British medal watch
Great Britain won two golds in less than five minutes this
afternoon as the hosts’ Olympic Games really started to get some momentum. At
the men’s C2 canoe slalom, Great Britain took both gold and silver in amazing
scenes. Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott qualified slowest for the final but put
in an incredible run first up in the final. Other pairs came and went without
being able to challenge the Brits’ time. David Florence and Richard Hounslow,
both of whom disappointed in their individual events, qualified fastest for the
final and hence went last. As they lined up, with Baillie and Stott in
provisional first, Great Britain was guaranteed a gold medal. Florence and
Hounslow were ahead at each split in their run but lost time at the end. They
crossed the line in second, gifting Baillie and Stott the gold while claiming
the silver for themselves, as the crowd went wild.
Almost simultaneously to the canoeing, Peter Wilson was the
class act of the competition as he took gold in the men’s double trap shooting
event. Wilson took an early lead and never looked likely to let it slip. The
competition for silver and bronze was a tight one, but Wilson was running away
with the gold. A double miss late on brought the field closer to him, but he
regained his composure to ensure the fourth gold of the Games for Team GB.
Great Britain took gold on the first day of track cycling in
the men’s team sprint. The team put an early mechanical problem for Philip
Hindes behind them as they came from fourth at the first split to set an
Olympic record in the heat, Sir Chris Hoy delivering a brilliant final lap. They
went one better next, though, as they qualified for the final with an
incredible world record on the back of Hindes’ personal best opening lap. Then
another amazing effort by the team of Hindes, Jason Kenny and Hoy set another
world record to defeat France with comfort in the final. Hoy has now won five
Olympic gold medals, equalling Sir Steve Redgrave as Great Britain’s most
prolific gold medallist. Great Britain’s team also smashed the world record in
the heats of the men’s team pursuit. They finished well clear of Australia, who
was touted as their main rivals in the event.
Great Britain recorded another silver medal as the men’s
lightweight four took second place in their final. Denmark led for much of the
race, but fell back at the end. It looked like Great Britain would surge into
first place, but the South Africans finished stronger and took the gold. The
men’s four overtook their main rivals for the gold medal, Australia, in the last
250m to win their semi-final and raise hopes of a victory in the weekend’s
final. Australia went out fast and at one point were a whole boat’s length
ahead, but the Brits didn’t give up and came back to win at the line. Kat
Copeland and Sophie Hosking also won their semi-final, in the women’s double
sculls, finishing ahead of world champions Greece.
Gemma Gibbons won a superb silver medal in the women’s judo
under 78kg category. Great Britain’s judo team has disappointed in these Games
but Gibbons provided some respite from that frustration. She beat the world
champion Audrey Tcheumeo, from France, in the semi-final, thanks to a dramatic
golden score waz-ari to be guaranteed at least a silver medal. Unfortunately,
she was outfought in the final by American Kayla Harrison. This came after a dramatic last 16 match.
Gibbons led throughout but conceded a controversial yuko with only seven
seconds to go, which let her Mongolian opponent Lkhamdegd Purevjargal tie the
match. But seven seconds was plenty for Gibbons to assure a quarter-final
place, striking back immediately with a buzzer-beating yuko of her own.
Andy Murray breezed past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro to set up
a men’s singles semi-final against Novak Djokovic. Murray won the first set
6-4, but after Almagro called on the trainer in between sets, he couldn’t match
Murray who cruised to a 6-1 second set victory. His first-serve success
percentage was over 80%.
Ben Ainslie recorded a victory in the 7th race of
10 in the finn sailing class to reignite his hopes of a fourth Olympic gold
medal. His Danish competitor, Jonas Christensen-Hogh, finished well down the
field. In the 8th race Ainslie was 3rd, one place above
his rival, meaning Ainslie has now closed the gap. He is currently a decent
distance clear of the third placed sailor in the overall standings. Steve
Morrison and Ben Rhodes won both of today’s races in the 49er class, putting a
poor start to the series behind them and climb into second overall. Iain Percy
and Andrew Simpson lead the star class overall classification after a victory
in race 7 and a runners-up spot in race 8.
Top news
Gabrielle Douglas won the flagship event of women’s
gymnastics, the all-round competition, holding it together in all four
disciplines. She was the most consistent performer, claiming gold ahead of
nearest rival Viktoria Komova.
China’s world champion Zhang Jike beat compatriot Wang Hao
in the final of the men’s singles table tennis. Zhang won the match, 4-1, to
claim the gold. France’s Emilie Fer won the women’s K1 canoe slalom event.
Russia is guaranteed at least a silver medal in the women’s
singles tennis, as Maria Sharapova and Maria Karilenko meet eachother in the
semi-finals. Serena Williams of the USA faces Belarussian world number one
Victoria Azarenka. In the men’s event, Roger Federer of Switzerland meets Juan
Martin del Potro of Argentina, as well as Murray’s match-up against Serbian
Novak Djokovic.
America’s Rebecca Soni became the first person to
successfully defend an Olympic title in the pool at London 2012 in the women’s
200m breaststroke. Soni smashed the world record by almost half a second,
leading from the outset to the end of the race to claim gold. Tyler Clary took
gold with an Olympic record in the men’s 200m backstroke, beating out favourite
Ryan Lochte into third position and bronze. It was a disappointing day for
Lochte, who was also beaten by great rival Michael Phelps in the men’s 200m
individual medley. Phelps claimed the gold, his first individual gold of London
2012, while Lochte settled for silver.
Ki Bo Bae of South Korea continued her nation’s domination
of women’s archery as she won the individual event at Lord’s. It was a tense
finish, going down to a single arrow shoot-out after six sets of play against
Mexican Aida Roman. Both archers hit an 8 in the shout-out, but Ki’s arrow was
closer to the centre of the target and she was awarded the gold.
Unsung Heroes
Great Britain’s Anthony Agogo defeated world number one,
Ukraine’s Ievgen Khytrov, in a very close second round match in the men’s
middleweigh boxing. The match was tied on points, and tied on countback (when
the total scores of all the judges are collated). But the next tiebreaker was
the judges’ verdict, and the majority went with Agogo, who was visibly
delighted with his victory. He is now a genuine medal hope.
Great Britain’s Carl Hester
and Laura Bechtolsheimer were placed first and second after the first
day of the dressage competition. Great Britain has never won a medal in
dressage, but is now in contention in both the individual and team events.
Disappointment
The women’s team sprinters, Jessica Varnish and Victoria
Pendleton, were disqualified after an error in their knock-out competition.
They appeared to have qualified for the final, but it was discovered that they
changed-over outside of the correct zone and were eliminated. They set a new
world record in their heat, as Victoria Pendleton completed a lightning fast
second lap to come from behind to beat the Australian team. The record only
lasted a couple of minutes, however, as the Chinese team broke it themselves in
the next heat. The Chinese broke the world record again in the next round, and won
the final ahead of Germany. However they too fell afoul of the same
infringement as Team GB, and were relegated to silver, with the Germans taking
the gold.
Other news
The driver of a bus which knocked-over and killed a cyclist
yesterday evening near the Olympic Park has
been arrested and released on bail. Gold medal winning cyclist Bradley
Wiggins has
suggested it may be wise to make helmets compulsory for cyclists.
Japan has lodged
a successful appeal against the defeat of boxer Satoshi Shimizu. Shimizu,
competing in the bantamweight category, knocked down his Azerbaijani opponent
Magomed Abdulhamidov five times in the final round, but had still been
originally adjudged to have been defeated. There was also a disqualification in
the boxing last night, as Ali Mazaheri of Iran was eliminated after receiving
three warnings for holding within a minute.
Two of the pairs who were reprieved after four other pairs
were disqualified from the women’s doubles badminton have reached the
semi-finals of the competition. This means that it is guaranteed that one
of the pairs will win at least a bronze.
Yu Yang, one of the disqualified badminton players, has
announced she is to quit the sport. Meanwhile the coaches of the
disqualified pairs are
now being investigated.
Josh Booth, an Australian rower, was arrested yesterday
after causing damage to a shop-front whilst drunk. Booth was part of the
Australian men’s eight which finished sixth in yesterday’s final. When in
custody, he
fainted and hit his head.
And finally…
Adam Gemili, the young British 100m sprinter who has burst onto
the scene in the last year, has received his official Olympic accreditation.
However, his pass doesn’t have his photo on it, but instead the
photo of a mystery person.
The Royal Mail will
make special stamps for all of Great Britain’s gold medallists.
Boris Johnson has suggested that Vladimir Putin, who is on a
diplomatic visit to London, should
‘strip to the waist’ and take part in the judo competition, which President
Putin attended today.
Updated medal table
Great Britain now sits fifth in the medal table thanks to
three gold medals in one day, bringing the overall total to five gold, six
silver and four bronze. It was the USA, however, who had the best day as they
tied with China on 18 gold medals in the Games. China remain top by virtue of
having won more silver medals, although the USA lead in total medals. South
Korea and France are the other nations who continue to sit above Great Britain.
Tomorrow’s big events
The pick of the action comes from the Olympic Stadium
tomorrow as the athletics events begin. Jessica Ennis begins her heptathlon
campaign in the pick of the day for Team GB. Larry Godfrey is Britain’s last
hope in the archery, as the men’s individual event comes to an end tomorrow.
While Rebecca Adlington tries to defend her women’s 800m freestyle title in the
pool. The men’s team pursuit is Team GB’s best hope for gold at the track
cycling, with the team going in as favourites. But Great Britain has multiple
medal hopes at the rowing: Alan Campbell in the men’s single sculls, and Anna
Watkins and Katherine Grainger in the women’s double sculls are the best hopes
for gold, while George Nash and Will Satch in the men’s pair and the men’s
quadruple sculls are also medal contenders for medals.
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