CHRIS HOY can hold back the tears no longer as he becomes Britain’s greatest-ever Olympian.
Another winner’s medal in the men’s keirin final takes his tally to an incredible six golds, which means he now overtakes his great hero Sir Steve Redgrave.
There at trackside to congratulate him is Sir Steve, who hugs the weeping giant as the enormity of his win sinks in.
Rowing legend Steve asks: “Are you going to race the Olympics again?” And Sir Chris answers: “No that’s me done.” He’s certainly done Britain proud in a fantastic Olympic career that began way back in Sydney at the start of the Millennium.
But he is expected to compete again – at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
At the end of the race, as he steers his £15,000 super-lightweight bike back to the centre of the arena, Team GB staff and officials formed a guard of honour for the knight of the track. And as he stands on the podium the tears roll down his cheeks and Prince Harry and Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, are among the crowd in the Velodrome to witness this golden night.
Sir Chris, 36, says: “I wanted to win gold in front of my home crowd.
“I can’t put into words what it means to me. It’s one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had.”
It’s also a golden night for team-mate Laura Trott who brings the house down as she wins her second gold of the Games in the omnium. The giggly golden-haired pocket rocket, who is 5ft 4ins tall, says: “I’m just so proud to be here, proud of who I am and proud to be British.”
Her achievement is even more remarkable when you discover she was encouraged to take up cycling to build up her lung capacity – after being born with a collapsed lung – and discovered the taste for winning.
Modest Laura, 20, hopes she can inspire youngsters in the same way that Sir Chris and Victoria Pendleton inspired her. Sadly it’s not to a golden finish for Laura’s inspiration, Pendleton.
Queen Victoria says her final farewell to the track with a silver medal, beaten by her Australian arch rival Anna Meares – who bursts into tears at the end of their epic sprint.
Victoria says: “I’m glad it was me and Anna Meares in the final, it was the way it should have been. I’m glad it’s all done and I can move on.”
So it’s two golds and a silver in just 26 minutes for the cyclists. It takes the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, rather longer to become the first siblings in Britain in more than century to win medals in the same Olympic event.
Cheered on by a crowd of a quarter of a million Alistair, 24, takes gold after swimming 1,500m in the Serpentine lake, cycling 40km around London landmarks and running 10km through Hyde Park.
Jonny, 22, is hit with a 15-second time penalty after a faulty transition from swimming to the bikes. But despite the setback he sprints over the line to take bronze with an effort so Herculean he collapses. The pair, from Horsforth, near Leeds, become the first British brothers to stand on an Olympic podium since tennis aces Laurie and Reggie Doherty in 1900.
Alistair says: “Two brothers first and third. We can’t complain about that.”
WITH 22 golds now on the medal table, GB’s tally of Olympic gongs is the highest for 104 years.
For 100 years Britain have never won an Olympic dressage medal.
And the Germans have won at every Games since Los Angeles in 1984.
But history is turned on its head today with
Britain’s dressage team –
Carl Hester, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin – winning the gold and relegating the Germans into second place.
Princess Anne, sitting among the delighted 20,000 GB supporters, leaps to her feet punching the air in delight as Charlotte scores a stunning 83.286 per cent – the highest of the day.
Windsurfer Nick Dempsey improves on his Athens bronze by winning silver in the RS:X class at Weymouth. Nick, 31, is married to sailor Sarah Ayton, who won golds in Athens and Beijing.
High jumper Robbie Grabarz takes Team GB’s tally to 48 medals after winning bronze. He leaps 2.29m in the event won by Russian Ivan Ukhov.
Team GB draw 1-1 with Spain in the men’s hockey, sending the seething Spaniards out of the contest. The result is enough to send GB into the quarter-finals.
