Peak Performance Olympic Awards
The 2008 Beijing Olympics closed out in predictably beautiful style. It’ll be a long time before we forget some of the fantastic performances produced in Beijing. But, just in case you do have the memory of a goldfish, here are my Peak Performance awards for the good, the bad and the ugly.
Male Peak Performance
Gold - Michael Phelps The Beijing Olympics will be remembered mostly for Phelps’ extraordinary achievement of eight golds. He was the shark in a pool full of fish
Silver - Usain Bolt The young, flamboyant sprinter came ridiculously close to overshadowing Phelps, as he raced his way into the record books with phenomenal sprints in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m
Bronze - Kenenisa Bekele The Ethiopian became the first man since 1980 to do the 5km, 10km double, recording Olympic records in both events
Gold -Yelena Isinbayeva The Russian pole vault queen has remained virtually unbeaten since gold in Athens. She iced her cake with a new world record in Beijing
Silver - Rebecca Adlington The nineteen year old British swimmer won the 400m/800m double, smashing the world record in the longer distance
Bronze - Gulnara Samitova Another Russian, another world record. This time it was in the 3000m steeplechase where she broke nine minutes
Gold - GB Cycling The Laoshan Velodrome was a goldmine for the British cyclists as they grabbed seven golds, three silvers and two bronze on the track
Silver - Jamaica Men’s 4x100m The US and GB teams probably dropped the baton on purpose to avoid being humiliated by the 37.10secs Jamaicans
Bronze - Team USA Basketball They may not have shone like the 1992 Dream Team, but the Redeem Team showed respect and skill on their way to gold
Gold - Usain Bolt 19.30secs 9.69 was incredible but it was his own record to beat. In the 200m he broke Michael Johnson’s immortal 19.32 running into a headwind.
Silver - 37.10secs Records that last for sixteen years are not supposed to be slaughtered. The Jamaican ‘Dream Team’ did just that in the sprint relay
Bronze - 6:58.56mins Records tumbled in the swimming pool, but none was obliterated as emphatically as the 4X200m men’s relay where Phelps and co. knocked nearly five seconds off the previous best
Gold - Janos Baranyai’s elbow It was always going to take something horrific to deny Xiang gold - a dislocated elbow trying to snatch 148kg in his debut Olympics did just that
Silver - Liu Xiang’s achilles The injury, along with a strained hamstring, is technically not that bad. But it disappointed China and the entire world
Bronze - Shanaze Reade’s hamstring The British BMX teenager fell on the last turn headed for gold or silver, and tore her hamstring so bad she had to sit on a wheelchair sideways for the closing ceremony
Best Surprise Performance
Gold - South Korea Baseball In an event usually dominated by the Cubans, Americans and Japanese, South Korea spoiled the party beating Cuba for gold
Silver - James Blake After Wimbledon, everyone was desperate for a Federer-Nadal rematch. But Blake surprised us all with a win against the former no.1
Bronze - Tia Hellebaut No one was supposed to beat Vlasic in the women’s high jump, until Hallebaut set a Belgian record of 2.05m at first attempt
Gold - Tyson Gay Sorry Tyson, but it just wasn’t your games. He failed to even make the final of the 100m and dropped the baton in the relay heats. Ouch!
Silver - Alain Bernard He eventually won gold, but no one will forget how the French world record holder allowed Jason Lezak to overtake him to win relay gold
Bronze - Jeremy Wariner I was very excited about the men’s 400m final, but Wariner had no energy as he stumbled to second place a second behind Merritt
Peak Performance of Strength and Power
Gold - Liu Chunhong Competing in the 69kg category, she lifted more than the 75kg girls, smashing every world record on her way to defending her Olympic title
Silver - Andreas Thorkildsen The Norwegian javelin thrower also defended his title, throwing a new Olympic record in the process
Bronze - Aksana Miankova Rotational strength and power was the key for Aksana, as she set a new Olympic record in the hammer
Gold - Usain Bolt There was only going to be one winner here. Questions now are how quick can he go, will anyone challenge him, can he do it in London?
Silver - Chris Hoy The British cyclist sprinted his way to three gold medals in the team sprint, Keirin and individual sprint.
Bronze - Shelly Ann Fraser The Jamaican girl didn’t leave it all to the boys as she recorded the second fastest Olympic 100m time of all time behind Flo-Jo.
Gold - Matthew Mitcham The young Australian pulled off the most spectacularly difficult 10m dive in the final round to deny the Chinese a diving clean sweep
Silver - Wei Yang The Chinese gymnast made compelling viewing as he mastered every event in the all-round individual competition
Bronze - Nastia Lukin In the female event, the American girls reigned supreme with Nastia showing the greatest poise to grab gold
Gold - David Davies Having had to swim a quick 1500m heat then an even quicker final, Davies set a rapid pace in the 10km marathon deserving gold but winning silver
Silver - Sammy Wanjiru The final morning of the games was hot and humid but that didn’t stop the young Kenyan racing to a new Olympic record
Bronze - Jan Frodeno To win a sprint finish after 1.5km swimming, 40km cycling and 10km running earns a medal for the German triathlete
Peak Performance of Psychology
Gold - James DeGale The British middleweight boxer may sound mental in interview, but he showed great composure in the final overcoming a biting Cuban and dodgy ref to win gold
Silver - Kerri Walsh/Misty May The beach volleyball duo from the US had a wonderful chemistry as they defeated Chinese opposition in the final
Bronze - LaShawn Merritt Merritt had beaten Wariner this year in the 400m but saved his best for the big occasion, running a perfect personal best for gold
Peak Performance of Bravery
Gold - Maarten van der Weijden Diagnosed with life-threatening leukaemia in 2001, the big Dutch swimmer battled extraordinarily for 10km swimming gold
Silver - Natalie du Toit The disabled South African came 16th in the women’s 10km swim. She’ll now sweep the medals in the much anticipated Paralympics
Bronze -Paula Radcliffe The women’s marathon world record holder entered with injuries and little preparation but dug deep to finish 23rd
Ones to Watch 2012
Gold - Shawn Johnson The sixteen year old gymnast pushed Lukin all the way, eventually winning three silvers and a gold. 2012 could be her big one
Silver - Stephanie Rice Just turned 20, the Aussie won three golds in the pool. As a medley swimmer, she should look to emulate Phelps in 2012, or near enough
Bronze - Tom Daley The fourteen year old will just be old enough to buy a pint in London 2012. Hopefully that won’t distract him from a possible diving gold
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