British medal watch
Three-time Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger
finally became British rowing’s golden girl as she came home first in the final
of the women’s double sculls with team-mate Anna Watkins. They led from the
start and, despite a spirited effort from the Australian team, took a
comfortable gold. Great Britain had earlier taken bronze in the men’s pair. The
New Zealand boat stormed to an easy victory, leaving all the others in their
wake, but Britain’s pair of George Nash and Will Satch fought it out with
France for second place, a fight they lost but they will settle for bronze. Alan
Campbell rounded off the day by claiming a bronze of his own in the men’s
single sculls. The top two had streaked away earlier in the race, with Campbell
neck-and-neck for bronze. But the crowd at Eton Dorney carried him home as he
edged out his Ukranian rival.
Great Britain took its second and third gold medals of the
day at the velodrome. In the men’s team pursuit, Team GB broke the world record
in the final against Australia to claim gold. Britain breezed through the first
two stages as the fastest team, and when guaranteed at least silver in the
final they blew the Aussies away with an incredible performance. Then soon
after, Victoria Pendleton made up for yesterday’s disqualification by taking
gold in the women’s keiren. Pendleton took to the front in the penultimate lap
and wasn’t going to be denied the victory, as Australian and main rival for
gold Anna Mears was left way back in the field. Earlier at the track cycling, Team
GB smashed the field and set a new world record in the women’s team pursuit at
the velodrome. The team go into tomorrow’s first round as favourites.
Rebecca Adlington had to settle for the bronze medal in the
women’s 800m freestyle, her second medal of that colour at London 2012, as
Katie Ledecky of the USA took gold. Fifteen-year-old Ledecky was ahead of
Adlington throughout the race and came close to breaking Adlington’s world
record. Lotte Friis, Adlington’s main rival, came 5th.
Andy Murray put in a tremendous effort to defeat world
number two Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-5 in the semi-final of the men’s singles
tennis. Murray is now guaranteed at least a silver medal, and the match-point
set off an eruption of celebration inside Centre Court.
Karina Bryant made it a double success for Great Britain in judo, claiming bronze in the women’s over 78kg category. Bryant lost her semi-final but came through a thrilling bronze medal match. Bryant was twice behind in that match, but came back on both occasions, scoring a match-winning ippon to claim the bronze, after Gemma Gibbons’ silver yesterday.
Jessica Ennis sits in first position after the first day of
the heptathlon. Ennis set a British record and heptathlon record in the 100m
hurdles to begin the day in style. Her time was faster than the winning time of
the women’s 100m hurdles in Beijing. She then added solid efforts in both high
jump and shot put before another personal best, this time in the 200m. She has
accrued more points in the first day than she ever has done before. Dai Green put in a solid effort to qualify for the
semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles. Green was fourth-fastest in the first
round. Christine Ohuruogu is through to the semi-finals of the women’s 400m.
Ben Ainslie has set-up a nail-biting medal race on Sunday in
the finn class sailing after winning the final race of the series. Ainslie goes
into the race, where points count double, trailing Dane Jonas Hogh-Christensen
by two points. Ainslie needs to beat the Dane to claim the gold medal. In the
star class, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won race ten to give them a big lead
heading into their medal race, also on Sunday.
Charlotte Dujardin set an Olympic record score to take first
place in the dressage individual event. With British riders in fifth and seventh
also, Team GB is set to challenge for medals in both the individual and team
events. At the boxing, all seven entrants from Great Britain have now reached the quarter-finals. In boxing, all semi-finalists are guaranteed a bronze medal at least, which means the seven boxers are one win again from a medal.
Top news
There was another marathon tennis match at Wimbledon today,
as Roger Federer overcame Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 19-17 in the final
set of their men’s singles semi-final. The match is the second at London 2012
to break the record of longest men’s singles match at the Olympics in terms of
minutes. Federer will now face Andy Murray in the gold medal match, a re-match
of the Wimbledon final at the same venue last month. The final, unlike the
matches leading up to it, will be over five sets.
Missy Franklin of America smashed the world record to take
gold in the women’s 200m backstroke. She led throughout the race, and never
fell behind world record pace with a steady but dominant performance. Lizzie
Simmonds of Great Britain was fourth. Michael Phelps won another gold medal in
the men’s 100m butterfly, coming through the field after reaching the turn in
second-last place. Phelps timed his attack to perfection. There was a tie for
silver between Chad le Clos of South Africa and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia.
Poland's Tomasz Majewski and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia became the first gold medallists in track and field at London 2012. Majewski won the men's shot put and the legendary Dibaba put in an incredible sprint finish over the last 400m to win the women's 10,000m by a wide margin..
France will face Japan in the semi-finals of the women’s
football after both recorded victories today. France beat Sweden 2-1, coming
back from a goal down, while the much fancied Brazilians, who lost their last
group game to Team GB, lost again to world champions Japan and were eliminated.
Japan goes through after a 2-0 victory. In another quarter-final, the USA beat New
Zealand 2-0.
Unsung Heroes
Florent Manaudou, in his first ever sprint swimming final,
won gold in the men’s 50m freestyle. Manaudou got the first touch in a very
tight final to claim the victory.
Late last night, Team GB’s men’s basketball team just missed
out on a giant-killing as Spain emerged victors in the third round of group
play, 79-78. Britain were 13 points back when the fourth quarter started, but
the clawed back at the Spaniards’ lead. It was a colossal effort, but the
runners-up from Beijing 2008 held out to consign Great Britain’s men to a third
straight defeat. This evening it was the women's turn, and they underwent a heart-breaking last second defeat. The game went into overtime after the scores were tied after four quarters, but Celine Dumerc scored a three-pointer with 0.2 left on the clock to win 80-77. The same player had scored a three-pointer late in regulation to force the extra period.
Dong Dong capped off a golden five minutes for China by
winning the men’s trampolining. He finished comfortably in first place, less
than five minutes after his compatriots won the mixed doubles final at
badminton. Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei beat another Chinese pairing to confirm
the gold medal, by two sets to nil.
Sergei Martynov of Belarus has won an Olympic gold medal at
his sixth Games. The two-time world champion had only ever reached bronze
before at the Olympics, but he claimed gold today in the men’s 50m rifle prone.
His score of 705.5 was a world record.
Disappointment
Canada set up an all-North American women’s football
semi-final with the USA after a 2-0 victory over Great Britain at the City of
Coventry stadium. Both goals came in the
first-half, and second-half pressure from Team GB came to no avail. A late
penalty claim was turned down but the result was a fair one as the improving
Canadians outplayed Great Britain, who are now out of the tournament.
Larry Godfrey completed a torrid tournament for Great
Britain’s archers after being eliminated in the last sixteen of the men’s
individual event today. Godfrey lost his match on a sudden death arrow, after
his opponent struck a 10.
Other news
Russian cyclist Victoria Baranova has
been sent home for doping.
The lanes at this morning’s rowing finals had
to be redrawn, as the wind direction favoured boats who had qualified for
the final with slower times. There was criticism of the officials yesterday for
not taking the same action.
Great Britain’s gold medal in the men’s team sprint will
not be investigated, despite lead-off man Philip Hindes saying he
deliberately fell off his bike after a disappointing start, to take advantage
of a loop-hole which allows the team a restart. The runners-up from France have
accepted that they have no right of appeal, but their coach has said it may
be something for the cycling authorities to look at in future.
The head of South Korea’s badminton delegation at London
2012 has apologised
after the furore surrounding the throwing of games in the women’s doubles
tournament.
British swimmer Caitlin McClatchey, who has competed in
three finals at London 2012, may consider a career in
politics after her swimming career ends.
And finally…
Jessica Varnish, one half of Britain’s disqualified women’s
team sprinters, had a bad day get worse yesterday after
dropping her phone in the toilet.
Updated medal table
Great Britain is now 4th in the medal table with 8 gold, 6 silver, and 8 bronze medals. The USA has usurped China at the top, 21 golds to 20. They also have one more overall than the Chinese. South Korea also sit above Great Britain, with the French just below, having won as many gold medals but fewer silver and bronze. There is the a gap to Germany on five golds.
Tomorrow’s big events
Another packed day tomorrow with various gold medal hopes
for Great Britain. Jessica Ennis concludes her heptathlon campaign, and the
women’s pursuit team cyclists try to follow up today’s world record by claiming
the gold. Helen Jenkins is the favourite in the women’s triathlon, and Dai
Green goes in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles. Mo Farah competes in the men’s
10,000m and Britain has two medal hopes in the men’s long jump. Of a more
general interest are the final of the women’s 100m, and the heats of the men’s
event. There is also plenty more on offer, a bumper day of sport at London
2012.
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