2012 Olympics

Gold for Ed McKeever

Ed McKeever from Bradford-on-Avon won gold in the 200m canoe sprint.

Leading from the start, he put in a very strong second 50 metres and managed to cross the finish line with a time of 36.246 seconds. 30,000 people cheered him on to his victory.

He said: “I was really just focused on the first two or three strokes, and I really wanted to nail those to get out cleanly – then hopefully the race would sort itself out, and it did.”

Saul Craviotto Rivero, from Spain, took silver in a time of 36.540 seconds.

Royal Mail painted the post box in Bradford-on-Avon gold to mark Ed’s achievement.

Gold for Heather Stanning

Heather Stanning, an army captain from Larkhill has won Team GB’s first Olympic Gold medal with her rowing partner Helen Glover at Eton Dorney.

The pair took the lead from the start of the race and remained dominant, crossing the finish line with a time of  7:27.13.

Stanning and Glover are the first female British  rowers to win gold at an Olympic Games.

Heather said: “I’m absolutely shattered and absolutely ecstatic at the same time.

“I want to collapse but I’m so overjoyed.”

To commemorate their gold medal victory, Royal Mail released a stamp featuring a photo of their historic  win and a postbox was painted gold in her home town in Scotland.

A postbox in Larkhill has also been painted gold but royal Mail say that it was not them. It is thought to have been painted by army colleagues.

Wiltshire Olympians 2012

Ed McKeever – Bradford-on-Avon – Team GB Canoe Sprint squad
Jade Faulkner – Swindon – Rhythmic gymnastics
Francesca Fox – Hilperton – Rhythmic gymnastics
Andrew Hoy from Badbury – eventing
Jonelle Richards – Mere – eventing
Alex Peternell, Hinton near Chippenham – eventing
Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks – Little Cheverell – eventing
Andrew Nicholson – Marlborough – eventing
Hannah Miley – born in Swindon – swimming

Three silvers and a bronze for Stephanie Millward

Silver – women’s SM9 200m individual medley
Silver -400m freestyle
Silver – 100m backstroke
Bronze – 4x100m freestyle (34 point) relay

Silver for Aaron Moores

18 year old Aaron Moores won a silver medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games in the  100m backstroke final.

He finished with a personal best time of 1:04.44mins  and was only beaten by a world record swim from Dutchman Marc Evers who clocked a time  of 1:01.85mins.

Bronze for Darren Kenny

Darren Kenny won a bronze medal in the Velodrome in the Men’s Individual C3 Pursuit with a world record time of 3:35.257.

Wiltshire Paralympians 2012

Darren Kenny – born in Salisbury – Para-cycling/ individual pursuit, team sprint, 1km time trial
Stephanie Millward – Corsham – Swimming
Aaron Moores – Trowbridge – Swimming
Chloe Davies – Trowbridge – Swimming
Anne Dunham – Broad Hinton – Para-dressage
Louise Hunt – Swindon – Wheelchair tennis

Live Site in Swindon

Swindon was one of just 22 places in the country designated as an Olympic Live Site for the Big Screen. The screen was at Wharf Green in the heart of the Brunel shopping centre.

Olympic torch in Wiltshire

The torch first arrived in the county on 22nd May in Southwick and it  passed through Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon.

On 23rd May it entered the county again at Chippenham, passing through Calne, Marlborough, Chiseldon, Wroughton, Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon.

Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba carried the torch in Swindon and his midfield team mate Josh McEachran ran in Calne. Olympian Kate Howey will carry the torch in Tidworth and gold medal winning Olympian Michael Johnson will carry it from Salisbury Cathedral.

The torch came back to the county again on 11th July for days 54 and 55 of the relay. It arrived in Ludgershall then passed through Tidworth, Amesbury and The Winterbournes on its way to Salisbury where there was an overnight stop.

A photocall was held at Stonehenge with Olympic 4oom runner Michael Johnson and a special evening event was held in Salisbury at Hudson’s Field.

The next day, the torch left Salisbury from Salisbury Cathedral and headed to Wilton, Barford-St-Martin, Fovant and Ludwell.

The people of Fovant were particularly lucky because this is the second time that the Olympic torch has visited the area – it last made an appearance in 1948.

Related:

Olympic Torch Relay starts day 55 at Salisbury Cathedral

List of Wiltshire torchbearers

Fire Garden, presented by Salisbury Festival

As part of the London 2012 Festival, Fire Garden was presented by Salisbury International Arts Festival – a spectacular immersive site-specific installation of fire and sound that lit up Stonehenge for two consecutive nights, allowing visitors a unique, out-of-hours experience at the Stones.

Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration

The Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration marked the Olympics with an event at Hudson’s Field, Salisbury on July 11th. Chart topping artist Wretch 32 and Abba tribute act Björn Again were the main acts.

Also performing were the Salisbury Plain Military Wives Choir, City Stereo and These Days.

The Olympic Flame arrived at 6.50pm, carried by Salisbury’s Dolly Burnett who lit the cauldron.

35,000 people turned up to see Dolly’ s special moment.

View photos of Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration

Art at Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral has announced an art installation – the ‘Avenue of Champions’ by Ben Dearnley which will be installed in the Cloisters from 23rd June to 16th September, coinciding with the Olympic Games.

Dearnley describes the exhibition saying: “My work here is an exploration into the world of some of the UK’s top Olympic and Paralympics athletes. I wanted to create a series of sculptures which honour and celebrate their achievements and reflect their individual commitment and excellence within their sport.”

“The sculptures hold something of the power zone of each individual athlete, which I see as pivotal to them being the best in the world at what they do. As such each work is a collaboration between athlete and sculptor, understanding their body’s action and capturing the ‘moment’ in a fragmented form.”

Official Olympic songs

Singer and bassist James Cook from Chippenham, has recorded one of the five official Olympic songs with his indie band Delphic.

Olympic rings roundabout in Swindon

The Transfer Bridges roundabout has been planted with nearly 2,000 flowers and herbs, including marigolds and parsley, re-creating the 5 rings of the Olympics to celebrate the Games.

Sacriledge

Sacrilege is a life-size bouncy castle replica of Stonehenge created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. it is touring the country as part of London 2012 Festival, stopping at Marlborough Common, Marlborough on 29th June. Sacriledge is open from 10am – 6pm.