Today’s installment of Two Good, Two Bad will see us take a look at Team GB moments from past Olympic games.
Two Good, Two Bad – How does it work?
The premise of Two Good, Two Bad will see the author pick a sport and then select a subtopic such as a team, a league, player or country.
We will then select two of the best and two of the worst examples from over the course of our lifetime – epic or horrendous moments in time we remember for all the right or wrong reasons.
Today, I’m continuing the series with Team GB moments that stood out for me from past Olympic games.
The Best Team GB moments
Andy Murray wins gold in Rio
While most tennis fans would probably prefer Andy Murray’s first Olympic gold as his finest Team GB moment, for me his second win over Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro was superb.
Yes – the London victory over Roger Federer was sweet revenge after a heartbreaking Wimbledon loss months earlier.
But the match itself was almost straightforward. Rio was a different story and was one of the most exciting moments of the year.
The crowd was incredible, the action went back and forth and it was clear both men were giving their heart and soul, leaving them exhausted at its conclusion.
Andy Murray won the nail-biter 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5 in a match that was even closer than the score suggests with 14 breaks of serve.
It also saw Murray become the first man in British tennis history to win two Olympic gold medals and, sadly, looks like it might be his last.
Team GB’s Super Saturday trio bring it home in London
I think a lot of you will agree with me here as this is possibly one of the greatest nights in British sporting history.
Within 45 minutes, Jessica Ennis HIll, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah each secured gold medals in their respective disciplines.
The three golds made this day, August 4, 2012, the most successful day in British Olympic history since 1908 and brought the tally to six.
READ MORE: Two Good, Two Bad, England managers
Ennis-Hill bagged gold in the heptathlon by recording personal bests in the 100m hurdles and 200m in front of a roaring crowd.
She achieved PBs in the javelin and won the final event – the 800m – to secure a British and Commonwealth record score of 6,955 points.
Twenty minutes later and Greg Rutherford won gold in the long jump before Mo Farah romped home in the 10,000m final and the stadium exploded.
It was an emotional night and living rooms around the country were filled with cheers for the Team GB heroes.
The Worst Team GB moments
Final second heartbreak for Lutalo Muhammad in 2016
Few Olympic defeats come down to a final second of action in such a dramatic way as that of Lutalo Muhammad.
Muhammad had to settle for silver in the men’s 80kg taekwondo final after the Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cissse clinched the gold medal with the final kick of the contest.
Leading the match-up 6-4, Muhammad failed to defend a last-gasp attack from the Ivorian with the 25-year-old eventually losing 8-6.
Muhammad, who won bronze at London 2012, had been in incredible form all day and dominating his previous opponents.
It was heartbreaking to watch as a tearful Muhammad, 25 at the time, described his agony and how he felt he had let us down in a post-match interview.
Tom Daley fails to make a splash in Rio final
Heading into the 2016 games, 22-year-old diver Tom Daley fancied his chances at bagging gold in the 10m platform event.
After all, it’s his speciality event and he is a double world champion – prior to the games he considered himself in the shape of his life.
It was devastating, then, to watch Daley fail to qualify for a major international final for the first time in his career.
Instead, Daley’s performance left him propping up the bottom of the field of 18 divers and he was left wondering what went wrong, as were we all.
The previous day, he was topping the table with a score that would have won him gold in London four years prior.
So it was to everyone’s surprise and a difficult watch when he under-rotated his difficult final dive and splashed out of the competition.
Here’s hoping if and when the next Olympics take place, Daley has grown and will come back stronger.
So there you have it. What do you think of these moments? Share your own by heading to our Facebook page here.