Again in no particular order
10 USA Relays
While the USA tend to own the 4x400m relays the same can not be said of the 4x100m in recent years,dropped batons,exchanges not made or made outside the exchange zone,London saw the women smash the 1985 World Record and the men beat the old world record but not Usain Bolt and co.
Kudos to the lead off leg in the mens 4x400m prelim running w/ a broken tibula and getting the baton around to allow the men to reach the final,silver was above what they could've expected w/ an already depleated squad.
9 Felix Sanchez 400H
After winning in Athens in 04 Sanchez had become the almost forgotten man of the 400H but pulled off one of the upsets of London 2012 w/ a stunning defeat of world champion Dai Greene and #1 this year Javier Culson
Unable to hold back the tears on the podium the double Olympic champion broke down and wept for his grandmother who died prior to the 08 Beijing games this after unpining her photograph from his running bib after crossing the finish line.
8 Ezikiel Kemboi 3000M S/C
Anyone who witnesssed his victory in the World Championships last summer knew to expect a dance from the Kenyan when he crossed the finish line ahead of the field and kept the proud Kenyan steplechase Olympic record alive.....few could've expected him to leap into the arms of runner up Medi Mekhissi Benabbad and offer to swap running vests a la soccer players....maybe that's the trick to getting a Kenya running vest, race one of them???
7 Liu Xiang 110H
After winning gold in Athens the whole of China waited four years for one of their favoured sons to deliver the gold on home soil in Beijing,alas injury meant he never cleared a hurdle in his opening round.
Fast forward four years and coming off a controversal silver at Worlds where several including me thought had he not been impeaded by Dyron Robles he'd have won gold,the big man once again failed to clear a hurdle as he crashed into the first barrier.
A fourth Olympics seems unlikely maybe that's why he hopped down the track outside lane 9 to kiss the Olympic symbol atop the final hurdle b4 hopping to the finish line.
6 Allyson Felix
Three World Championship 200m golds but two Olympic silvers at the same distance,always the Olympic bridesmaid but never the bride till London,the 100m trial dead heat controversy seemed long forgotten when the likeable US sprinter finally stood atop the Olympic podium after the 200m
5 Kirani James & Oscar Pistorious Swap Running Bibs
Kirani James showed respect beyond his years{in Daegu last year he became the youngest ever World Champion at 18}when he unpinned his running bib post 400m semi final and asked Oscar Pistorious for his in return.
At a time when winning and all the fame and wealth that comes w/ it are sometimes all that people focus on Kirani James proved the spirit of the Olympics is very much alive and well.
4 Usain Bolt 100M,200M,4X100M
Lightning couldn't strike twice at the Olympics could it? it could when Jamacia's ''Lightning Bolt" was the lightning in question.
Some thought his dq in last summers 100m final and Jamacian Olympic trial defeats to friend and training partner Yohan Blake would undermine his attemps to retain the three Olympic titles he won almost uncontested four years ago.....like the big man said 'I keep telling you I'm #1,you keep doubting me"who doubts him now??
3 Jessica Ennis Heptathlon
Forced to sit out the heptathlon in Beijing ''Our Jess" won the event a year later in Berlin at Worlds,only to finish runner up last summer in Dagau and runner up at this years Indoor Worlds in Istanbul,some clamed she was over weight{wot???}the heaviest thing about the lovable Yorkshire lass is the Olympic gold around her neck,read em and weap haters!!!
2 Mo Farah 5,000m 10,000m
Following his silver in the 10k and gold in the 5k at last years Worlds the weight of the nation was on Mo,losing four races in a row indoors including the Indoor World Championships 3,000m had some doubting if Mo was upto the challenge,looks like all those Oregon workouts w/ training partner Galen Rupp paid off and who knew a man named Mohamed would win the hearts of the British public?
1 David Rushida 800m
There's a reason I don't do Olympic predictions,for all my knowledge of all things track and field,of the 44 track and field events in London I only got 18 right....HOWEVER one of my correct predictions was David Rushida in the 800m.
I said unless he got hit by a double decker bus I couldn't see him getting beaten in the 800m and I felt post Olympics at either Zurich or Brussels in the Diamond League he'd break his own world record.....I think come Zurich or Brussels he becomes the first man to run a sub 1.40 800m,all hail King David.
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