Four years ago, the performances, images and emotions of the now infamous Super Saturday helped ensured London 2012’s place in British Olympic Games history.
And it would appear the events of August 4 2012 were not just confined to Olympic fans either with Super Saturday having been voted as the greatest sporting moment of all time following a poll of 2,000 Brits by Simon Jersey, official supplier to Team GB. For those fortunate enough to be in the Olympic stadium that summer night, the British trio of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah ensured celebrations went well into the night with three golds within 44 minutes of each other.
However the gold rush started back in the morning – or at 11.36am to be exact – as Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge took the men’s four title at Eton Dorney followed by Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking in the women’s double sculls minutes before midday.
That capped off Team GB’s most successful ever rowing regatta but more was to come as over at the Olympic Velodrome in the early evening as Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell took women’s team pursuit gold – with a world record to boot.
Then it was the turn of the athletics to grip the nation with golden girl Ennis-Hill clinching the heptathlon title shortly after 9pm, followed by Rutherford in the long jump and then Farah in the 10,000m.
It was the nation’s best ever athletics session at a Summer Games and Great Britain’s most successful day at the Olympics since the 1908 Games.
Little wonder it topped the poll for sporting moment of all time.
However there were plenty of other contenders too with England’s 1966 World Cup winning team coming in as runners up while another historic British Olympic moment – Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s figure skating gold to Bolero in 1984, was voted third best.
And the Olympic links do not stop there either with Andy Murray – another who won gold at London 2012 – making it into fourth following his 2013 Wimbledon triumph ahead of Jonny Wilkinson’s drop kick to win the rugby world cup in 2003.
Roger Bannister’s sub-four minute mile in 1954 was enough for sixth, with Farah’s second Olympic gold at London 2012 in the 5000m – just a week after his Super Saturday heroics – seventh.
Eighth in the standings was Steve Redgrave’s fifth consecutive Olympic gold in 2000 while Sir Bradley Wiggins Tour de France victory just weeks before his time trial gold at London 2012 rounded off the top ten with Usain Bolt’s 2009 World Championships success shortly before in ninth.
Sportsbeat 2016