British medal watch
Great Britain won its third medal, and second bronze, of
London 2012 in the men’s team gymnastics event. The team came into the final as
outsiders having over-performed to qualifying third. However they proved that
third was in fact a true reflection of their skill by repeating the feat in the
final. It was not a medal without controversy, though, as Britain was initially
awarded the silver medal, until an appeal by the Japanese team saw them
promoted from fourth into the silver medal position. Ukraine, originally given
bronze, missed out on a medal as a result.
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins comfortably qualified
for the final of the women’s double sculls. The pair is now unbeaten in 22
races after posting an Olympic record time and are the hot favourites for the
gold medal. The men’s eight won their repechage to qualify at the second time
of asking for Wednesday’s final. The women’s quadruple sculls came from the
back to qualify for the final of that event, in a thrilling finish in their
repechage. Great Britain’s men’s four has won gold at three consecutive Games,
and this year’s team have qualified for the final of that event with ease.
However they will have their work cut out to win gold after Australia posted an
Olympic record time in their heat.
Great Britain is strongly position for both team and
individual honours after two days of the three-day eventing equestrian. A
strong opening in the dressage was followed up with an even better cross
country discipline. Three of our entrants had clear runs with no penalties,
while the other two had only minimal time penalties. Going into tomorrow’s show
jumping, Tina Cook sits in 5th overall, Mary King 6th, Zara
Phillips 10th, Nicola Wilson 20th and William Fox-Pitt 22nd.
The individual event includes two show jumping runs tomorrow, the second of
which is open only to the top 25, so all five are still in contention. Only the
first show jumping run counts towards the team event, in which Britain sit 2nd
only marginally behind leaders Germany but followed closely by Sweden and New
Zealand.
Heather Watson and Laura Robson both progressed into the
next round of the women’s singles tennis with wins at Wimbledon. In the sailing
star class, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson have the overall lead after the
fourth race. Larry Godfrey won his first two knock-out matches with ease to get
into the last sixteen of the men’s individual archery.
Top news
Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, who is based in Plymouth, won
gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke at the age of just fifteen. Michael
Phelps was back on form, winning his 200m butterfly semi-final. Frenchman
Yannick Agnel, who stunned Ryan Lochte and the USA team in yesterday’s 4x100m
freestyle relay, won another gold medal, this time in the men’s 200m freestyle.
In the diving, the men’s synchronised 10m platform was won by China’s Yuan Cao
and Yanquan Zhang.
South Korea’s Shin Lam missed out on a fencing medal in controversial
circumstances, causing a 70-minute delay with her protest. Shin was on the
wrong end of a time adjustment, which gave German Britta Heidemann just enough
time to strike the winning hit in the women’s individual epee. The South Korean
appeal was to no avail, and Shin went on to lose the bronze medal match.
Heidemann won silver, with Yana Shemyakina winning the gold.
Unsung Hero
Great Britain’s Zoe Smith set a new British record for the
clean and jerk in the women’s under 58kg category. The new mark is 121kg. She
finished second in Group B of the qualifying event. Meanwhile China’s Li
Xueying set an Olympic clean and jerk record in the same event, with 138kg,
taking the gold medal.
Disappointment
Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield missed out on a medal in the
men’s synchronised 10m platform diving. The pair led for Team GB after three of
their six dives, but had a disappointing fourth dive which put them outside the
medal places. Two decent closing dives were not enough to claw back the lost
marks, as they finished behind the gold medal winning Chinese, and the other
medal winners from Mexico and the USA.
Ben Ainslie again finished behind overall leader Jonas
Hogh-Christensen of Denmark in the finn class sailing, meaning he has much work
to do to challenge for gold. After two second-place finishes on day one,
Ainslie finished sixth and twelfth on day two, and has dropped to third
overall. There are still six races to go.
Team GB had another frustrating evening in the pool as Liam
Tancock and Gemma Spofforth both finished fifth in their finals. Despite high
hopes going into the competition, Great Britain has only Rebecca Adlington’s
bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle to show from three days’ worth of finals.
Other news
The Olympic cauldron has
been moved from the centre of the Olympic stadium to its permanent position
for the Games, at the south end of the arena. The cauldron had to be put out
for the move to be made, but has now been relighted.
Paula Radcliffe has
been replaced as Team GB’s participant in the women’s marathon by Freya
Murray.
Rebecca Adlington has
said she is determined to retain her 800m freestyle title, and will fight
for the gold medal.
Kate Walsh, the captain of Great Britain’s much-fancied
women’s hockey team, spent
last night in hospital after being struck in the jaw by a stick during
yesterday’s 4-0 win over Japan.
Swiss men's football player Michel Morganella has been expelled from the squad after he made a racist comment on Twitter.
Swiss men's football player Michel Morganella has been expelled from the squad after he made a racist comment on Twitter.
And finally…
A number of London’s most famous statues have
been given a patriotic makeover. Twenty statues have been given
British-themed headwear, especially for the Games.
A
video has gone viral of a woman using a megaphone to crank up the
excitement of people outside the Olympic Stadium ahead of the opening ceremony.
Felipe Kitadai, winner of the men’s under 60kg judo bronze
medal, has
asked for a replacement medal. The Brazilian dropped his medal in the
shower, denting it.
Updated medal table
Great Britain has dropped to 20th in the medal
table despite adding a bronze to the silver and bronze that were won on day
two. China have extended their lead, now with nine golds to second place USA’s
five. France and North Korea have three golds each. Germany has finally made an
appearance on the medal table, having won a silver in fencing today.
Tomorrow’s big events
Britain goes for gold in the individual and team eventing,
as tomorrow sees the final discipline of show jumping. The women’s football
reaches the end of its group stage, with Great Britain taking on Brazil in the
pick of the games. There’s another action-packed day at the pool with numerous
finals in the evening including Michael Phelps’ strongest event, the 200m
butterfly, and more heats in the morning at Eton Dorney for the rowing.
Silver-medallist at Beijing, David Florence, tries to go one better in the men’s
individual canoe final. The women have their team gymnastics final tomorrow
also.
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