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6 August 2012

Posted by DMC on 7 August 2012 in Diary |

Readers may recall my trip down to Cornwall in May of last year, for the wedding of my niece, Augusta Grand, and how I was splendidly looked after by Barry, our long-term driver. A week or so. Following this trip, Barry was rushed into hospital, where a number of cysts were identified under his spine. I’m delighted to report that Barry seems to have made a full recovery.

As we saw him this morning, picking up the good Doctor Michael, to take him to the airport and, at the same time, leaving some photographs, for me to see, of Barry and wife Denise, looking very regal, in photographs they had had taken in Las Vegas.

By the time I went to bed Team GB’s tally of gold medals had risen to 18. The last of these I saw being one just before going to bed and it was won by our show jumping team in a dramatic jump-off against the Dutch team and was apparently the first such medal since 1952.

I learned today that Greg Rutherford , who won the gold medal for the long jump , with a staggering jump of 8.31 m, went to school in Saffron Walden (our nearest town, about 5 miles) and now lives in Bishops Stortford. For every gold medal won, one Royal Mail letterbox is being painted gold, to remind local people that one of their own is a true Olympian.

Then there was the silver medal won by Louis Smith with a magnificent routine on the pommel. He and the representative from Hungary, scored exactly the same marks but our man lost it on elegance of presentation

Our success in the cycling Velodrome continued when Jason Kenny won gold in the men’s sprint. We have been so successful in the whole of the cycling events in this Velodrome that it has caused Gregory Bauge, who Jason Kenny beat, to question why Britain are so indomitable in the Olympic Velodrome

I believe that the true stars in the Olympic Games are those who compete in a number of events. For example, triathlon, heptathlon and the decathlon , these are the true athletes of the Games and should be overlooked when it comes to the blue ribband events, For example, Jesse Ennis’ gold medal in the heptathlon (seven separate events). to me this is a far more impressive than the 10 seconds or so it takes to run 100 m.

One thing that has not let us down is the weather. It has mostly been idyllic summer days; not too hot and no rain insight. There is plenty of excitement ahead between now and Saturday, when the last events take place. Plenty of opportunity for team GB to pick up a few more medals and beat their tally in Beijing

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