Setting off with one of their youngest teams for many Games, they were expected to do well but not to be topping the table with 48 medals – 20 of them golds – with some daylight between them and hosts Guernsey in second place and the strong Isle of Man outfit in third.
A quiver full of golds from archery at Port Soif combined with a regular flow of medals from a high-class meeting in the swimming pool gave Jersey extra impetus as the week-long sporting spectacular continued to produce a host of top performances.In the pool, Jersey’s consistently high performances are often taken for granted, but they excelled themselves last night, with Natalie Brée collecting three more golds, breaking two Games records on the way.Simon Le Couilliard, a youngster with a potentially sensational career ahead of him, needed a PB to collect the 100m butterfly title, while Rosie Barrett, Sarah Jane Poingdestre and Lauren Le Mière combined with Brée for the relay gold.A blank day on the track was compensated for in unexpected places, including Sark, where Sheila Davy and Laura Deards hit team gold in the English sporting clay target event, while Jeremy Cross combined with newcomer Jonathan Pankhurst to take the men’s team tennis title.Full-bore rifleman Peter Stock, at 20 a rising star, added to his team gold which he won with veteran Cliff Mallett (63) by taking the individual Queen’s shoot.And while all the big headlines are about the transgressions of the Rhodes footballers – their behaviour was ridiculously bad, having just won the honour to stage the 2007 Games – Jersey’s two teams progressed into the medal stages – and with praise for their good behaviour ringing loud and clear.There was a quieter day in prospect today, but as several sports take time to draw breath it’s Jersey who have made the biggest noise so far.
