12 August 2012 – Blog by Jenny Meadows

The final night of Athletics action in the Olympic stadium and could those British athletes competing tonight add to the medal tally?  We all had high hopes that they could!

First up I’m going to discuss the Women’s 4 x 400m relay.  As expected we saw Perri come into the team and from watching the qualifying rounds I really thought the team could register a 3.22 time and scrap it out with Jamaica for the bronze medal.  I did say I had big reservations whether this was realistic when I found out we had been drawn in lane 9 for the final and this proved to be a thorn in our side as Shana was in the difficult position of having to judge her pace round the 400m lap with all the opposition inside her and without a target outside to chase.  Lee therefore had a fight on her hands to bring the team back in contention and so it proved a similar difficult task for Perri who had to try to pass girls whilst running on the outside of the lane. 

Chrissie acquitted herself well on the last lap but so it proved to be a fifth place position for team GB with a time only marginally faster than that ran in the heats.  I really think they should have finished ahead of the Ukraine but the way the final panned out it was never realistic to finish in the medals as the US, Russia and Jamaica ran some of the fastest times ever for each of their respective nations.  It would have taken a new national record to get amongst the medals.

The build up to the Men’s 5000m was really something to savior.  It felt so much different than the tense atmosphere that came with the 10,000m a week ago.  I cannot believe that happened a week ago!  Where has the time gone?  I think everyone’s emotions and nerves were high this time last week as we all wanted Mo to achieve that Gold medal and also Britain to get off to a good start in these Olympic games. 

We also did not know what shape Mo was in and how he would respond to the challenge of the Africans.  This time round we all knew what sensational form Mo was in, how much he had responded to the partisan crowd, and how he had already achieved one Gold medal so second time round would be a wonderful bonus and not judgment day.  It was a nice cushioning to have and allowed me in particular to enjoy watching the event so much more than last week.

The race could not have gone any better for Mo as it came down to a slow wind up with Mo always positing himself well and covering all moves.  I was so impressed with Mo’s presence in this race and how he put himself at the front of the pack for the last 1k and stood his ground, not allowing anybody to get past.  I love the sight of Mo digging deep with his shiny whites aglow and his elbows driving back as he sprints full throttle to the line.  And there it is – double Gold for our star of the track. 

I am sure many people within the sport have their own fond memories of Mo at various stages of his development in the sport and I too have a few, both professional and otherwise.  He is one of the most popular members of our team and I am really thrilled he has been one of the lucky ones who have managed to combine his obvious incredible talent with the timing of getting it right at a Home Olympic Games.  Mo we salute you!  Even Bolt is doing the Mo bot!