Which sports did I watch today?

Athletics, Equestrian, Sailing, Gymnastics, Cycling (Track)

Golden moment of the day – Team Show Jumping reaches dramatic climax

I must admit that I’ve never really enjoyed Equestrian. The culture surrounding it feels impenetrable to us ‘common folk’, unlike just about every other Olympic sport where it feels like anyone can achieve greatness with enough hard work and dedication, it’s a very rich discipline. That said the Team Jumping competition was brilliantly exciting with a ‘jump off’ being necessary to decide the gold medal. Team GB narrowly took the gold with 3 clear rounds, the delighted excitement on Clare Balding’s face as they set up for the the jump off was enough to make this the moment of the day for me.

Athlete of the day – Beth Tweddle (Great Britain)

She may have only managed a Bronze medal in the Uneven Bars Gymnastics event, but Beth Tweddle continued the huge success of British Gymnasts at these games. It was a really close battle for third place, the standard being so high in the individual competitions, and Beth performed a brilliant routine. Kristian Thomas also competed in the Vault today, and followed up a flawless first vault with a fall in the second. I know I’ve been picking British athletes for this even if they haven’t won their events, but the Gymnastics team proved the world wrong with their strong performance at the London 2012 Games.