It was a golden day in Paris for Team GB, with two golds, one silver and two bronze on Wednesday.
Triathlon
Alex Yee triumphed in the men’s triathlon, producing a stunning sprint finish to reel in and overtake New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde to win gold in 1:43:33.
The 26-year-old earned individual silver and team gold in Tokyo and will go in the mixed relay event on Monday.
“I was just saying ‘anything can happen,” Yee said. “I’m still just that normal guy who works hard at my sport and loves what I’m doing. For me, it’s amazing that I can be in this position and I just believed it.”
Yee’s run had been preceded by the women’s triathlon, in which Beth Potter claimed bronze after finishing behind France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and Switzerland’s Julie Derron.
The former physics teacher said: “I’m just so happy. I was going for the gold, but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today. I’m super happy to come away with a bronze.”
Rowing
Wednesday’s second gold medal came in rowing, with the women’s quadruple sculls team winning in a stunning photo finish.
The Netherlands, who had been leading right up until the finish line, were 0.15 seconds behind Team GB, who secured a winning time of 6:16.31.
Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgia Brayshaw all received their first Olympic medal.
“It has been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it,” Scott said. “I don’t even know if I am emotional yet, that will come. We were so process-driven today, the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t come for me. I have just been trying to play it really cool.”
Team GB’s men’s quadruple sculls narrowly missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish in their final.
Men’s BMX Freestyle
Kieran Reilly took silver in the men’s BMX freestyle, with his second run giving him a score of 93.91.
Reilly, the world champion, went last having qualified top, and pipped France’s Anthony Jeanjean into silver, but was unable to top the 94.82 of Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil.
“I felt proud of whatever was going to come up on that board,” he said. “Whatever score I got, I was going to be happy with. I thought it might have been enough for gold, it wasn’t.
“But I’m just as happy knowing that I went out there and I’ll watch it back tomorrow and I know I’ll be proud of everything I did and all the work that went into it.”
Diving: Women’s 10m Synchro
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson added to the medal haul after taking bronze in the diving women’s synchronised 10m platform.
They finished behind China’s Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan, and North Korea’s Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae, with a score of 304.38 points.
Around the Games
Sailor Emma Wilson continued her domination of the women’s windsurfing, winning three of the four races that took place on Wednesday. James Peters and Fynn Sterritt qualified for tomorrow’s men’s skiff medal race in seventh.
Heather Watson and Katie Boulter won 6-3, 6-4 against Brazilian pair Luisa Stefani and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round of the women’s doubles.
Team GB’s women’s hockey team bounced back from two defeats to beat South Africa 2-1 to move up to fourth in their pool.
In the pool, Laura Stephens qualified for the women’s 200m butterfly final, but team-mate Keanna Macinnes did not, while Ollie Morgan finished sixth in his men’s 200m backstroke semi-final so did not qualify for the final.
Archer Tom Hall reached the men’s individual ⅛ elimination round with a shootout win over teammate Conor Hall. Megan Havers, 16, is in the women’s ⅛ elimination round, also winning in a shootout against Amélie Cordeau of France.
Artistic gymnasts Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman finished fifth and seventh respectively in the men’s all-around final while Mallory Franklin finished 12th in the women’s C1 canoe slalom final.
Boxer Lewis Richardson won his men’s welterweight round of 16 tie against Serbian Vakhid Abbasov.
However Chantelle Reid lost in the women’s middleweight round of 16, while judoka Jemima Yeats-Brown, lost in the round of 16 of the women’s 70kg to Austria’s Michaela Polleres.
With thanks to Team GB
