Red Sofa Olympics Hub!!!!!

Well after the exploits of Team GB yesterday and my exploits in and around Soho we decided that today was to be spent on the sofa keeping our fingers on the pulse of all the action.
Between us, we had a TV, 2 laptops, an I Phone and an I pad. There was no way we were gonna miss any of the action - especially early on as there was medal action everywhere today. We could not stop laughing as we kept catching sight of ourselves. All we were missing were a pair of head sets and a connection straight through to BBC Head Quarters. We did a sterling job though bringing the stats and results to you as quickly as we could.

The excitement started in the sailing as the Star class boys Percy and Simpson were in Gold medal position with 200m to go then it all went wrong. They agonisingly missed out and had to settle for silver. They were visibly gutted and Jude and I were stressed to the max. Straight away the Finn class then started with Ben Ainslie going for gold. It is a hard sport to follow anyway so the lack of knowledge of what was happening mixed with the emotion of what had happened in the previous race made me physically sick. The nerves were unbearable but at last Ben Ainslie crossed the line in gold medal position. It was fabulous and his celebration with flares was something to behold. Ben Ainslie rules the waves and we salute you. I doubt a knighthood will be far off.
All the stress of the sport called for some chocolate as we then set out various media forms to tennis, gymnastics and cycling. I think we hoped more than expected that Andy Murray could finally conquer his nemesis at Wimbledon. He played an outstanding match and the scenes as he won the gold medal will stay with us for a long time. He emulated Pat Cash as he climbed up the gantry to embrace his friends and family. A thoroughly well deserved Gold medal and another match to play in just over an hour. During the last few games of the tennis we also had the men's pommel horse final and at one point Andy was serving for the game whilst Team GB were performing in the gymnastics. Way way too exciting and we just missed out on a Gold medal in the pommel. Louis Smith finished equal on points with the winner but was relegated to silver due to his execution mark.He was a little disappointed but he performed the best routine he could and we also picked up a bronze medal after a brilliant performance from Whitlock.
Jude and I were being overcome with excitement once again. Ed Clancy did not perform well in the omnium points race but then had a belter in the sprint and elevated himself from 5th position to bronze medal just as Andy Murray was out once again performing with Laura Robson and narrowly losing out to the Belorussians - Silver for Team GB. All these medals in such a short time was exhausting. We cheered, we cried, we cheered some more.

We still had the athletics to look forward to culminating in the 100m men's final - who would prevail??? Well unfortunately we never got the medal we hoped for in the triple jump and all our men went out in the 100m semis, the 1500m semis and the 400m semis - quite disappointing but on the upside both our girls went through in the 400m hurdles heats and Perrie Shakes-Drayton won her heat easily whilst easing down. Robbie Grabbarz qualified in the high jump and then Chrissie Ohurugu had the stadium on their feet as we thought she was going to repeat her dramatic win of 4 years ago but it was not quite meant to be. She left herself too much to do but came back brilliantly for a silver medal. We were treated to the 2 gold medal ceremonies for Greg Rutherford and Mo Farrah - more tears were shed. Seriously I'm on and off like a tap this week. Then finally we had the 100m final. Tension was mounting, swaggers were swagged and false starts were avoided. As if there was ever any doubt, Bolt romped to a win in 9.63secs - a new Olympic Record. Blake was second and Gatlin 3rd. Poor Tyson Gay ran 9.80secs and didn't get a medal - that proved how high quality a race we had witnessed. Bolt proved that yet again he was the man.

We finished off the day adding 2 Golds 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals to the overall total. To add to this I managed to pick up tickets to the Show Jumping at Greenwich tomorrow so I am pretty excited about that and we are in medal contention. Let's hope the horsey set are ready for me and my outfits :-) I will be armed with plenty tissues as this is vast becoming one of the most emotional times of my life. Luckily there are many crying with me. Tomorrow is another day - keep em coming Team GB









And to finish off today's blog I give you my highlight of the day. Look at the photo below showing the results of the first heat in the women's 400m hurdles. Now look at the name of the woman who fell over and did not finish - could not make it up!!!!!!!