2008 Olympics Updates

Relaxed and ready is the mood in the ParalympicsGB camp on Thursday in the athletes’ village.

With the start of the Beijing Paralympics just a couple of days away, final preparations are being made - and there is an air of confidence around the team.

The likes of four-time Paralympian Jody Cundy are old hands at Paralympic villages, but for wheelchair basketball player Helen Freeman it is a whole new experience.

18-year-old Freeman (above left), from Watford, is the youngest member of the women’s team. She has been training hard for her Paralympic experience while studying for her A-levels.

A place at Reading University, studying Biochemistry, awaits Freeman when she gets back to London later this month - but she wants to make the most of her first Games.

“It has been an amazing experience so far. I now just want to get out there and play,” she told BBC Sport.

“I’ve been excited for months and now I can’t wait for it all to start.

“It was a bit of a culture shock at first to see so many disabled people together in the village, but after a few days I’ve got used to it and there is a special atmosphere around.

“The food hall is the biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s like a school canteen but on an extreme scale. I reckon it’s about the size of two football pitches!”

Freeman’s team-mate Ann Wild, who plays alongside her at club level and will be playing in her fifth Games, has been offering hints on the temptations in the food hall - like eating grilled meats, and avoiding fast food.

“It’s good to be able to get help from people like Ann, who has so much experience and it’s all good advice,” she said.

And with comfortable beds, so much food that there are tough choices to be made, and every facility on your doorstep, what does Helen appreciate most?

“The kettle - that’s been most important in the apartment I’m in,” she replied.

“There’s been plenty of tea drunk - my team-mate Helen Turner normally plays mother and makes it, but we’ve all enjoyed it.”

Freeman, Turner and the rest of the 206-strong team are now gearing up for Saturday’s opening ceremony.

Then Sunday sees the start of action in basketball, boccia, cycling, equestrian, five-a-side football, judo, shooting, swimming and table tennis.

Chief executive and chef de mission Phil Lane described this 2008 crop as the best prepared athletes he’d ever seen, and the team are delighted with facilities on offer at the athletes’ village.

Lane explained: “It’s the first time we have gone straight into a facility used by a GB Olympic team, and we worked with the British Olympic Association to share as much equipment as we could. The hard work has paid off.

“Our athletes have sofas, chairs, tables, televisions and DVD players in their apartments as the Olympians did, to give them home comforts and a place they can call their own.

“In Athens we had just one spare bed - not even a spare room. Here we have room so if people need their own space for whatever reason, it is available to them.”

The vast majority of the British team are already here in the village - the equestrian riders and sailors will join them after their events in Hong Kong and Qingdao.

Media Village, Beijing

From the moment Nicole Cooke surged past four rivals on an uphill sprint to win Great Britain’s first gold of the 2008 Games in the women’s road race, I thought we could be on to something. Not “our best Games for 100 years” something, but certainly a fortnight to be pleased with.

Those thoughts were back two days later when Rebecca Adlington pipped American favourite Katie Hoff in the women’s 400m freestyle to earn our first gold medal in the pool since 1988. British team-mate Joanne Jackson came home third in the same race and suddenly our often-maligned swimming squad was on the board.

And so it continued. We never had to wait too long for a success of some sort in that first week and our wildest dreams were delivered in spades over the middle weekend, when we leapt up the medal table to heights we haven’t seen since the Liberal Party were in power.

So what next? Having arrived at our 2012 target of fourth in the medal table four years early, do we dig in or take the next ridge?

But before we leap ahead, let’s reflect a little longer on just how great Britain has been in Beijing.

When UK Sport, the agency that dishes out money to the national governing bodies, announced its targets for 2008 they appeared about right - 35 to 41 medals in total, with 10 to 12 of those gold. These seemed reasonable increases on what we had done in Athens and Sydney, and a huge advance on what we had achieved (or failed to achieve) in Atlanta.

I thought they adequately reflected the improved performances many of our Olympic sports had posted in their own events since 2004, without unnecessarily creating a rod for our own backs. It also set these Games up nicely to be a “staging post” on the road to our “stretch target” of fourth in London. Having come 10th in the table in 2000 and 2004, I was looking for progress up the ladder - eighth sounded reasonable.

So when we sailed past the top end of that gold medal target on Tuesday, with five days of competition still to come, I couldn’t help wondering if UKS had pulled off one of the cleverest cases of managing expectations in British sporting history. If it had, it will have a job to do so again in four years’ time.

The Beijing total of 19 golds, 13 silver and 15 bronzes (47 medals in all) is by some margin our best tally ever apart from 1908, which if it were a country on a medal table would be a rogue state.

We finished third on the medal table in 1920 and fourth in 1924, but from there it went downhill. We were 11th in 1928 and have more or less remained there for 80 years. During this period of mediocrity, we would win on average 4.5 gold medals an Olympics - less than a quarter of the number we have earned in the last fortnight.

Compare our Great Haul of China to the gold medals we won in four Games from 1980 to 1992. We claimed 20 golds during that time, just one more than we’ve managed in the last 17 days, despite two of those Games being weakened by boycotts.

So how have we done this? Well, it’s simple really - money goes a long way to deciding success in Olympic sport and our boys and girls didn’t have much of either before 1996.

Our Atlanta horror show, which saw us win one gold and come 36th in the table, brought a resolve to never stoop that low again. It was clear we needed to spend more on sport and the advent of the National Lottery seemed to provide the answer. The government agreed and lotto lolly was diverted in sport’s direction.

Our Olympians have been reaping the benefit ever since - £265m was spent on Team GB over the last Olympic cycle - and increased funding has already been agreed in the run-up to London.

But is money alone enough? Will having £600m to spend over five years in this cycle enable us to find an extra Adlington or a Chris Hoy clone?

No, you need good people and a clear mission too. And even then it’s a challenge but I’m delighted to see how far we have come already. Adlington would later add to her 400m gold with an emphatic victory in her strongest event, the 800m. She is only 19.

And it wasn’t just in the Water Cube where evidence of something building towards London and beyond could be detected. Hoy’s heroics - the Scottish cyclist was the first Brit to win three gold medals at a Games since swimmer Henry Taylor managed it in (yes, you guessed it) 1908 - stole the headlines but it was the youth elsewhere in the team that impressed most.

British cycling’s domination at the velodrome was breathtaking at times - we were that far in front.

Our rowers and sailors also won their regattas - the first time ever for British rowing at an Olympics and third straight for sailing. And the good news was that both teams think they’ve got room to improve.

To be honest, we’ve won so many medals, it would be pointless for me to list them all. You can find them elsewhere. But I should perhaps flag up our first gymnastics medal for 80 years (won by 19-year-old Louis Smith), our first taekwondo medal (Sarah Stevenson), our first women’s windsurfing medal (Byrony Shaw) and our first women’s 400m gold (Christine Ohuruogu).

Inevitably, there were some sports that failed to deliver. In fact, six of the 17 sports predicted to win at least one medal failed to do so, and two more, including high-profile athletics, did not reach their targets.

For some (badminton and diving), the target was a reach; for others, Beijing must go down as a missed opportunity. Sports like archery and judo will have much to discuss when they return. As will boxing but for entirely different reasons - the sport surpassed its target but appears to be split into factions.

I would also like to see a far greater focus on the team sports: we really didn’t make any kind of a mark in these events at all, although hockey is heading in the right direction.

Athletics could also use a period of reflection. It missed its target but can point to a number of near misses as evidence it is going in the right direction. This is true but the British public will expect much more from the Olympics’ main event in 2012.

So it’s been a great Olympics for Britain - best of the rest, top EU nation and ahead of Australia - but there is room still for improvement. We’ve left a few shots out there.

The task now will be to instil the virtues of our most successful sports across the spectrum. We must also, as host nation, attempt to take our place in every possible event. To squander this opportunity would be a crushing failure and a denial of our legacy goals for increased participation in sport.

Roll on London.

Wukesong Sports Centre, Beijing

USA versus China. The battle at the top of the medals table was distilled on the baseball diamond last night. Not much of a contest you’d think, and you’d be right. USA battered the Chinese 9-1, but the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story.

The game had chugged along politely to the fifth inning, with the US 1-0 ahead. China were struggling to get bat on ball, the US making it look like a gentle workout. China have no pedigree in the sport, haven’t got the nuances or the etiquette that come with a century or more of obsession with the ball-park.

But as in all other aspects of China’s emergence as a nation, they learn fast, and imitate well. Nate Schierholtz, the stocky US centre-fielder had been whacked by wayward pitches a couple of times, and clearly, was planning to introduce the Chinese team to a bit of retribution, major-league style.

Hovering on third base, with his team-mate having skied a big hit to the deep, he went for it. Well, to be specific, he went for the Chinese catcher, Yang Yang, standing on the plate. Remember Jonah Lomu demolishing Mike Catt or Tony Underwood? Same thing. With a grunt of determination and a dipped shoulder, Schierholtz splattered Yang like a mallet whacking a melon.

Welcome to the big time. Cue a minute or so of shouting, squaring up, jostling and gesticulation. China’s coach, the seasoned MLB campaigner James Lefebvre, shot off the bench, leading the protests, getting sent from the field for his trouble. Lord knows what the packed crowd made of it all.

Nowhere in the notes the Chinese supporters were given did it mention baseball was a contact sport. The scoreline read 5-0 to the US at the end of the inning - and 1-0 in the hard-ball stakes.

But you don’t have a 3,000 year history without learning a trick or two along the way. At the bottom of the sixth inning, China took revenge. With an, “accidental”, slip of the wrist, pitcher Chen Kun unleashed his 83 mph fast ball at the blameless Matt laPorte.

Normally in the major leagues, after a Schierholtz-type bit of gamesmanship, the next slugger knows he’s going to cop one. A curve ball to the buttocks, take one for the team, get walked to first base, honours even….but the Chinese haven’t grasped the etiquette, have they?

So, Laporte takes it square on the left ear, and goes down like a felled ox, as the crack on the helmet reverberates around the stadium. Lots more leaping about and arm waving later, Kun is sent off, as is the US assistant coach.

Laporte winds up in hospital having a precautionary scan, and the game peters out.

The last laugh goes to the wronged catcher, Yang, who clonks the only home run of the game in the ninth to bring the crowd back to its feet and the match to its inevitable close.

So a win to the USA, but further proof that China, in all things, are catching up quickly.

Laoshan Velodrome, Beijing

The performance of the British team pursuiters is still floating around my head even after a night’s sleep.

They have been contenders and medallists at World Championship and Olympic level for around a decade now, but finally pulled off the big one after winning a bronze medal in Sydney and silver in Athens.

To do it in a world-record time of three minutes 53.314 seconds was jaw-droppingly good - it was more than eight second faster than their silver-medal winning time in Athens and just short of five seconds faster than the Australians who beat them to gold.

But the thing that strikes me is there’s every chance Britain will be just as competitive in four years’ time.

The team pursuiters are a perfect illustration of the talent coming through the cycling programme.

Geraint Thomas, 22, and Ed Clancy, 23, are products of the system and hopefully have their best years ahead of them.

Bradley Wiggins is 28 and will still be around for London, while 20-year-old Steven Burke came out to Beijing as part of the team pursuit squad - but ended up being drafted into the individual event at 24 hours notice.

He excelled and collected an unexpected bronze medal while improving his time with each ride.

So as you can see, even with the retirement of Paul Manning, the next generation are already there.

Talking of the next generation, what about Jason Kenny in the men’s sprint?

The 20-year-old from Bolton, who has already picked up one gold in Beijing, was a triple world junior champion two years ago and has made it into the last four of the competition in Beijing.

Among those potentially standing in his way? Team-mate and world champion Chris Hoy.

This is getting silly. So dominant is Britain at the Laoshan velodrome that even rowers are winning cycling golds for us now.

Chris Hoy’s story is remarkable enough - taking gold in a completely new discipline after having his favoured event taken off the Olympic schedule.

But at least that was still in the same sport.

Rebecca Romero’s achievement in winning individual pursuit gold four years after taking silver in the quad sculls, and only two years after first cycling round a track, must rank as one of the more remarkable stories in British sporting history.

Only one other woman has ever won Olympic medals in two completely different sports, East Germany’s Roswitha Krause - and both of hers came as part of a team, a handball silver in 1976 following a freestyle relay silver in 1968.

Then again, Romero is a remarkable woman.

Former Olympic pursuit champion Chris Boardman, now a technical advisor to the British cycling team, spotted something special about the girl from Carshalton the first time he met her.

“It was her absolute need to win a gold medal and her commitment to the process that stood out,” he says.

“Rowing had given her good habits, knowing how elite training is done, but there was also something that came from inside her.

“It’s the difference between wanting success and needing it. Rebecca needs it.

“There was only a tenth of a second between her and Wendy (Houvenaghel) coming into this final, but it was hard to bet against Rebecca because of her sheer need.”

As the two Britons lined up on opposite sides of the wooden track, the tension was far more visible on Romero’s face than her team-mate’s.

First she sat down on the banked track, her legs flopped out in front of her, as the seconds ticked down to the gun.

Then, when she climbed on board her bike, she licked her lips and grimaced like someone eating stinging-nettles.

“I said to Victoria Pendleton - this feels like my worst nightmare,” she admitted afterwards. “I felt like I’d been wrongly accused of murder and was about to find out if I was freed for the rest of my life - freed from the demons.”

Romero’s obsession with winning gold was so intense that it often threatened to overwhelm her.

“I’ve never seen anyone who can damage themselves so much in training,” says Boardman.

“It’s her biggest problem, and a common mistake to make - to think that if you do more training it’ll make you better.

“It might not. While one vitamin C tablet is good for you, 10 give you an ulcer. You always have to be mindful of that.

“The last week has been a rather shaky time for her - she slightly over-cooked it in training.

“They took some drastic action a week ago and took her completely out of training. All she’s been doing for the last week is a little rolling on the roads.

“Luckily, she trusts her coach Dan Hunt implicitly, and if he can describe to her how resting is going to improve her performance, then she’ll rest.

“She hates it, but she’ll do it.”

As she powered out of the starting-gate and fought her way up to top speed, Romero was almost roaring with the effort.

With four of the 12 laps gone, she was already a second up on Houvenaghel. With four to go the gap had doubled.

When she flashed across the line, lips stretched back, teeth gritted, she seemed to have no idea how clear-cut her victory was.

Only when she had stared at the scoreboard for almost a full lap did she start to celebrate - waggling a finger skywards like Mick Jagger and snatching a Union flag off a bunch of cavorting British fans perched above the back straight.

“It’s been so hard I can’t explain,” she panted afterwards. “I was facing my demons, but I knew I had it in me.

“To have become an Olympic champion, to have medals in two sports - I’m so proud of myself.”

The British national anthem has been heard so frequently at the velodrome that the organisers must be tempted to just leave it playing throughout the entire day.

There’s been almost no point in detaching the British flag from the highest pole. In the five medal ceremonies so far, British riders have waved from atop the podium in four of them.

When Romero took her turn, still wearing her racing cleats and space-age skinsuit, she looked determined not to blub.

There was much biting of lip as the flag was slowly raised roofwards, much twitching of the nose.

Eventually, as the anthem reached its sluggish crescendo, the waterworks started.

“I was never really good at any sports,” she said later. “I never really thought I was good at riding bikes. It’s just hard work.

“I wanted a gold. I wanted to be a champion. Now I’ve put down my mark to be remembered.”