The Stars of the Show

With over 10000 competitors it is hard to pick out a few stars from the Games. However, what follows are my five top stars of the games ranked in order. My list is a little bias towards Britons who did well, but I think that’s fine.

1. Usain Bolt
2. Michael Phelps
3. Rebecca Adlington
4. Yelena Isinbaeva
5. Chris Hoy

What made these people special is not only their achievements but the manner of their achievements. Other people were billed as stars but failed to deliver - be it through injury (Liu Xiang) or an inability to perform on the day (Philips Idowu). Some athletes had exceptional Games and deserve honorable mentions, particularly Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele. However, breaking world records or capturing the public’s attention is what makes a star.

My top 2 are international stars, and so is my number 4. The other 2 are now British stars, whose achievements will have been noted around the world - they state, quite simply, that Britain is a force to be reckoned with.

Usain Bolt set new records in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and - with his Jamaican compatriots - the 4×100 metre relay.

Such was Bolt’s dominance, that he was able to set a new world record in the 100 metres, despite starting his celebrations 10-15 metres from the finishing line. There was no messing about with the 200 metres as Bolt ran flat-out start-to-finish to shave 2/100ths of a second off Michael Johnson’s time.

The Jamaican relay triumph capped off a fantastic birthday week for Usain - the Fastest Man in the World™

Michael Phelps set himself the target of eight (8) gold medals. This would be a record haul at a single Olympiad, breaking Mark Spitz’s seven.

There were a couple of very close races, but Michael Phelps set history, along with 7 new world records. Phelps’s achievement is phenomenal and is unlikely to ever be broken.

Rebecca Adlington won two gold medals, and broke the oldest world record in women’s swimming. Hers was Britain’s first swimming gold in 20 years, and the first from a woman for 48 years. That was in her weaker event.

In the 800 metres, Adlington swam away from the field and broke a 19 year-old world record. Her triumph gives British swimming a major boost.

Yelena Isinbaeva is a darling of female athletics - she was elected female athlete of the year in 2004 and 2005 by the IAAF. Yelena is a serial breaker of the Pole Vault world record, and set another best in Beijing. Clearly playing to the crowd it took her three attempts to clear 5.05 metres.

Yelena has set 24 world records and needs to set 12 more to break Sergey Bubka‘s record. She also won the Pole Vault in 2004, and is almost totally dominant in her sport - having won the last 15 events she’s attended and is unbeaten in over 2 years.

Chris Hoy won 3 gold medals, all in emphatic style. Hoy’s power and speed left all his opponents trailing.

Hoy became the first British Olympian for 100 years to claim three golds at a single Olympiad - he won the men’s keirin, the men’s team sprint (with Jason Kenny & Jamie Staff) and also the men’s individual sprint.