British medal watch
Andy Murray annihilated Roger Federer to claim the men’s
singles gold medal. Murray was by far the better player on the day, breaking
Federer five times across the match and rarely looking in danger. He took the
first set 6-2 and the second set 6-1, before completing an incredible straight
sets victory winning the final set 6-4. Unfortunately, Murray couldn’t follow
it up in the mixed doubles where he and partner Laura Robson had to settle for
the silver medal. They dominated the Belarusian pair of Max Mirnyi and Victoria
Azarenka in the first set, but the Belarusians repaid the favour in the second
and also came out on top in the Champions’ tiebreaker to win the gold.
Ben Ainslie won his fourth Olympic gold medal, edging out
Danish rival Jonas Hogh-Christensen. Ainslie only had to beat the Dane in the
medal race to claim gold, and he did just that, finishing 9th out of
10 while his opponent was dead last. Ainslie knew what he needed to do and made
sure he kept the Dane behind him at all times, the pair basically having their
own race at the back of the field, but Ainslie came out on top. Iain Percy and
Andrew Simpson missed out on a gold medal in an agonising final race for the
star class sailing. They had a strong lead going into the race over the
Brazilian boat, and spent most of the race ensuring they stayed ahead of their
main rival. However the Swedish boat, third overall coming into the race, put
in a strong performance to challenge the leaders. The British pair was still in
gold medal position until they lost a place in the last few metres of the race,
dropping into silver medal position.
Great Britain’s men’s gymnasts continued to over-perform at
the Games claiming silver and bronze in the men’s pommel horse. Louis Smith was
a contender for gold going into the event but, despite an excellent
performance, Krisztian Berki came away with the gold. The two gymnasts actually
achieved the same score, but the Hungarian won by virtue of having a higher
execution score. Max Whitlock won an unlikely bronze in the same event. The
pair also won bronze for Team GB in the men’s team competition.
Ed Clancy posted a rapid 1km time-trial to win the bronze
medal in the men’s omnium cycling. Lasse Norman Hansen from Denmark recovered
from a crash in the scratch race to win the gold medal. But Clancy came from
outside the medals with one race to go to finish third overall. In the evening,
Christine Ohuruogu almost managed to successfully defend her 400m title, but
was eventually made to settle for silver as Sanya Richards-Ross of the USA won
the gold. Christine, known as a strong finisher, came from fifth around the
final bend to close in on the leader, but couldn’t catch Richards-Ross and
Ohuruogu took silver in a photo finish.
Top news
Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record to be crowned as the
fastest man on Earth. Bolt ran 9.63secs to successfully defend his Olympic men’s
100m title. He beat out fellow Jamaican and rival Yohan Blake, who won silver,
and American Justin Gatlin who took bronze. Seven of the finalists ran underneath
10 seconds, with only Asafa Powell who picked up an injury during the race
failing to do so. Bolt got off to a sluggish start out of the blocks but
quickly made up the gap and took the lead. He didn’t ease off at all to cross
the line in a time faster than that which won him the gold in Beijing.
Serena Williams won her second gold medal in two days as she
and her sister Venus triumphed in the final of the women’s doubles. They
defeated their Czech opponents Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-4. Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia won the women’s marathon this
morning in an Olympic record time. She needed a sprint finish to edge out
Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya by five seconds.
Unsung Hero
Natasha Jonas became the first British women to win an
Olympic bout after beating American Queen Underwood 21-13. Women’s boxing is in
its first Olympics, and today was the first day of competition.
Disappointment
Great Britain’s medal hopes in the women’s marathon were
given a blow when Paula Radcliffe was forced to pull out last week due to
injury. Any last hope of a medal was blown a quarter of the way into the race
today, as Mara Yamauchi pulled up due to a heel injury. Yamauchi had been in
the leading pack but was forced to stop on a rainy morning.
Other news
After her win in the heptathlon, during which she set a
personal best and heptathlon record in the 100m hurdles that would have been
fast enough for gold in Beijing, Jessica Ennis has
announced she will not run in the separate 100m hurdles event.
Lord Seb Coe has
backed Mo Farah to win an Olympic gold double in the men’s 5,000m.
Sir Steve Redgrave says that Great Britain’s rowing medal
haul of nine medals, including four golds, may never be beaten.
Stuart Pearce believes that the Team GB men’s footballers,
who were knocked-out on penalties last night by South Korea, will
learn a lot from their experiences in the tournament.
Sir Clive Woodward, who is the director of elite performance
at the British Olympic Association, has claimed that the British
athletes are thriving in front of home crowds.
Rebecca Adlington has left her participation in the 2016
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro up in the air, but has
suggested she would like to compete on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
And finally…
The BBC’s Olympic Stadium studio team of Colin Jackson,
Michael Johnson and Denise Lewis, went crazy as Mo Farah completed his remarkable
10,000m victory, as shown by footage shown on the BBC
this morning.
The Royal Mail, which is painting a post box gold in the
hometown of every British Olympic gold medallist, has
painted a post box gold in the wrong town for women’s team pursuit winner
Laura Trott.
Updated medal table
Great Britain remains a clear third after another two gold
medals today. Team GB now has at least ten medals of each colour. China is now
two clear of the USA, with 30 gold medals won, and has one more total than the
Americans on 61. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan have now won six golds and no other
medals, four of which have come in weightlifting. North Korea has also won a
disproportionate amount of gold medals, with four from a total of five. Other
nations have won fewer golds than hoped: Russia has 16 silvers and 15 bronze,
but only 4 gold, Japan has won 12 silver, 13 bronze but only 2 gold, and
Australia 12 silver, 7 bronze but only a single gold medal. 61 countries have
now won a medal of any colour, with 36 countries having won at least one gold.
Tomorrow’s big events
Great Britain has more medal opportunities, none more so
than Beth Tweddle in the asymmetric bars final. The velodrome, as usual, has
been a rich source of success for Team GB at this Olympics, and Jason Kenny is
well placed overnight for a gold in the men’s sprint. The show jumping team
event concludes tomorrow with Britain looking strong going into the final day
of competition. Dai Green will hope to improve on qualifying performances and
challenge for the podium in the men’s 400m hurdles. Elsewhere, beach volleyball
knock-outs continue, canoe sprints begin, the women’s football semi-finals go
ahead, as does the last round of women’s hockey group games.
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