Sir Chris Hoy becomes Britain's greatest Olympian on the day where Team GB officially records it most successful Olympics since 1908. The Scot ends his Olympic career with his sixth gold medal in what has been a glittering time for Track Cycling.
Hoy took his record breaking gold came in the Men's Keirin in a breathtaking final. Hoy posted a time of 10.306 seconds to beat Germany's Maximilian Levy to his historic achievement. The final was also too close to call as two people, Simon Van Velthooven from New Zealand and Teun Mulder from the Netherlands, were awarded the bronze medal.
Unfortunately, it wasn't as good a send off for Victoria Pendleton who also ends her Olympic career, but with a silver instead of her intended gold. Pendleton breezed into the Women's Sprint final and faced her nemesis, Anna Meares of Australia. The first heat looked to have gone the way of Pendleton until the judges ruled she had illegally moved out of the lane and was duly relegated. Meares would then take the second heat to win gold ahead of the tearful Pendleton.
With Pendleton and Hoy retiring, the Track Cycling eventists would be forgiven for worrying about who would take over the mantle. But have no fear as 24-year old Jason Kenny lit up the Velodrome yesterday and Laura Trott did exactly the same today. 20-year old Trott became the first female cyclist to win two gold medals in a tournament after taking the Women's Omnium.
After three events yesterday, Trott was level with USA's Sarah Hammer going into today's events. Hammer then took a two point lead going into the final event, the Time Trial. Trott posted a time of 35.110 seconds while Hammer could only manage 35.900. This meant Trott won the event with Hammer finishing fourth, giving Trott her second gold medal. A tally which levels Beijing's four years ago.
Before all that, Team GB officially surpassed Beijing's gold medal haul with two other golds. It will be a happy Brownlee household tonight as both brothers came away with a medal in the Triathlon. Alistair Brownlee recorded a time of 1:46:25 to take the gold, finishing 11-seconds ahead of Spain's Javier Gomez. Jonathan Brownlee came home with the bronze, finishing 31-seconds behind his brother.
That was followed up with GB claiming their first ever Olympic medal in the Dressage event. Carl Hester, Laura Bechtol Scheimer and Charlotte Dujardin managed to hold off the Germans to take the gold medal. With the scores mightily close, Dujardin had to ride out a very good performance that would bring celebrations amongst the home crowd.
Our final medal of the day came in the Men's RS-X Sailing event. Nick Dempsey managed to take silver in the event with he and gold medallist, Netherlands' Dorian Van Rijsselberge, finished nearly 20 points ahead of bronze medallist, Poland's Przemyslaw Miarczynski. This takes our medal haul to 48 with 22 of them being gold.
We're still not done yet as there are two other boxers have also guaranteed themselves medals and will again find out which colour on Friday. Anthony Joshua beat China's Zhilei Zhang 15-10 yesterday in the Men's Super Heavy quarter finals. Joshua now faces Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko in the semi-finals. Freddie Evans got through to the Men's Welter semi-finals after a close fought contest today. He faced Canada's Custio Clayton and the bout ended 14-14, but the judges voted in favour of Evans and he will now take on Ukraine's Taras Shelestyuk in the final four.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Monday, 6 August 2012
Three More Medals Today But More To Come
After our recent hauls, three medals seems a little underwhelming. But don't underestimate the power that these three medals hold, including two more golds, and there are still more on its way. The first medal of the day came in the Equestrian Team Jumping.
Team GB, consisting of 54-year old Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles, had guaranteed themselves at least silver when they were forced into a jump off with the Netherlands. The jump off also went all the way and it was all down to Skelton who was riding Big Star. They managed the get through the course without penalty, doing enough to take the gold medal for team GB.
After her recent Twitter abuse, Beth Tweddle deserved to overcome that with a medal in the Women's Uneven Bars. She did just that, scoring 15.916 for her performance which was enough to get bronze. China's Kexin He took silver with a score of 15.933 while Aliya Mustafina from Russia won gold with 16.133.
Our 18th gold medal so far came in Men's Sprint where Jason Kenny won his second Olympic crown. Kenny set a new Olympic Record on his way to beating Frenchman Gregory Bauge who took the silver medal. Australia's Shane Perkins took bronze.
Team GB also has three more guaranteed medal coming their way, the only question is what colour they will be. Luke Campbell in the Men's Bantam beat Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria, 16-15, yesterday to book his place in the semi-finals which takes place on Friday.
Anthony Ogogo will also take place in a semi-final on Friday after he guaranteed his Olympic medal by beating Germany's Stefan Hartel, 15-10, today in the Men's Middle. Nicola Adams is the other guaranteed medallist after beating Bulgaria's Stoyka Petrova, 16-7, to book her place in the Women's Fly semi-final, which takes place on Wednesday.
Andrew Selby is just nine minutes away from also guaranteeing himself a medal in the Men's Fly. He takes on Cuba's Carrazana Ramirez in the quarter-finals tomorrow. Victoria Pendleton's hopes of ending her career with a gold is still standing firm. The 31-year old will face Germany's Kristina Vogel in the semi-finals of the Women's Sprint, Pendleton is also looking extremely strong. Laura Trott is also in a promising position to add to her gold medal. She is level at the top of the leader board with USA's Sarah Hammer at the halfway stage. Trott won two of the three events in Women's Omnium today and looks to complete her charge tomorrow.
Team GB are also going strong in the Hockey events. The Women's team have made it into the semi-finals whilst the Men's team have one match left to play in the preliminaries. They are currently level on points with Australia at the top, a point ahead of Pakistan and Spain. GB meet Spain tomorrow, knowing that only a point will be enough to see them progress as Pakistan take on Australia.
Congratulations in also needed to go to Cyprus. They managed to earn their first ever medal in the history of the Olympics courtesy of Pavlos Kontides. The Cypriot scored a total of 59 in the Men's Laser Sailing event which was enough to see him take silver. Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren won bronze with 72 whilst Australia's Tom Slingsby took gold with 43. But very well done Cyprus.
Team GB, consisting of 54-year old Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles, had guaranteed themselves at least silver when they were forced into a jump off with the Netherlands. The jump off also went all the way and it was all down to Skelton who was riding Big Star. They managed the get through the course without penalty, doing enough to take the gold medal for team GB.
After her recent Twitter abuse, Beth Tweddle deserved to overcome that with a medal in the Women's Uneven Bars. She did just that, scoring 15.916 for her performance which was enough to get bronze. China's Kexin He took silver with a score of 15.933 while Aliya Mustafina from Russia won gold with 16.133.
Our 18th gold medal so far came in Men's Sprint where Jason Kenny won his second Olympic crown. Kenny set a new Olympic Record on his way to beating Frenchman Gregory Bauge who took the silver medal. Australia's Shane Perkins took bronze.
Team GB also has three more guaranteed medal coming their way, the only question is what colour they will be. Luke Campbell in the Men's Bantam beat Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria, 16-15, yesterday to book his place in the semi-finals which takes place on Friday.
Anthony Ogogo will also take place in a semi-final on Friday after he guaranteed his Olympic medal by beating Germany's Stefan Hartel, 15-10, today in the Men's Middle. Nicola Adams is the other guaranteed medallist after beating Bulgaria's Stoyka Petrova, 16-7, to book her place in the Women's Fly semi-final, which takes place on Wednesday.
Andrew Selby is just nine minutes away from also guaranteeing himself a medal in the Men's Fly. He takes on Cuba's Carrazana Ramirez in the quarter-finals tomorrow. Victoria Pendleton's hopes of ending her career with a gold is still standing firm. The 31-year old will face Germany's Kristina Vogel in the semi-finals of the Women's Sprint, Pendleton is also looking extremely strong. Laura Trott is also in a promising position to add to her gold medal. She is level at the top of the leader board with USA's Sarah Hammer at the halfway stage. Trott won two of the three events in Women's Omnium today and looks to complete her charge tomorrow.
Team GB are also going strong in the Hockey events. The Women's team have made it into the semi-finals whilst the Men's team have one match left to play in the preliminaries. They are currently level on points with Australia at the top, a point ahead of Pakistan and Spain. GB meet Spain tomorrow, knowing that only a point will be enough to see them progress as Pakistan take on Australia.
Congratulations in also needed to go to Cyprus. They managed to earn their first ever medal in the history of the Olympics courtesy of Pavlos Kontides. The Cypriot scored a total of 59 in the Men's Laser Sailing event which was enough to see him take silver. Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren won bronze with 72 whilst Australia's Tom Slingsby took gold with 43. But very well done Cyprus.
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Bolt Still Fastest Man Alive & Murray Wins Gold
A new Olympic Record for Usain Bolt sustains his title of World's Fastest Man. It would be the best 100m final ever as all of the fastest men alive took part. Bolt stood alongside fellow Jamaicans, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell, Americans, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey, Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago and Europe's participant, Churandy Martina from the Netherlands.
Places 2-7 finished with the fastest times ever recorded ion those positions with Powell in eighth, the only man to finish outside ten seconds due to an injury. But no-one could take the limelight away from Bolt as he came from a poor start to record a time of 9.63 seconds. Blake won the silver medal with his equalled personal best of 9.75 seconds with Gatlin earning bronze with his personal best of 9.79, 0.01 seconds ahead of Gay in fourth.
Before the 100m final, everyone was talking about GB's latest gold medal winners, Ben Ainslie and Andy Murray. Ainslie started the day off in the Men's Finn Sailing medal race. He managed to stave off another attack from his Danish rival, Jonas Hogh-Christensen, to earn his fourth Olympic gold medal, becoming the greatest Olympian in Sailing history.
Ainslie's gold was followed up by a silver medal for Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Men's Star Sailing medal race. The British pair finished three points behind the Swedish duo, Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen but four points ahead of the Brazilian duo, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.
But the lead up today was all about Murray who had the prospect of winning two gold medals. Murray had the unenviable task of playing Roger Federer, his Wimbledon conqueror. But the Brit performed some of his best tennis to completely blow the Swiss away. Murray took the first set 6-2 before storming the second 6-1. Federer tried his hardest to fight the partisan crowd but Murray proved to be too strong and took the third set 6-4 to seal that emphatic gold medal. Juan Martin Del Potro sealed bronze with a fantastic 7-5 6-4 over Novak Djokovic.
A couple of hours later, the pumped Murray returned on court with Laura Robson as they played out their Mixed Doubles final against Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus. The British pair got off to a fantastic start with a 6-2 first set after leading 4-0. But the Belarussian pair regained their composure and took the second set 6-3 to force a Champions Tie-Break.
The top seeds took the momentum into the tie-break and took a 9-6 lead. Two fantastic serves from Robson pulled it back to 9-8 before Belarus finally completed the victory to leave Murray and Robson with the silver medal.
GB claimed four other medals today. The Men's Pommel Horse saw Louis Smith miss out on gold on a tie-break after he and gold medallist Krisztian Berki were tied on 16.066 points. Behind those two came Hemel Hempstead's Max Whitlock. The 19-year old posted a score of 15.600 points to earn the bronze medal.
Ed Clancy also picked up a bronze medal in the Men's Omnium Cycling event. Clancy agonisingly finished a single point behind France's Bryan Coquard on 30 points. Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen took the gold medal with 27 points.
Our final medal today came in the Women's 400m. Christine Ohuruogu performed a season's best, 49.70 seconds, to earn the silver medal in between two Americans. DeeDee Trotter won the bronze medal with her season best time of 49.72 seconds. Sanya Richards-Ross took gold for USA with a time of 49.55 seconds.
The heartbreak of the day came in the Women's Water Polo. Team GB faced Spain in the quarter finals and forced them all the way. After taking a 2-1 lead, GB ended up being 6-2 behind after the second quarter. Three goals in the third quarter slightly pulled the score back to 8-5. The girls then bravely fought back to 8-7 in the final moments in the last quarter before Spain ended the GB hopes in the final 30-seconds to win the game 9-7.
Places 2-7 finished with the fastest times ever recorded ion those positions with Powell in eighth, the only man to finish outside ten seconds due to an injury. But no-one could take the limelight away from Bolt as he came from a poor start to record a time of 9.63 seconds. Blake won the silver medal with his equalled personal best of 9.75 seconds with Gatlin earning bronze with his personal best of 9.79, 0.01 seconds ahead of Gay in fourth.
Before the 100m final, everyone was talking about GB's latest gold medal winners, Ben Ainslie and Andy Murray. Ainslie started the day off in the Men's Finn Sailing medal race. He managed to stave off another attack from his Danish rival, Jonas Hogh-Christensen, to earn his fourth Olympic gold medal, becoming the greatest Olympian in Sailing history.
Ainslie's gold was followed up by a silver medal for Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Men's Star Sailing medal race. The British pair finished three points behind the Swedish duo, Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen but four points ahead of the Brazilian duo, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.
But the lead up today was all about Murray who had the prospect of winning two gold medals. Murray had the unenviable task of playing Roger Federer, his Wimbledon conqueror. But the Brit performed some of his best tennis to completely blow the Swiss away. Murray took the first set 6-2 before storming the second 6-1. Federer tried his hardest to fight the partisan crowd but Murray proved to be too strong and took the third set 6-4 to seal that emphatic gold medal. Juan Martin Del Potro sealed bronze with a fantastic 7-5 6-4 over Novak Djokovic.
A couple of hours later, the pumped Murray returned on court with Laura Robson as they played out their Mixed Doubles final against Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus. The British pair got off to a fantastic start with a 6-2 first set after leading 4-0. But the Belarussian pair regained their composure and took the second set 6-3 to force a Champions Tie-Break.
The top seeds took the momentum into the tie-break and took a 9-6 lead. Two fantastic serves from Robson pulled it back to 9-8 before Belarus finally completed the victory to leave Murray and Robson with the silver medal.
GB claimed four other medals today. The Men's Pommel Horse saw Louis Smith miss out on gold on a tie-break after he and gold medallist Krisztian Berki were tied on 16.066 points. Behind those two came Hemel Hempstead's Max Whitlock. The 19-year old posted a score of 15.600 points to earn the bronze medal.
Ed Clancy also picked up a bronze medal in the Men's Omnium Cycling event. Clancy agonisingly finished a single point behind France's Bryan Coquard on 30 points. Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen took the gold medal with 27 points.
Our final medal today came in the Women's 400m. Christine Ohuruogu performed a season's best, 49.70 seconds, to earn the silver medal in between two Americans. DeeDee Trotter won the bronze medal with her season best time of 49.72 seconds. Sanya Richards-Ross took gold for USA with a time of 49.55 seconds.
The heartbreak of the day came in the Women's Water Polo. Team GB faced Spain in the quarter finals and forced them all the way. After taking a 2-1 lead, GB ended up being 6-2 behind after the second quarter. Three goals in the third quarter slightly pulled the score back to 8-5. The girls then bravely fought back to 8-7 in the final moments in the last quarter before Spain ended the GB hopes in the final 30-seconds to win the game 9-7.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Record Day For Team GB
Team GB secured six gold medals on a day that hasn't been matched for over a hundred years, cruising into third in the medals table and showing no signs of slowing down. It all began this morning when Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking claimed GB's first ever Women's Lightweight Double Sculls gold medal. The British pairing finished over two seconds ahead of Dongxiang Xu and Wenyi Huang of China.
That was followed with the Men's Four gold, making it three consecutive golds in the event. Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge finished just under two seconds ahead of the Australian foursome. It could well have been three golds in the rowing today when Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter lead in most of the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls. But, with 250m left, the Danish pairing of Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist overtook the Brits to finish .61 seconds ahead.
Britain's third gold became their fourth in the Cycling as we took the Women's Team Pursuit event with yet another World Record. Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell set a time of 3:14:051 to out class the Americans and the Canadians. The gold is even more special for Rowsell who suffers from alopecia.
The other three gold medals were our first in the Athletics events. After her amazing display yesterday, Jessica Ennis rounded off her fantastic Heptathlon with a score of 6955, the fifth highest score in Olympics history and a new British and Commonwealth record. The Sheffield girl finished 306 points clear of silver medallist Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany. Ennis has now put herself alongside Bradley Wiggins and many others as candidates for Sports Personality of the Year.
Ennis' gold was quickly followed up by Mo Farah who put on a fantastic performance in the Men's 10,000m. Farah finished .48 seconds ahead of USA's Galen Rupp to cap a brilliant two years for the athlete. GB's final gold medal of the day came from a surprise source, Greg Rutherford from Milton Keynes. Rutherford managed to finish .15m ahead of Mitchell Watt from Australia in the Long Jump.
All eyes will be on Andy Murray tomorrow who has the opportunity to win a further two gold medals for GB. Murray will play against Roger Federer in the Men's Singles and then team-up with Laura Robson who will take on Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus in the Mixed Doubles Final.
Robson and Murray started the day against Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in the quarter finals. The Brits took the first set 6-3 before the Australians responded with a 6-3 set victory of their own. This produced a Champions Tie-break which Murray and Robson won 10-8 to reach the semi-finals.
A couple of hours later, Robson and Murray were on court again, this time against Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas of Germany. The British pairing once again stormed out of the gate quickly, taking the first set 6-1. The second set then went to a tie-break, which Murray missed a winner that caused the Germans to take it 9-7. So, for a second time today, Robson and Murray were once again enthralled in a Champions Tie-break. At 7-7, Britain broke the Kas serve to lead 8-7 before Robson held both of her serves to win the set 10-7 to put GB's name in tomorrow's final and a guaranteed silver medal.
The Women's Tennis event came to an end today with Serena Williams securing a career Golden Slam after thrashing Maria Sharapova. Williams took the first set to love before Sharapova managed to take a game in the second set. Azarenka took the bronze medal with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko.
The Bryan brothers went home with the Men's Doubles gold, making it two golds for Team USA. Bob and Mike faced Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the final. The Bryan's took the first set 6-4 before taking the second set 7-2 in the tie-break. Fellow Frenchmen, Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet took the bronze medal with a 7-6 6-2 win over David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
The heartbreak of the day once again came from a penalty shoot-out in the football. The men's team faced South Korea and found themselves 1-0 down just before the half hour mark when Sunderland's Ji Dong-Won leathered a shot past Jack Butland. GB levelled seven minutes when they were awarded a penalty for handball, Aaron Ramsey stepped up and just squeezed his effort through the keeper.
Five minutes before half-time, GB were awarded a second penalty when Daniel Sturridge was brought down in the box. Ramsey again stepped-up but this time his effort was saved. The score remained 1-1 and the dreaded penalty shoot-out was upon us. The shoot-out stood at 4-4 before Daniel Sturridge stepped up and had his shot saved. Celtic's Ki Sung-Yeung placed South Korea's fifth attempt past Butland to dump GB out of the event.
That was followed with the Men's Four gold, making it three consecutive golds in the event. Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge finished just under two seconds ahead of the Australian foursome. It could well have been three golds in the rowing today when Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter lead in most of the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls. But, with 250m left, the Danish pairing of Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist overtook the Brits to finish .61 seconds ahead.
Britain's third gold became their fourth in the Cycling as we took the Women's Team Pursuit event with yet another World Record. Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell set a time of 3:14:051 to out class the Americans and the Canadians. The gold is even more special for Rowsell who suffers from alopecia.
The other three gold medals were our first in the Athletics events. After her amazing display yesterday, Jessica Ennis rounded off her fantastic Heptathlon with a score of 6955, the fifth highest score in Olympics history and a new British and Commonwealth record. The Sheffield girl finished 306 points clear of silver medallist Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany. Ennis has now put herself alongside Bradley Wiggins and many others as candidates for Sports Personality of the Year.
Ennis' gold was quickly followed up by Mo Farah who put on a fantastic performance in the Men's 10,000m. Farah finished .48 seconds ahead of USA's Galen Rupp to cap a brilliant two years for the athlete. GB's final gold medal of the day came from a surprise source, Greg Rutherford from Milton Keynes. Rutherford managed to finish .15m ahead of Mitchell Watt from Australia in the Long Jump.
All eyes will be on Andy Murray tomorrow who has the opportunity to win a further two gold medals for GB. Murray will play against Roger Federer in the Men's Singles and then team-up with Laura Robson who will take on Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus in the Mixed Doubles Final.
Robson and Murray started the day against Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in the quarter finals. The Brits took the first set 6-3 before the Australians responded with a 6-3 set victory of their own. This produced a Champions Tie-break which Murray and Robson won 10-8 to reach the semi-finals.
A couple of hours later, Robson and Murray were on court again, this time against Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas of Germany. The British pairing once again stormed out of the gate quickly, taking the first set 6-1. The second set then went to a tie-break, which Murray missed a winner that caused the Germans to take it 9-7. So, for a second time today, Robson and Murray were once again enthralled in a Champions Tie-break. At 7-7, Britain broke the Kas serve to lead 8-7 before Robson held both of her serves to win the set 10-7 to put GB's name in tomorrow's final and a guaranteed silver medal.
The Women's Tennis event came to an end today with Serena Williams securing a career Golden Slam after thrashing Maria Sharapova. Williams took the first set to love before Sharapova managed to take a game in the second set. Azarenka took the bronze medal with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko.
The Bryan brothers went home with the Men's Doubles gold, making it two golds for Team USA. Bob and Mike faced Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the final. The Bryan's took the first set 6-4 before taking the second set 7-2 in the tie-break. Fellow Frenchmen, Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet took the bronze medal with a 7-6 6-2 win over David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
The heartbreak of the day once again came from a penalty shoot-out in the football. The men's team faced South Korea and found themselves 1-0 down just before the half hour mark when Sunderland's Ji Dong-Won leathered a shot past Jack Butland. GB levelled seven minutes when they were awarded a penalty for handball, Aaron Ramsey stepped up and just squeezed his effort through the keeper.
Five minutes before half-time, GB were awarded a second penalty when Daniel Sturridge was brought down in the box. Ramsey again stepped-up but this time his effort was saved. The score remained 1-1 and the dreaded penalty shoot-out was upon us. The shoot-out stood at 4-4 before Daniel Sturridge stepped up and had his shot saved. Celtic's Ki Sung-Yeung placed South Korea's fifth attempt past Butland to dump GB out of the event.
Friday, 3 August 2012
Eight Golds As First Week Concludes
With the first week of the Olympics coming to a close, Team GB currently sit fourth in the medals table with another three gold medals accumulated today. Our first came in the Women's Double Sculls; Katherine Grainger had three managed to gain three silver medals in previous games, but today she finally found that elusive gold with the help of Anna Watkins.
The British pairing finished almost three seconds ahead of the Australian duo, Kim Crow and Brooke Pratley, to earn GB's second gold medal in the rowing. The overall medal tally for rowing now stands at six after claiming a further two bronzes. The first of which came from Alan Campbell who achieved third in the Men's Single Sculls. Campbell was well off the pace set by gold medal winner Mahe Drisdale of New Zealand and silver medallist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, but he did stave off a late fight from Sweden's Lassi Karonen to gain that impressive bronze.
The second bronze medal in today's rowing came in the Men's Pair. George Nash and William Satch claimed the third place but only finished an agonising .66 of a second behind France's Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette. New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond took the gold medal.
GB's other two gold medals came in today's cycling events. The first came in the Team Pursuit where the British team set another World Record in the Velodrome. Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas put in an amazing performance to score a time of 3:51:659, almost three seconds ahead of the Australian team who won Silver.
After her disappointing disqualification yesterday, Victoria Pendleton put that behind her to come through and take the Women's Keirin gold medal. Pendleton beat China's Shuang Guo and Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong to victory, claiming Britain's third gold in the cycling events.
GB also amassed a further two bronzes today. Rebecca Adlington followed up her 400m Freestyle bronze with her second bronze in the 800m Freestyle. Adlington finished almost six seconds behind USA's Katie Ledecky who claimed gold by setting an Americas record. Spain's Garcia Mireia Belmonte claimed silver.
Our final medal today was awarded to Karina Bryant who claimed bronze in the Women's +78kg Judo event. Bryant lost to Japan's Mika Sugimoto in the semi-finals but the Japanese had to settle for silver as she lost to Idalys Ortiz of Cuba in the final.
Jessica Ennis has began her quest for Heptathlon gold by breaking her own personal record in the 100m Hurdles, setting a time of 12.54 seconds which would have won gold in the proper event. She currently has a 184 point lead over Lithuania's Austra Skujyte going into the second day.
Andy Murray has also guaranteed himself silver after providing a fantastic performance to overcome Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Murray won in straight sets, 7-5 7-5, to set up a Wimbledon rematch with Roger Federer. The Swiss overcame Juan Martin Del Potro in the longest ever Olympic Tennis match. Del Potro took the first set 6-3 before Federer fought back, winning the second set tie-break 7-5. The third and final set went into overtime where Federer finally came through with a 19-17 victory.
The disappointment of the day came in the Women's football. Unfortunately, Team GB couldn't continue their fantastic performance against Brazil and ended up losing 2-0 to Canada. The men's team face South Korea in tomorrow's quarter final.
The British pairing finished almost three seconds ahead of the Australian duo, Kim Crow and Brooke Pratley, to earn GB's second gold medal in the rowing. The overall medal tally for rowing now stands at six after claiming a further two bronzes. The first of which came from Alan Campbell who achieved third in the Men's Single Sculls. Campbell was well off the pace set by gold medal winner Mahe Drisdale of New Zealand and silver medallist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, but he did stave off a late fight from Sweden's Lassi Karonen to gain that impressive bronze.
The second bronze medal in today's rowing came in the Men's Pair. George Nash and William Satch claimed the third place but only finished an agonising .66 of a second behind France's Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette. New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond took the gold medal.
GB's other two gold medals came in today's cycling events. The first came in the Team Pursuit where the British team set another World Record in the Velodrome. Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas put in an amazing performance to score a time of 3:51:659, almost three seconds ahead of the Australian team who won Silver.
After her disappointing disqualification yesterday, Victoria Pendleton put that behind her to come through and take the Women's Keirin gold medal. Pendleton beat China's Shuang Guo and Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong to victory, claiming Britain's third gold in the cycling events.
GB also amassed a further two bronzes today. Rebecca Adlington followed up her 400m Freestyle bronze with her second bronze in the 800m Freestyle. Adlington finished almost six seconds behind USA's Katie Ledecky who claimed gold by setting an Americas record. Spain's Garcia Mireia Belmonte claimed silver.
Our final medal today was awarded to Karina Bryant who claimed bronze in the Women's +78kg Judo event. Bryant lost to Japan's Mika Sugimoto in the semi-finals but the Japanese had to settle for silver as she lost to Idalys Ortiz of Cuba in the final.
Jessica Ennis has began her quest for Heptathlon gold by breaking her own personal record in the 100m Hurdles, setting a time of 12.54 seconds which would have won gold in the proper event. She currently has a 184 point lead over Lithuania's Austra Skujyte going into the second day.
Andy Murray has also guaranteed himself silver after providing a fantastic performance to overcome Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Murray won in straight sets, 7-5 7-5, to set up a Wimbledon rematch with Roger Federer. The Swiss overcame Juan Martin Del Potro in the longest ever Olympic Tennis match. Del Potro took the first set 6-3 before Federer fought back, winning the second set tie-break 7-5. The third and final set went into overtime where Federer finally came through with a 19-17 victory.
The disappointment of the day came in the Women's football. Unfortunately, Team GB couldn't continue their fantastic performance against Brazil and ended up losing 2-0 to Canada. The men's team face South Korea in tomorrow's quarter final.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Fantastic Five For GB
Three more golds make it five in two days for team GB as Olympic fever really kicks in. After starting the day on two gold medals, GB got off to the best possible start with two medals in the Men's Double Canoe event. A time of 106.41 seconds was enough for Tim Baillie and Etienne Scott to claim GB's third gold medal. Just over .30 seconds later, David Florence and Richard Hounslow clocked in to claim the silver medal behind their compatriots.
Our fourth gold medal came in the form of Peter Robert Russell Wilson who finished just two points behind the Olympic record. Dorchester's Wilson competed in the Men's Double Trap Shooting event and scored a magnificent 143, six points ahead of silver medallist Hakan Dalby of Sweden.
Sir Chris Hoy became a household name after his stunning display in Beijing. But he has now levelled with Steve Redgrave for the most gold medals won by a Briton, notching his fifth, as well as Britain's fifth, in the Men's Team Sprint. Hoy, alongside Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny made history in the semi-finals by setting a new World Record, but then surpassed that by setting another new World Record in the final with an astonishing time of 42.600.
Alongside these three gold medals, team GB also walked away with a further two silver medals. Adding to our two medals already won in the rowing, the Men's Lightweight Four team have also managed to notch silver. The team of Peter and Richard Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley finished just 0.25 seconds behind the South African team in a nail-biting final that almost went our way.
Our final medal today comes in the Judo where Gemma Gibbons also walked away with a silver medal. Gibbons, from Greenwich, faced American Kayla Harrison in the Women's 78kg final and it would be the American that won the contest with two Yukos. Harrison becomes the first American woman to take gold in Judo alongside Gibbons' amazing feat.
A special mention has to go to 23-year old Anthony Ogogo. The boxer from Great Yarmouth has been entwined with hopes of a similar destiny to the likes of Amir Khan and James DeGale. Despite being in the draw from hell, Ogogo has booked his place in the quarter-finals by beating World Champion, Levgen Khytrov. The pair were so evenly matched that they were level on points after the three rounds and even a judge's count back couldn't separate the two. With the drama rising, it came to an agonising judge's decision who voted in favour of the Brit. Much to the annoyance of the Ukrainians, they lodged an appeal that was quickly refuted, granting Ogogo his place in the last eight.
Not wanting to damper Sir Chris Hoy's achievements, all eyes were on Michael Phelps earlier this week who, once again, cemented himself in all-time Olympic history. The American took his phenomenal 16th career gold medal in the Men's 200M Individual Medley, finishing just 0.04 seconds outside of his own Olympic record. It is a feat that will never be likely to be matched as a further four medals takes his enormous tally to 20, overtaking the previous record which was held by Russia's Larisa Latynina who won a colossal 18 golds.
Our fourth gold medal came in the form of Peter Robert Russell Wilson who finished just two points behind the Olympic record. Dorchester's Wilson competed in the Men's Double Trap Shooting event and scored a magnificent 143, six points ahead of silver medallist Hakan Dalby of Sweden.
Sir Chris Hoy became a household name after his stunning display in Beijing. But he has now levelled with Steve Redgrave for the most gold medals won by a Briton, notching his fifth, as well as Britain's fifth, in the Men's Team Sprint. Hoy, alongside Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny made history in the semi-finals by setting a new World Record, but then surpassed that by setting another new World Record in the final with an astonishing time of 42.600.
Alongside these three gold medals, team GB also walked away with a further two silver medals. Adding to our two medals already won in the rowing, the Men's Lightweight Four team have also managed to notch silver. The team of Peter and Richard Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley finished just 0.25 seconds behind the South African team in a nail-biting final that almost went our way.
Our final medal today comes in the Judo where Gemma Gibbons also walked away with a silver medal. Gibbons, from Greenwich, faced American Kayla Harrison in the Women's 78kg final and it would be the American that won the contest with two Yukos. Harrison becomes the first American woman to take gold in Judo alongside Gibbons' amazing feat.
A special mention has to go to 23-year old Anthony Ogogo. The boxer from Great Yarmouth has been entwined with hopes of a similar destiny to the likes of Amir Khan and James DeGale. Despite being in the draw from hell, Ogogo has booked his place in the quarter-finals by beating World Champion, Levgen Khytrov. The pair were so evenly matched that they were level on points after the three rounds and even a judge's count back couldn't separate the two. With the drama rising, it came to an agonising judge's decision who voted in favour of the Brit. Much to the annoyance of the Ukrainians, they lodged an appeal that was quickly refuted, granting Ogogo his place in the last eight.
Not wanting to damper Sir Chris Hoy's achievements, all eyes were on Michael Phelps earlier this week who, once again, cemented himself in all-time Olympic history. The American took his phenomenal 16th career gold medal in the Men's 200M Individual Medley, finishing just 0.04 seconds outside of his own Olympic record. It is a feat that will never be likely to be matched as a further four medals takes his enormous tally to 20, overtaking the previous record which was held by Russia's Larisa Latynina who won a colossal 18 golds.
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Golds At Last
In a very typically British manner, we've waited the best part of a week for a British gold medal and then two come at once. Firstly this morning, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning pulled off a fantastic victory to win gold in the women's pair rowing. With a time of 7:27:13, the pair were a whole two seconds clear of the Australian couple who took silver ahead of New Zealand.
That was then followed by the sportsman of the year, Bradley Wiggins. He is, without doubt, set to scoop the BBC Sports Personality of the year award and probably a knighthood. Not only has he become the first British rider to win the Tour De France in majestic fashion, he has now taken the gold medal in the men's individual time trial. Wiggins finished just under a second ahead of Germany's Tony Martin to move Britain into eleventh in the Medals Table. Christopher Froome backed Wiggins by grabbing the gold medal to heap extra celebration for the GB cycling team.
The two golds take Britain's medal tally up to nine with more set to come. The cycling team have won another medal as Elizabeth Armitstead took silver in the women's road race. Zara Phillips and company have also taken silver in the team eventing equestrian event.
Big medal hopeful, Louis Smith, has helped his men's gymnastic team take bronze behind Japan and China. The men's eight in the rowing have also taken bronze alongside that emphatic gold by the women pair. Team GB have also accumulated two medals from swimming. Michael Jamieson has made a name for himself by taking silver in the Men's 200M Breaststroke with the bigger name of Rebecca Adlington, taking bronze in the Women's 400M Freestyle and she is also looking to make history by regaining her gold in the 800M.
In other sports, Andy Murray has made his way into the fourth round of the tennis tournament. Both the men's and women's football teams have made it out of their groups to take their places in the knock-out phases. After two games in the hockey tournament, the men's team are currently second in their group whilst the women are first in theirs.
Two startling records have taken place in the tennis and football. Ryan Giggs became the oldest player to score in an Olympic tournament during GB's 3-1 win over UAE. After John Isner and Nicolas Mahut's 70-68 thriller in the 2010 Wimbledon tournament, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic paid homage to that by breaking the Olympic record. With the match tied at one set apiece, the third set went into a tie-break. But the pair still couldn't be separated at 23-23 before the fourth seed finally saw off the plucky Canadian to squeeze through. Tsonga has since beaten Feliciano Lopez in straight sets to join Murray into the fourth round.
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