UNITED KINGDOM: LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS: Coe hails super Saturday for Great Britain team

Record ID: 859302

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS: Coe hails super Saturday for Great Britain team
  • Date: 5th August 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, UK (AUGUST 5, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN COE, LONDON 2012 GAMES CHIEF, SAYING: "Well, up until last night I would have... You know, there was never any question to the answer I would have given you about my greatest night in any venue, and it was Sydney. I think it was Magic Monday - was it Magic Monday? It was the Cathy Freeman night, it was Haile Gebrselassie going toe-to-toe with Tergat in the last few strides. I think Michael Johnson.. Jonathan (Edwards), that was the night Jonathan won - that was an extraordinary night of track and field. I think this did edge ahead of it - particularly if you put it into the context of what else was going on in the Games, from the earliest moments at rowing, right the way through to the Velodrome and then there was a narrative yesterday of infectious success and it was a day none of us will ever forget. I think yes, it probably was for me the greatest day of sport that I've ever witnessed." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN COE, LONDON 2012 GAMES CHIEF, SAYING: "Everything that we've done has been aimed at giving the athletes the best shot at that moment in their lives, so yes, I dreamt that we would have a night like that, but no, I don't think in my wildest dreams I quite saw it unfolding in the way that it did from early yesterday morning." MEDIA WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2012 13:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
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  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVASSWBDU5OV7PKUGUI74ILFP6Z
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  • Story Text: London Games chief Sebastian Coe hailed magic Saturday for the host country after two golds in rowing and one at the cycling Velodrome were followed by three victories in the Olympic Stadium from Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Greg Rutherford (long jump) and Mo Farah (10,000 metres).

    "Well up until last night I would have... You know, there was never any question to the answer I would have given you about my greatest night in any venue, and it was Sydney (2000). I think it was Magic Monday. It was the Cathy Freeman night, it was Haile Gebrselassie going toe-to-toe with Tergat in the last few strides. I think Michael Johnson.. Jonathan (Edwards), that was the night Jonathan won - that was an extraordinary night of track and field," Coe, a double Olympic 1,500 champion, told a news conference on Sunday (August 5).

    "I think this did edge ahead of it - particularly if you put it into the context of what else was going on in the Games, from the earliest moments at rowing right the way through to the Velodrome and then there was a narrative yesterday of infectious success and it was a day none of us will ever forget.

    "I think yes, it probably was for me the greatest day of sport that I've ever witnessed," the London Games chief added.
    Games fever has swept a proud host nation basking in its greatest Olympic day in more than a century.

    "Everything that we've done has been aimed at giving the athletes the best shot at that moment in their lives, so yes, I dreamt that we would have a night like that, but no, I don't think in my wildest dreams I quite saw it unfolding in the way that it did from early yesterday morning," Coe said.
    Britain took their collection of golds to 14 at the London Games to lie third in the medals table behind the United States (26) and China (25).
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