amputee to successfully compete in the Olympic Games and bridging the gap between Olympian and Paralympian. Pistorious competed in both the 400m and 4x400m events. The South-African made it to the semi-finals in the individual event and qualified for the finals along with his team in the relay.
Shelly-Ann Fraiser-Price successfully defended her 100m gold medal on the track. The Jamaican became only the third woman to win back-to-back Olympic 100 metres titles. Pryce sprinted in with a time of 10.75 seconds and was followed in by the American Carmelita Jeter and fellow Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown. Price lost could only manage silver in the 200m event where American sprinter Alison Felix clocked in a time of 21.88 to take the gold medal.
The 200-metre champion ran a blistering second leg and 100-metre silver medalist Camelita Jeter finished off the world-record performance, pointing to the time clock as soon as she got past the finish line, seeing that the 27-year-old mark set by the former East Germany had toppled. The U.S. team finished in 40.82 seconds, shaving a huge 0.55 of a second off the old mark. Tianna Madison and Bianca Knight ran the 1st and 3rd laps for the Americans. Felix claimed her third gold medal of the Games as the United States outclassed their rivals in the women’s 4×400m relay.
Serena Williams becomes just the second woman to win the golden-slam. The golden-slam is when a player wins Wimbledon, French open, Australian open, US open and Olympic singles gold. One of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time, she dominated Russian Maria Sharapova in the Gold medal game on the same court where she won the Wimbledon title a little less than a month ago. Williams teamed up with her sister to take the gold medal in the women’s doubles competition.
Andy Murray dominates the green at Wimbledon with thousands in attendance; the Scotsman in front of his home crowd picked apart the world best Tennis player Roger Federer in straight sets in the gold medal match. Murray avenged his loss from four weeks ago in the Wimbledon final. Federer who was certainly not at his best could not keep up with the Brit who was all over the court making it impossible for Roger to find his feet.
Jessica Ennis, Britain’s track and field poster girl dominates in the heptathlon to take the gold medal with a commanding lead. The weight of the host nation was on her shoulders and she gave it her all. Running jumping and throwing with the roar of all of Britain behind her, Ennis was in tears as the Union Jack was raised to the tunes of ‘God Save the Queen’.
The Mexico men’s football team surprised many people when they beat Brazil 2-1 in the finals of the Gold medal game with two goals from striker Paralta. Korea beat Japan in the bronze medal game with a 2 nil win.
In the women’s competition USA beat arch rivals and world number two Japan in the gold medal final. The biggest story of the women’s competition was the Canadian women’s team who finished in last place in the World cup last year and turned things around in a year to take the Bronze medal in the Olympics. Canada turned on the heat in the semi final against their rivals USA. Canadian skipper Christine Sinclair scored three goals in the game but Alex Morgan’s last minute header won the game for the Americans.
The United States won the overall competition with a 104 medals in total with 46 gold, 29 Silver and a further 29 bronze medals. China finished second with 88 medals in total having 38 gold, 27 silver and 23 bronze medals. Russia finished in 3rd place in over all medal count with 82 medals (24gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze) Olympic hosts Great Britain finished in 4th place with 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals a total 65 medals.
Rank By TotalNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1United States of America462929104
2People’s Republic of China38272287
3Russian Federation24253382
4Great Britain29171965
5Germany11191444
6Japan7141738
7Australia7161235
8France11111234
9Korea 138728
10Italy 891128
