Team GB enjoy best EVER opening Olympics week as Fantastic Friday takes gold haul to NINE but there’s heartbreak in BMX
TEAM GB bagged THREE golds yesterday to make it their best ever first week at an Olympics.
Emily Craig and Imogen Grant started the gold rush by winning the women’s lightweight double sculls.
It was Britain’s SIXTH medal in the rowing at these games, although their Dutch rivals head the table with three golds.
Craig and Grant will forever remain champions of the event at the Olympics, with lightweight rowing being axed from the Olympic schdule going forward – so it was a bittersweet moment for the British heroes.
Next, an emotional Bryony Page bounced her way to a golden trampoline triumph.
Page broke down after a sensational routine — thinking she had won gold when there was still one rival left to compete.
There was only one more competitor to go and China’s Hu Yicheng was expected to produce something special, especially as she had qualified in first place.
However, during her routine she lost balance and came off the mat which is a big no-no in trampolining.
Even before the scores came through – the mark of 11.790 placed her last – it was obvious that Page was the winner.
After victory was confirmed, she admitted: “I forgot I wasn’t the last person. At least if I didn’t become Olympic champion, I knew what it was going to feel like!”
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She now has the full complement of medals – gold in Paris, silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo.
Team GB later bagged their first team showjumping gold since 2012 as Ben Maher, Harry Charles and Scott Brash triumphed in style.
That made it nine golds — surpassing the eight after the first seven days of London 2012.
Maher said: “All of our horses didn’t knock a jump down all day, so I am very proud of the team.”
Maher had won individual gold in Tokyo three years ago, while both he and Brash were members of the team that secured gold in 2012.
It is a first Olympic medal for Charles, whose father Peter was also in the London squad.
In the swimming, the Brits kept the medals rolling in – with Ben Proud and Duncan Scott both taking silver.
Proud was AGONISINGLY close to winning gold in the pool, finishing 0.05 seconds behind Australia’s Cam McEvoy in the 50m freestyle.
It represents a long awaited medal for Proud in the Olympics, with the Brit having already won European and Commonwealth gold.
Then it was Duncan Scott’s turn to fall victim to Leon Marchand’s brilliance in the pool, as the Frenchman took his fourth gold of this Olympics.
Olympics gender controversy
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
Scott’s silver saw him overtake Chris Hoy as Britain’s second most decorated Olympian with eight medals now to his name.
Elsewhere in the pool, Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding took bronxe in the men’s 30m synchronised diving to add to Tom Daley and Noah Williams’ silver.
Unfortunately there wasn’t such success for Britain in the BMX race with Kye Whyte and Bethany Shriever both entering as huge medal hopes.
Whyte crashed out of his semi-final having won silver in this event three years ago on his debut at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games.
The Brit was stretchered away from the track, but luckily, his injuries were not serious enough to require a trip to hospital despite initial fears for him.
Bethany Shriever looked set to repeat her Tokyo gold having won all her heats and semi-finals by some margin.
But a slow start out the blocks saw Shriever bunched up behind the competition despite entering the race as heavy favourite.
All in all, 27 medals at this stage of an Olympics represents Britain’s most successful first week at a games.
There will be high hopes for a strong finish.