British athletes followed up the
inspirational performances by Jess Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg
Rutherford of Saturday evening with two more gold medals on
Sunday.
Andy Murray won his first Olympic gold while
Ben Ainslie sailed to his fourth consecutive gold medal to become
greatest Olympic sailor in history.
35-year-old Ainslee, who also won silver in
1996, edged out the Dane, Jonas Hogh-Christensen who’d led the Finn
regatta for most of the week.
Murray’s win came just four weeks after losing
to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. He reversed the result in
clinical style with a stunning straight sets victory, but had to
settle for silver in the mixed doubles with his partner Laura
Robson.
After the match, Murray emphasised the
importance of inspiring more young people to take up sport. "If we
can get more kids playing sport the more chance there is of getting
great champions and Olympic medallists," he said.
"For a country of our size we've done
amazingly well so far this Olympics. If we could just get 5%, 10%
more people playing any sports, we might be able to compete one day
with the big, big countries, like the USA and China especially.
We're not that far off.
"If we can make tennis a bit more accessible
to kids, the more kids we will have playing and the more chance
we've got of having great depth and of this becoming an even better
sport."
The LTA is working to get more people playing
tennis through its allplay campaign which
aims to help people find places to play, people to play with and
coaches in their area.
A comprehensive talent identification
programme, which is also backed by Sport England funding, has seen
over 3,000 7- to 9-year-olds assessed in the past three years with
strong support in place for the next generation of talented young
players.
Sailing is also investing in nurturing the
next Ben Ainslie. Sport England funding is supporting 351 sailors
in youth elite squads, while £3 million of National Lottery
investment into the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy
in 2005 transformed it into an elite sailing venue and the home of
the GB Sailing Team.
The RYA’s Sail for Gold Programme has been
bringing the excitement of the London 2012 Sailing events to
everyone no matter where they live, with local events at clubs and
marinas across the country to encourage people to give the sport a
go.
You can find your nearest Sail for Gold ‘have
a go’ event on the
RYA website.