For Super Saturday, read Thriller Thursday. Britain's Paralympians delivered their own version of triple triumph here tonight as the golds won by Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah on the first weekend of the Olympic track and field programme were matched by Hannah Cockcroft, David Weir and Jonnie Peacock.

But for a final effort in the men's F44 discus by the American world record holder Jeremy Campbell, which pushed Dan Greaves down to silver, the gold tally would have topped even that Olympic one of recent memory. It was surely the greatest night in British Paralympic track and field history.

"The crowd has made London 2012, and I am so proud to be British," said 19-year-old Peacock (pictured below) after he had secured the object of his desire, the gold medal in the T46 100 metres.

For the bulk of spectators here in the Olympic Stadium the main question of the night had appeared to be this: would the Weirwolf howl again, or would the Peacock strut his stuff, preventing Pistorius from being glorious?


In the event, both home wishes came true as Weir (pictured below) – now indissolubly linked in the public imagination with Warren Zevon's anthemic 1978 song Werewolves of London – won his third track gold of these Games in the T54 wheelchair 800m and Peacock followed up by securing the much-hyped 100m title ahead of a field which included South Africa's defending champion Oscar Pistorius, who finished outside the medals.

Weir's earlier feats in winning gold at 5,000 and 1500m had already established him in a new persona – prompted by his team-mates – which drew upon his old nickname of Beast, a nod to his ferocious strength and commitment.

Unlike the werewolf of Zevon's imagination, Weir was not carrying a Chinese menu in his hand. Nor indeed was he mutilating little old ladies, nor drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's, as that old Werewolf of London did. Instead he was ramming the wheels on his wheelchair with every particle of energy in his body, and as he unwound his full, fearsome power in the final straight to drive himself beyond his nearest challenger, Lixin Zhang of China (who was subsequently disqualified), the air reverberated.

After crossing the line, the roar of triumph came from the Briton, and as he undid his racing vest to expose his chest you half-expected to see a thicket of fur. Ah-wooooo!! Weirwolf of London indeed!!


As the next field lined up for 100m, the crowd began a charmingly innocent chant of  "Pea-cock, Pea-cock", in the manner of school match supporters, before being shushed down by the prefect/announcer. The tension escalated as Alan Oliveira, the Brazilian who had precipitated the biggest hoo-hah since the Battle of Britain by defeating Pistorius in Sunday's (September 2) 200m final, stuttered over the line for a false start. Then the field got away cleanly – with single leg amputees Peacock and Richard Browne of the United States starting best and holding on despite the expected charge of the double amputees as they began to benefit from their greater momentum following slower starts.

Who would have thought, four, two, or even one year ago that Pistorius, the man who has bridged the Paralympic/Olympic gulf, would be an also-ran as he defended an Olympic title? Or indeed that he would not be the focus of general attention?

And so Peacock, the fresh-faced teenager from Cambridge, who lost his right leg as a five-year-old after contracting meningitis, finished three places clear of the man who had inspired him to take up athletics. Strutting his stuff indeed.

Even before the noise had died down, it rose again as Greaves extended his lead with a Paralympic record of 59.01m before running over to congratulate the young sprinter with a mighty bear hug.

The media build-up to the two climactic races of the evening's programme had contained the depth and richness of detail which has for so long been the preserve of Olympic, rather than Paralympic events. Yet another significant marker for Paralympics that has raised the bar for future Games in so many ways.


The 80,000 crowd had already had an opportunity to celebrate a home triumph in saluting Cockcroft's (pictured above) achievement as she added the women's 200m T34 title to the 100m version she had won on Friday (August 31) to register Britain's first track and field gold of the Games, when she broke the world record twice in the process.

With the camera showing her face close up on the screen, Cockcroft played her patriotic part to the full as she belted out the anthem while maintaining a broad grin – not an easy thing to do.

The spectators had also had the chance to produce one of those warm-hearted moments that occasionally emerge at major championships as they raised the roof – or at least, would have done if the Olympic stadium had one – in encouraging Yohansson Nascimento to finish in the men's T46 100m final following his earlier fall.

As the Brazilian edged his way painfully across the line in 1min 30.79sec, and slumped down immediately after it to be surrounded by anxious officials, the Stadium was a ringing ferment of top volume goodwill.

At such moments the adopted adage of modern Games' founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin – "The most important thing...is not winning, but taking part" – appears validated. But then along come moments of naked home triumphalism to throw that assertion open to question once again...

As the national anthem sounded out twice more at the end of the programme, it would have been hard to find a better description of the two Britons at the centre of the medal ceremonies than "happy and glorious". Tonight, Weir and Peacock personified the phrase.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames and insideworldparasport.