janie york: Home advantage: Britain celebrates 'sensational' Olympic medal haul

BBC via Twitter @suttonnick

Britain's newspapers celebrate Saturday's host nation gold medal haul

By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News, and Reuters

LONDON - Olympic host nation Britain was in euphoric mood Sunday, celebrating an?"extraordinary" haul of six gold medals on Saturday, sending the UK media went wild with Games fever.

Two golds in rowing and one at the cycling velodrome were followed by a hat-trick of victories in athletics from Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Greg Rutherford (long jump) and Mo Farah.

Britain, which enjoyed its most successful Olympic day since 1908, took their collection of golds to 14 at the London Games to lie third in the overall medals table behind the United States (26) and China (25).

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"Their extraordinary efforts have brought rapture to streets, parks and living rooms in London and all over the country if not the planet," London mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.

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"It has been a remarkable first week and my hearty congratulations go to every single athlete that has taken part," Johnson added.

"They have entertained billions of people around the world and I for one cannot wait to see what they serve up for week two."?

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London Games chief Sebastian Coe, a double Olympic 1,500 champion, said: "I think we've witnessed something sensational. I've never known a night in UK athletics like that, it was unbelievable."

It was also a cathartic moment for London, coming almost exactly a year since rioting brought the city's safe hosting of the games into doubt.

"Today, London rose from the ashes," wrote blogger Ronnie Joice on Twitter.

The mood was reflected in Sunday morning's press coverage. "Britain awakes to an unfamiliar sensation: winning," wrote Jill Lawless of the Associated Press, noting that?"a country accustomed to sporting disappointment could scarcely contain its disbelief."?

British newspapers continued the theme, the front page of the Sunday Times describing it as "Our Finest Olympic Hour" alongside a spectacular picture of Rutherford flying through the air in mid-jump.

The Sunday Telegraph had one word for it - "Sensational". The headline ran above photos of all six British gold-medal victors from the second Saturday of the Games.

"That Was Pure Gold" was the Independent's?reaction with a sub-heading that read: "One by one we counted them in on another astonishing day of British Olympic success."