Golden Day for Britain

After four days of near misses and disappointing performances, Team GB finally claimed their first gold medal yesterday. And, just like buses in London, you wait for ages and then two come along at once.

Gold in the Rowing

First to break Britain's duck were rowing pair Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. They set out as favourites, but with the weight of expectation from a whole nation they were under huge pressure. However, almost from the start it was clear they were feeling good, and just 250m into the 2000m race, they were miles ahead of their rivals. They carried it on and comfortably won Britain its first gold medal of the London 2012 Games, also becoming the first British female rowers to ever win an Olympic gold. After the race, Helen Glover revealed:

"We kidded ourselves that there was no pressure. The last thing we said to each other was 'it's just for us, it's just for us', but it was for the whole of the team and the whole of the country. Now we've finished we can say there was pressure; there was expectation. It's just brilliant. I hope the crowd really enjoyed today."

Meanwhile, Heather Stanning is already planning to return to her day job- in the army:

"It's the support we've had that's made it happen. The army gave me two-and-half years off, so it's back to work for me in September."

Forty minutes after their gold, there was more British success in the rowing, with the men's eight team winning the bronze. What's more, with Team GB being represented in ten(!) more rowing finals, these probably won't be the last of the medals from the water.

Wiggins' Record Breaking Summer

After their first gold of the Games, there was a new optimism in Team GB and with Bradley Wiggins competing in the men's time trial cycling event in the afternoon there was hop for more. Fresh from becoming the first Brit to ever win the Tour de France cycling race, Wiggins was the overwhelming favourite to continue his historic summer and win gold.

In the end, there was never any doubt. He destroyed the field, finishing an amazing 42 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor to become the most successful British Olympian of all time- with seven medals. In typical Wiggins style, after the race, with other competitors lying on the ground getting medical attention, Wiggins simply carried on cycling, taking in the cheers of the crowd and looking for his family.

He continued the celebrations into the night, appearing in front of cheering crowds in various different places, looking a little worse for wear each time. He kept his Twitter followers up to date on his revelry, posting these Tweets at 1am.

To go with the two golds, cyclist Chris Froome calimed a bronze in the same race that Wiggins took gold, whilst swimmer Michael Jamieson took silver in the men's 200m breaststroke in the evening.

With the pressure off, Team GB will be hoping for a few more gold medal today.

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