UNITED KINGDOM: LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS: Early morning crowds at Olympic Park applaud Britain's most successful Olympian Sir Chris Hoy

Record ID: 331033

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS: Early morning crowds at Olympic Park applaud Britain's most successful Olympian Sir Chris Hoy
  • Date: 8th August 2012
  • Summary: MORE OF HOY BEING INTERVIEWED
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YNUAG48MHNYUEDD42GUMXBLC
  • Story Text: Spectators poured into the Olympic Park on Wednesday (August 8) for another full schedule of sporting action which includes the fastest man on Earth: Usain Bolt.
    In what should be a mouth-watering night of track action, Bolt will dust off his running spikes again in the men's 200m semi-finals, aiming for a place in Thursday's (August 9) final, when he will try to secure an unprecedented double-double: 100m and 200m golds at successive Games.
    After 100 metres golds for Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell-Brown bids to continue Jamaica's sprint dominance and become the first woman to win three successive Olympic 200 metre titles.
    On Day 12 of competition, the United States is guaranteed gold in an all-U.S. women's beach volleyball final and China looks set for a clean sweep of table tennis medals.
    Sports fans in the Olympic Park on Wednesday morning cheered the arrival of Britain's 'golden boys', cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and triathlete Alistair Brownlee, along with his bronze medal-winning younger brother Jonathan.

    "It was absolutely amazing, out of this world! It was brilliant, really good, really good, really good! Proud to be British, it was amazing," said one British fan.
    With victory in the keirin, Hoy became Britain's most successful Olympian with seven medals, six of them gold.
    Hoy overtook rowing great Sir Steve Redgrave's five golds and matched fellow cyclist Bradley Wiggins as Britain's most decorated Olympian, although Wiggins has only four golds.

    "I thought it was just amazing, the most fantastic achievement. Good on him for working so hard and reaching his aim in life which was to achieve a gold in front of his home crowd. Fantastic! Really enjoyed watching it," Tessa from London said.

    "I thought it was amazing. I think he is a real idol, much more than the celeb's (celebrities) we see every day. I think he is someone we can all look up to," added Esther.
    Home nation Britain surpassed its heroics of four years ago, when it picked up 19 golds in Beijing, by amassing 22 and counting.
    Alistair Brownlee crossed the line in central London's Hyde Park draped in the Union flag, while Jonathan held on for bronze despite having to wait out a 15-second penalty for an infringement.
    Britain's horse riders triumphed in the dressage arena at Greenwich Park, ahead of Germany and the Netherlands while Laura Trott won in the cycling track omnium.
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