In a half-asleep haze at 4:15am on the morning of Tuesday 3rd August, I awoke and glanced at my phone, processing the disappointing news that GB medal hope Adam Gemili had been eliminated from the 200m in the heats.
It was ridiculously early – about eight hours earlier than I’d usually plan to emerge from my pit in the middle of Summer – but I decided to watch the Men’s 400m hurdles final. It had been talked up a lot, favourite Karsten Warholm had recently broken the world record and some tipped him to do it again. It would be the perfect race to watch to soften the Gemili blow before getting a few more hours kip.
But it was the last thing I needed to watch if I wanted to fall back to sleep…
4:22am – The greatest race of all-time?
Warholm won in 45.94, breaking his existing world record was 46.70. Prior to that the world record was 46.78 which had stood for 29 years. Second and third were both ahead of the 46.78 mark meaning that after nearly three decades of no athlete going near Kevin Young’s 1992 record, four times have been clocked quicker this year, and the three fastest runners of the distance ever recorded their personal bests in that one race.
By 5am, I gave up trying to sleep and made my way downstairs to do a workout in the living room (clearly I’d been inspired). After Briton Caroline Dubois was edged out in a thrilling boxing quarter-final, where just one point in one round separated her from Thai opponent Sudaporn Seesondee, a string of sailing events were to follow.
5:32am – Who knew sailing could be so exciting?
Team GB's Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey have missed out on a medal in the women's 49er FX, but Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell clinched gold in the men’s event, in a race that came down to a matter of inches. The pair needed to win and hope Germany edged out New Zealand, and New Zealand were way back as Britain edged Germany on the line.
Giles Scott struggled in his own sailing final (the Men’s Finn), but made an overtake meters out from the finish to secure the 4th place finish in the medal race that was enough for him to claim gold. It was Britons sixth straight gold in the event, in a run stretching back to 2000 commanded by three men. What a shame the event will not feature in the next games in Paris.
7:14am – Siyi’s brilliance in emotional diving final
As the clock ticked past 7, Jack Laugher was up in the 3m men’s springboard diving final. The immaculate Chinese diver Xie Siyi showed unbelievable quality as he sauntered to the gold, and after an epic tussle with Xie’s compatriot Wang Zongyuan, Laugher had to settle for third. It means Laugher has won every colour of medal at the Olympic Games.
The springboard final will also be remembered for a number of athletes who were retiring in that event. Home favourite Ken Terauchi, a 2001 World bronze medallist, finished his career at the age of 40 and as the oldest Olympic diver of all-time. Rommel Pacheco was not quite as old at 35, but secured his highest ever Olympic result as he finished sixth in his final ever event. Both were visibly emotional and proud to sign off their careers in style
Laugher was emotional too when interviewed after, following a difficult year both in and out of the pool. He told BBC Sport "This means so much. I'm not going to lie, I wanted to quit earlier this year and I'd been been crying myself to sleep." It had been a tremendous comeback from the 26 year old Yorkshireman.
9:59am – Back comes Biles while bikes go wild
Speaking of emotional comebacks earning bronze medals in acrobatic events, look no further than Simone Biles. She was evidently nervous and uneasy in the build-up, but produced a high-class performance to secure third place behind the Chinese pair of Xijing Tang and Chenchen Guan, whose own performance were truly impressive.
From the gymnastics centre to the velodrome, where records tumbled left, right and centre. En route to Men’s team sprint gold, the Netherlands broke three Olympic records, beating Team GB in the final. Great Britain were beaten in another one sided final when Germany beat them to Team Pursuit Gold. The former had broken the World Record in their semi-final but Germany did it in all three rounds and brought the record down a total of six seconds from the mark Great Britain set in 2016.
In the men’s event, Britain’s hopes were ended after a controversial and dramatic crash caused by Denmark (the Danes progressed ahead of them as it was ruled that they had already lapped the British team at the time).
11:31am – Two more silvers as debutants McCormack and
Hodgkinson
shine
The silvers were flowing from every side for Great Britain, it was hard to keep track. Though Britons Pat McCormack and Keely Hodgkinson will be disappointed not to have gone all the way to gold in their events on Tuesday, neither can have little complaints as their opponents stormed to gold.
For boxer McCormack, he could do no worse than second after he qualified for the final thanks to Belfast-based Aidan Walsh being ruled out after celebrating his quarter-final win too hard (no, really). In the end however, such was the dominance of Cuban Roniel Iglesias – who outpointed him with greater speed and precision – that he would not have rued missing out on gold at his first Olympics.
Hodgkinson, also at her first games, was tipped to do well back on the track in the 800m, and after running a personal best came away with a brilliant silver. Athing Mu took the gold, which meant that two teenagers occupied the top two spots. Unfortunately for fellow Brit Jemma Reekie, she missed out on bronze by less than a tenth of a second.
1:52pm – Double-double caps sensational games for
Thompson-Herah
Elaine Thompson-Herah completed the day, and her individual Olympic events, with another gold to complete the 100/200m double-double after defending another title she picked up in Rio 2016. Just like in the 100m, Thompson-Herah ran the second fastest time in history as she obliterated the field to claim yet another Olympic title.
I couldn’t help but think of Dina
Asher-Smith and feel that would have made a real impression at these Olympics,
and likely have picked up a medal in each of the events she participated in had
she been fully fit. But the crumb of comfort she may draw from these Olympics
is that Thompson’s form was so impressive, she would have been very unlikely to
have won the gold anyway.
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