Team GB finished the day with an overall total of 19 golds, 19 silvers and 12 bronzes despite disappointment on the track as 1500m runner Laura Muir came seventh and 2012 high jump bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz and sprint hurdler Andy Pozzi also saw medal chances elude them.
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Kenny said: “Maybe when we retire, we’ll frame them, put them on the wall”. “Just to win an Olympic title is incredible”.
“I don’t know really, I turned up here in a amusing mood earlier on because I was happy – not that I’m always unhappy”, Kenny told the BBC.
Cyclist Becky James won a silver medal in the women’s sprint final at the velodrome, while Katy Marchant took bronze in the same event – adding another two medals to Team GB’s tally. She is one of my biggest supporters, yes she was working while I raced!
America’s two-time omnium world champion Sarah Hammer took silver for the second time in a row with Jolien d’Hoore of Belgium rounding off the podium. A secretive technical development unit headed by a Cambridge University engineering professor focuses on all aspects of improving rider performance-from fine-tuned data analysis to developing the thinnest of skin suits.
Vogel had a problem with her saddle at the start of the race, causing a brief delay.
She stopped on the front stretch, laid down on the track and held back the tears.
“It’s incredible the amount that you go through, and the mental toughness, the stress, the anxiety, the can’t have the Christmas dinners etc. Sport is the only thing you do 24 hours, seven days a week, everyone else gets weekends, that doesn’t exist for a full time athlete”, she said. Kenny planted a kiss on her as cameras clicked around them. He also points users in the right direction towards the slightly more famous Jason Kenny.
Incredibly, when the race restarted there was another false start with Germany’s Joachim Eilers overtaking the Derny, but he was offered a reprieve as well.
He and Awang were at risk of being disqualified for an early start, but the race was started again, only to be called off a second time after a few rounds because of another premature sprint by other riders.
When it did restart, Kenny was imperious, moving through the field and surging away to gold.
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Not only are they both some of the most decorated Olympians in British history, but they make the most adorable couple, don’t you think? “Ultimately the race would have looked very similar either way”.
