Andreas Thorkildsen himself was as surprised as everyone else: "If you had said the words 'Olympic champion' to me yesterday I wouldn't have believed you but now it sounds great," Thorkildsen said.
Thorkildsen sent his winning throw 86.50 meters, which is a personal best by 72 cm, and two meters beyond anything he had managed earlier this year. "I thought I had a chance of getting into the top six but to throw a personal best and win the gold medal is incredible," Thorkildsen said.
Norway's previous gold in the event came in the 1956 Melbourne Games through Egil Danielsen. Trine Hattestad won the women's edition in Sydney four years ago.
Rowing, sailing, kayaking and mountain biking
Olaf Tufte won the first Norwegian gold medal in these games. He won the men’s single skulls gold medal (rowing) after a though battle with the Estonian Jueri Jaanson. Tufte was the favorite for gold after his closest rival, Germany's Marcel Hacker, failed to make the final.
Siren Sundby secured Norway's second gold medal, when she won the women's Europe dinghy class overall (sailing). Even though she got a disqualification in race 5, she fought her way back and ended up as the winner.
The only Norwegian who got two medals was Erik Verås Larsen. First he won the K1 1000 meters kayak, than just an hour later he got bronze together with Nils Olav Fjeldheim in K2 1000 meters kayak. Verås Larsen admitted afterwards that they could have won the K2 race, but the short time between the two finals made it difficult to recover.
Reigning world cup champion Gunn-Rita Dahle, who was undefeated this year in the World Cup series of Mountain Bike Cross Country Women, was the hot favorite in the women's race. And she didn’t disappoint. Even though she got technical problems with her bike, she fixed it and won a minute ahead of Canadian rider Marie-Helene Premont.
She happily declared afterwards: “I’m the best in the world. I don’t usually say that, but I will continue to say that for the rest of the day.”
- And we beat the Swedes
Chef de Mission of the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, Jarle Aambø, was a happy man after the closing ceremony on Sunday.
“Before the games we talked about seven or eight medals. We got six, but in the Olympics it’s the gold medal that counts, and with five gold medals, these Olympic games has been an unquestionable success,” says Aambø.
“And we beat the Swedes,” he says with a broad smile.