London Anniversary Games: Day One
"We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels like crying she starts laughing thinking about, Glory Days" - Glory Days (1984)
The night was always going to belong to one man - the athletics superstar of our time - Mr. Usain Bolt, but from the opening 100m B Final to the very end of the first day of competing, the London Anniversary Games took us all back to the joy of only a year ago. London 2012 brought the nation together in a way that nothing has done before and in a time of political hostility between Great British nations it was nothing short of astounding how two weeks of sport pushed down (most) barriers and allowed people to talk, laugh and enjoy together. As thousands flooded in to the Olympic Stadium last night that atmosphere could be felt once more.
The home crowd had to wait until past 9pm to see the first British win of the night - and what a win it was. The 4x100 meters women's team, who did not even have a team in the Olympics, powered past their opposition to finish in 42.69 seconds to claim the best time for a British team in 40 years - just in time for the World Championships in Moscow. "We were saying that's the quickest time we've run in a while, we've not run together much so it's exciting to see we have the potential to go faster. We're really confident going into Moscow, we're a fairly new team and we've just started working together, so a little more practice and who knows what could happen?" explained Nelson.
There was hope of a gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles as local athlete, Perri Shakes-Drayton, lined up after an excellent year of competing. But it was not going to be easy with a strong set of hurdlers next to her the finish was going to be tight. With the unbeaten (this season) Czech athlete, Zuzana Hejnova competing Shakes-Drayton would have to pull out one of her best performances in order to come close to winning on her local track. It seemed as though the Team GB athlete was going to do the unexpected but Hejnova timed her run to perfection and passed the Brit on the home straight to win in 53.07sec to Shakes-Drayton's 53.69sec - a new personal best. "I've run to my best because I've run a personal best. What more can you ask for?" stated the athlete as she walked away with a silver medal to the delight of the crowd.
Yarisley Silva of Cuba won the Pol Vault with a hight of 4.83 meters before Bohdan Bondarenko of the Ukraine just missed out on a world record high jump hight of 2.47m. Despite not getting that impressive record Bondarenko walked away with the gold medal after a high jump competition of incredibly standard.
With Jamaican, Jason Young, winning the 200m in 19.89sec was it going to be a Jamaican sprinting double as Bolt, after arriving in the stadium on top of a rocket, lined up on the start line. The giant Jamaican had a terrible start and had a lot of work to do in the second 50m but despite this the multiple Olympic gold medalist who holds the wait of athletics on his shoulders after recent news of multiple drug scandals, won with time to spare as he crossed the line in 9.89sec. Bolt described his win as "Just wonderful," and after the race he stated "I feel great. I had a bad start but it's not the best part of my race."
Will today be another 'Super Saturday' as London 2012 stars such as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill take to the track? If Friday was anything to go by then Saturday will be electrifying.
The night was always going to belong to one man - the athletics superstar of our time - Mr. Usain Bolt, but from the opening 100m B Final to the very end of the first day of competing, the London Anniversary Games took us all back to the joy of only a year ago. London 2012 brought the nation together in a way that nothing has done before and in a time of political hostility between Great British nations it was nothing short of astounding how two weeks of sport pushed down (most) barriers and allowed people to talk, laugh and enjoy together. As thousands flooded in to the Olympic Stadium last night that atmosphere could be felt once more.
The home crowd had to wait until past 9pm to see the first British win of the night - and what a win it was. The 4x100 meters women's team, who did not even have a team in the Olympics, powered past their opposition to finish in 42.69 seconds to claim the best time for a British team in 40 years - just in time for the World Championships in Moscow. "We were saying that's the quickest time we've run in a while, we've not run together much so it's exciting to see we have the potential to go faster. We're really confident going into Moscow, we're a fairly new team and we've just started working together, so a little more practice and who knows what could happen?" explained Nelson.
There was hope of a gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles as local athlete, Perri Shakes-Drayton, lined up after an excellent year of competing. But it was not going to be easy with a strong set of hurdlers next to her the finish was going to be tight. With the unbeaten (this season) Czech athlete, Zuzana Hejnova competing Shakes-Drayton would have to pull out one of her best performances in order to come close to winning on her local track. It seemed as though the Team GB athlete was going to do the unexpected but Hejnova timed her run to perfection and passed the Brit on the home straight to win in 53.07sec to Shakes-Drayton's 53.69sec - a new personal best. "I've run to my best because I've run a personal best. What more can you ask for?" stated the athlete as she walked away with a silver medal to the delight of the crowd.
Yarisley Silva of Cuba won the Pol Vault with a hight of 4.83 meters before Bohdan Bondarenko of the Ukraine just missed out on a world record high jump hight of 2.47m. Despite not getting that impressive record Bondarenko walked away with the gold medal after a high jump competition of incredibly standard.
With Jamaican, Jason Young, winning the 200m in 19.89sec was it going to be a Jamaican sprinting double as Bolt, after arriving in the stadium on top of a rocket, lined up on the start line. The giant Jamaican had a terrible start and had a lot of work to do in the second 50m but despite this the multiple Olympic gold medalist who holds the wait of athletics on his shoulders after recent news of multiple drug scandals, won with time to spare as he crossed the line in 9.89sec. Bolt described his win as "Just wonderful," and after the race he stated "I feel great. I had a bad start but it's not the best part of my race."
Will today be another 'Super Saturday' as London 2012 stars such as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill take to the track? If Friday was anything to go by then Saturday will be electrifying.
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