From London to New York, 10 September 2012 was the day when Britain celebrated arguably our greatest summer of sport ever. And watching proud Scotsman Andy Murray put the cherry on top of a remarkable succession of triumphs underlined Team GB’s boast that this is Our Greatest Team.
For many sports fans in England, 1966 – when our football stars won the Jules Rimet Trophy in a bygone era – will forever be our greatest triumph.
But this is a new world and 2012 is the year of the Brit. Thanks to a golden generation of heroes who have put the pride back into Great Britain
Just hours after Team GB staged a glorious victory parade in London to celebrate the unprecedented joint success of our Olympians and Paralympians, Murray made history when he ended Britain’s 76-year wait for a men’s Grand Slam singles champion.
The 25-year-old from Dunblane emulated Fred Perry’s 1936 achievement, winning a five-set thriller against Novak Djokovic 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2. Murray’s victory in four hours 54 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium completed an epic victory in the US Open final.
Murray’s breakthrough comes just a month after he won gold at the Olympics and crowns a remarkable summer of sport that began with Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France.
When Wiggins won cycling’s premier event many experts claimed his feat could not be bettered by a British sports star. But there have been so many superhuman efforts by our amazing men and women since that the Sports Personality of the Year Award is by no means a forgone conclusion.
