Tomorrow night will be all about Farah
Ican’t believe we are already two weeks into the Games; I’ve loved every day of it. I’m lucky enough to have seen Chris Hoy in the Velodrome, Beth Tweddle on Monday and the guys on super Saturday. But the thing I have most enjoyed is how the Olympics are capturing the whole nation. We now have Jo Bloggs, who knows nothing about sport and probably hated it growing up, being completely captured by the Games and not missing a second of it.
The highlight for me so far has to be Jess Ennis. To be able to carry all that pressure on her shoulders and then to go out and blow away the field is truly remarkable; I’m so happy for her as she is one of the nicest girls in athletics.
We’ve had an unheard of number of successes for Team GB but I was really disappointed to see Perri Shakes-Drayton not make the final in my old event, the 400m hurdles. I don’t know what happened as she didn’t seem to make any massive mistakes. It’s such a shame because I really thought Perri would get a medal having been in fantastic shape at Crystal Palace just recently. I just think it didn’t happen on the night, which can happen in athletics.
I had a similar situation in 1996 where I knew I could perform and beat everyone in the field having done so many times before but I just wasn’t at the level to do it. It’s really frustrating.
Luckily for Perri she has the chance to make up for it in the 4x400m relay tomorrow on what will hopefully be another unforgettable night for athletics. I think we could maybe sneak a medal in the 4x400m as Perri has something to prove out there and of course Christine is in great shape. So a bronze medal is certainly a possibility if it all comes together for the girls.
The hardest thing for relay runners is trying to keep focused. The village starts to get more and more busy and there are distractions from amazing shopping to parties going on everywhere. You just have to remember you don’t want to let yourself or team down, so it’s important to relax and ignore everything else which is going on.
But I think tomorrow will belong to Mo Farah. Looking at him the other night in the 10,000m – what was probably his hardest event – he showed such strength in the last 200m to kick away from an exceptional field that I think he has a great chance to double up, which is unheard of.
Sally Gunnell’s exclusive column comes courtesy of Japanese sportswear brand Mizuno. Sally will be meeting the public on Tuesday 7 August, 2pm-5pm, at the Mizuno Performance Centre, Centre Point, New Oxford Street. Visit www.mizunoseiei.com for more details.