LDN12: Ennis begins heptathlon bid

Thank you to our friends at Team GB and the Press Association for the following post and photo.

Team GB propelled themselves up the medal table on Thursday with medals in the rowing, shooting, cycling track, canoe slalom as well as judo, and here we take a look at the top Brits in action on Friday.

ARCHERY: Larry Godfrey

Bristol bowman Godfrey is Team GB's last man standing on the final day at Lord's. He placed fourth in the ranking round and begins his bid for a podium place against Malaysia's Khairul Anuar Mohamad in the last 16.

ATHLETICS: Jessica Ennis

Sheffield's golden girl begins her bid for heptathlon glory with the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot and 200m on day one, with the former world champion aiming to build a big lead ahead of a tougher second session on Saturday.

BASKETBALL: Temi Fagbenle

The 19-year-old Fagbenle only made her senior debut for Great Britain this year but has become a member of Tom Maher's starting five already. At 6ft 3in and with great athleticism, she is still finding her feet but can make an impact at both ends. Fagbbenle and her British team-mates play France.

CYCLING: Victoria Pendleton

After Thursday's disappointment, Pendleton continues her final competition before retirement with her second event, the keirin, which begins behind a motorised Derny bike. The 31-year-old won the world title in this event in 2007.

DIVING: Becky Gallantree

Gallantree will begin her bid to reach the final of the women's three-metre springboard after taking seventh in the synchro alongside Alicia Blagg. The 27-year-old failed to get past the first round four years ago in Beijing but was ninth earlier this year in the World Cup.

EQUESTRIAN: Charlotte Dujardin

Enfield-born dressage star Dujardin, who trains with her Great Britain Olympic team-mate Carl Hester, has enjoyed a remarkable 18 months, breaking the grand prix special world record and freestyle British record. It is possible that she could mark her Olympic debut with two gold medals at Greenwich Park.

FOOTBALL: Steph Houghton

Can she do it again? The Durham-born defender has scored in every game on Britain's journey to the last eight, more than she has managed in the last two seasons for Arsenal. Now expectations are higher ahead of a quarter-final meeting with Canada in Coventry.

HANDBALL: Women's team

Great Britain have had a tough time of it in their first Olympic Games handball tournament, suffering three heavy defeats. But their best chance of victory comes against Angola, a team they beat in November. Britt Goodwin was the matchwinner that day and she will be hoping for more of the same.

HOCKEY: Glenn Kirkham

Kirkham does a lot of the leg work in midfield for the British men and controls the tempo of passing. After a disappointing showing in the 2-2 draw with South Africa, the pace of the game will be important against a Pakistan side who like to counter-attack.

JUDO: Karina Bryant

Veteran heavyweight Bryant is competing at her fourth Games but has yet to collect an Olympic medal to complete her set from World Championships and European Championships, the latest a European bronze earlier this year. Her draw is good and could open up a pathway for more Team GB judo glory.

ROWING: Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins

Among the leading gold medal hopes in the whole of Team GB, Grainger and Watkins are double world champions and head into the final of the women's double scull unbeaten in 22 consecutive races.

SAILING: Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark

The women's 470 world champions finally get their campaign under way after a long wait. Mills and Clark, who only paired up in early 2011, are widely considered as favourites to top the podium on the south coast.

SHOOTING: James Huckle

Essex's Huckle gets his second shot at Olympic glory. Having finished a creditable 24th in the 10-metre air rifle on Monday, the 22-year-old will be taking aim in the 50m discipline.

SWIMMING: David Davies

Davies will compete in his final Olympic heat swim when he looks to reach his third consecutive 1,500 metres freestyle final. The Welshman was third in Athens in 2004 and sixth four years later when he went on to win silver in the 10km open water.

TABLE TENNIS: Liam Pitchford

Youngster Pitchford rose through the ranks at the perfect time to seal his place in the squad for the Games and will be involved in the team event. Touted as the next big thing of British table tennis, he last year delivered a notable scalp when beating Belarusian top-10 star Vladimir Samsonov.

TENNIS: Andy Murray

Murray is certain to play for a medal but to keep alive his hopes of gold he will have to beat Novak Djokovic, last year's Wimbledon champion and the man recently deposed as world number one.

VOLLEYBALL: Grace Carter

Great Britain's excellent form against Italy went off track when Grace Carter collided with team-mate Maria Bertelli and had to be replaced. The Nottingham player has a tidy passing game and is lethal up high at the net. Her input will be vital against the Dominican Republic.

WATER POLO: Fran Leighton

The Great Britain women's water polo captain will be hoping for an improved performance from her side as they take on Italy. They are still in the hunt for points in their group after losing to Russia and Australia.

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

LDN 2012: Wiggins: It's never going to get better

Thank you to our friends at Team GB and the Press Association for the following post and photo. Go Wiggo! - sorry couldn't resist.

Bradley Wiggins was overjoyed after becoming the first man to win the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year, but had a slight feeling of melancholy after achieving the best results of his sporting life.

The 32-year-old claimed his fourth Olympic gold and seventh medal in all, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave with a British record haul of Games medals, after an imperious victory in the London 2012 time-trial.

Wiggins was the penultimate of 37 riders to take to the course and completed the 44-kilometre route in 50 minutes 39 seconds to triumph by 42 seconds, with fellow Briton Chris Froome third in 51mins 47secs.

World champion Tony Martin of Germany clocked 51:21 to claim silver.

Wiggins, who is from London, said: "It's been an amazing six weeks. This was the plan. I've answered all the questions in the last six weeks.

"We've done it. To win another Olympic title in another event, it's never, ever going to get any better than that. I realised on the podium, I don't think anything's going to top that. Winning the Tour and then winning Olympic gold in London."

Wiggins, who plans to have a few vodka tonics in celebration, added: "There was only one colour today and anything else would've been consolidation. The most important statistic is number four (Olympic gold medals) and not number seven (Olympic medals)."

Wiggins took the opportunity before the medal presentation to see his wife Cath and children, Ben and Isabella, and to acclaim the crowd by riding down the road back along the route.

He added: "I wanted to go and see my wife and all the people that had come to stand there on the roadside. We all know about the Olympic ticketing. The great thing about cycling is it's free to come and watch.
"All the real fans are out there (outside the ticketed areas), if you're not lucky enough to come in and get a ticket. It was nice to go back out and roll up and down."

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

LDN 2012: Rowing medals joy for Britain

Thank you to Team GB and the Press Association for the following post and photo.

Great Britain celebrated their first gold medal of the Olympic Games after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning stormed to victory in the final of the women's pair.

The British men's eight followed up that stunning success by winning bronze in a thrilling final, that was won by world champions Germany.

Canada overtook the British crew in the final quarter of the race to claim silver.

The British women's quadruple scull of Melanie Wilson, Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton and Beth Rodford, finished a disappointing sixth in their final but this was an historic day for British rowing.

Glover and Stanning destroyed the field in their women's pair final, winning by over a length to make history at Eton Dorney as the first British female rowers to be crowned Olympic champions.

Australia pipped world champions New Zealand to win silver but neither crew was able to live with the blistering pace set by the British pair.

Victory for Glover and Stanning completed a remarkable unbeaten season for the British pair, who came into the Olympics as favourites after winning gold all three World Cup regattas.

The men's eight followed up that triumph by winning bronze with a brave performance, which saw them take on a German crew that is unbeaten in four years.

It was only their third race together in this line-up after 20-year-old stroke man Constantine Louloudis returned to the boat, having missed the World Cup series through injury.

Britain trailed by only half a canvas at the 1000metre mark and they gave triple world champions Germany one of their toughest tests of the last Olympiad but Germany began to pull clear in the final quarter of the race and, eventually, the British crew were pipped for silver by 2008 Olympic champions Canada.

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

Tapes Up: Diamonds Win The Battle Of Brough Against Comets

Thank you to the media team at Newcastle Diamonds and George English, for the following post and photo.

Newcastle Diamonds 50
Workington Comets 40
(Premier League)

Top Scorers

Newcastle Diamonds - Ludvig Lindgren 13, Stuart Robson 10 1
Workington Comets - Adam Roynon 8, Richard Lawson 7 1

The Newcastle Diamonds were in an all-out mood to keep their good top-of-the-table position in tact and started in determined fashion against Workington last night.

A stunning win for Stuart Robson in Heat One in his fastest time of the season as part of a 4-2 kicked things off, but the match turned out to be a battle of the survival of the fittest with nearly a dozen crashes.

But come the first bend of Heat Three Christian Henry inadvertently took his skipper Mark Lemon out too wide with the Captain ending up at the rear of the field and unable to get back on terms and with Henry himself stuck in third as Workington hit home with a 5-1 putting them in the lead 8-10.

The match was tied again in Heat Four when Adam Roynon reared and went wide falling into the fence, and in the re-run without him Ludvig Lindgren took a fine win in a home 4-2 to bring the scores up to 12-12.

Heat Five could have spelled disaster when Lemon went down on bend one, but the referee failed to stop the race as the home skipper only just cleared the circuit as the remaining three bore down upon him at speed.

Henry completed the race in front having batted well round his two Comet opponents to share the race whilst Heat Six saw Ashley Morris fall on bend one, but this time the referee stopped the race swiftly and excluded the Comet for his fall.

In the re-run Claes Nedermark went down on the first bend but got back to his feet, re-started his bike and raced away just ahead of the leader Roynon who tried his hardest to lap the Diamond which would have got the home man excluded, but he just missed out as the chequered flag fell with the result another shared 3-3 keeping the match level at 18-all.

Tero Aarnio then fell on the first bend in a continued pattern, damaging a right ankle and was duly excluded, from the 4-2 putting Newcastle back in front before Heat Eight was brought to an early halt when the leading Kyle Howarth reared violently off bend four crashing heavily into the fence and had to be ambulanced off with a left ankle injury.

Guest Kyle Newman took his second win for Newcastle in the re-run followed by Nedermark over American Kenny Ingalls with the 5-1 taking the half-time score to 27-21.

Heat 10 was added to the heats brought to a stop with a heavy crash, this time for Nedermark who cart-wheeled down on bend three under his machinery but managed to hobble back to he pits to join the list of the mildly injured.

In the re-run Robson battled his way through to take advantage of an error from Bach to share the race but more trouble for Newcastle was on the way when Newman reared off bend two smashing into the fence and again thankfully not badly hurt was excluded from the re-run in which the Workington duo hit hard for a 1-5, narrowing the score to a tight 34-32

Bach lifted violently off bend two in Heat 12 taking down Lemon and Howarth as he landed with his exclusion from the re-run with Lemon taking a knock to his knee and Howarth a suspected broken arm. In the re-run Morris hammered past both Diamonds to share the race.

Lawson closed Robson down onto the inside line on bend one of Heat 13 sending the Diamond to the rear in the 3-3 leaving the gap at two with two races left but a stunning gate and win for Henry followed home by Newman sealed a manic win for the Diamonds.

For good measure Lindgren rocketed away from the Heat 15 gate to lead well and take the win with Robson tucking in behind ahead of Lawson with Bach out of the challenge as the tapes went up just as his bike packed in.

Team manager George English said: "This was a very physical battle tonight and I'm only glad we got the win, which for a time was far from certain. I'd like to wish Kyle Howarth all the best for a speedy recovery from his arm injury."

LDN 2012: GB men's hockey put four past Argentina

Thank you to our friends at Team GB and the Press Association, for the following post and photo.

Great Britain's men's hockey team overcame some cynical Argentinian spoiling tactics to get their Olympic campaign off to a winning start as they recorded a 4-1 victory.

Captain Barry Middleton led the way with strikes either side of half-time before Dan Fox, with his first international goal, and Richard Smith completed the job.

Even Pedro Ibarra's late penalty corner could not put a dampener on a game which showed glimpses of GB's best but was far from the complete performance.

Matt Daly was lucky not to be sin-binned for clattering into Ibarra just before the interval. Before that GB had played most of the hockey and having an early Daly goal - correctly - overturned by the video umpire gave them all the encouragement they needed.

Both Rob Moore and Harry Martin failed to get a touch on Ben Hawes' driven cross but the breakthrough finally came in the 23rd minute when Daly won a penalty corner.

With regular set-piece specialist Ashley Jackson having a breather on the bench duties transferred to Smith and when his flick was saved by Juan Manuel Vivaldi, captain Middleton was on hand to smash home the rebound.

Jackson then tested the goalkeeper with a reverse-stick shot before seeing his far-post dive narrowly fail to connect with James Tindall's cross. There then followed a scuffle between players as things got niggly and the interval came at just the right time.

What was even more timely was Middleton's second goal in the 41st minute. When Moore set up Jackson to run at the top of the circle it seemed certain he would drive in to shoot but instead he slipped it right and the captain moved the ball on to his reverse-stick before smashing home a low shot through the goalkeeper's legs.

Daly was sin-binned for a stick tackle before Agustin Mazzilli also earned a temporary suspension for a sliding tackle on Iain McKay. While both teams were down to 10 men Fox scored his first international goal in his 43rd appearance after a brilliant break saw Jackson carry the ball half the length of the pitch before laying off for the Hampstead and Westminster player to drill home.

With Jackson off the pitch again Smith then succeeded where he had failed in the first half by beating Vivaldi from a penalty corner. Argentina scored with a set-piece of their own with 15 minutes to go through Ibarra, who later became yet another to be sin-binned as the Argentinians lost their discipline, but it was not enough to spoil the hosts' party.

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

LDN 2012: British gymnasts claim team bronze

Thank you to our friends at Team GB and the Press Association for the following post and photo.

Great Britain won their first men's Olympic team medal in a century when they claimed bronze at the North Greenwich Arena.

Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Daniel Purvis, Sam Oldham and Kristian Thomas scored a total of 271.711 as they produced a stunning team performance in front of a royal audience.

Team GB's artistic gymnastics team had initially been awarded silver but an inquiry into the score of Kohei Uchimura's pommel horse routine saw Japan claim silver and Britain downgraded to bronze. China retained their gold medal with 2008 silver medallists Japan leapfrogging Britain's score of 271.711 with an upgraded total of 271.952.

The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry led the support as Britain won their first Olympic team medal since the bronze at the Stockholm Games in 1912 to thunderous applause from the home crowd. It came as a huge shock to both the gymnasts and the home crowd, with boos reverberating around the arena as Britain were stripped of their silver medal.

A medal of any colour would have exceeded all expectations for the British team with bronze looking like the best they could dream for against the gymnastics powerhouses of the United States, Russia, China and Japan.

In a tense finale, it looked as if they had done enough to secure the bottom step on the podium after going head-to-head with Ukraine on the last piece of apparatus as the United States faded away.

Ukraine were in bronze medal position and Japan in silver with the final rotation to go, but brilliant performances on the floor by Whitlock, Purvis and Thomas saw them seal their place on the podium, as Japan faltered and finished in fourth.

However, there was a twist in the tale, as Japan launched an inquiry into three-time world champion Uchimura's score, leaving Britain patiently waiting to learn their fate. When the result came through, delight turned to despair for Britain as they saw the silver medal slip through their fingers, meaning they took their place on the bottom step of the podium.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the team's medal success as he opened a speech at a reception at the Royal Academy of Arts, as he said: "First of all, I bring you the important news from the Olympic Games, which is that the men's gymnastics team have won the bronze medal."

Mr Cameron's announcement was greeted with a huge cheer and applause.

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

LDN 2012: Let the Medals begin.

Thank you to Team GB for the post and picture.

TEAM GB launched their medal collection on Day Two of the London 2012 Games - and it was the women to the fore with Lizzie Armitstead leading the way with Silver in the women's cycling road race.

It was not long before the second medal arrived and it was Beijing heroine Rebecca Adlington who claimed a Bronze in the 400 metres freestyle.

But it was Armitstead who secured Team GB’s first medal of the Games with Silver in the women’s cycling road race on The Mall in London on Sunday afternoon.

Otley-based Armitstead, 23, was just edged out on the line by the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos after they had broken away on the final climb of Box Hill during the 140-kilometre event.

Rain showers throughout the race turned into a heavy and consistent downpour towards the end, but the four breakaway riders still managed to quickly establish a lead of around 20 seconds over the peloton.
Russian Olga Zabelinskaya led out the final kilometre to the finish on The Mall, but the other two were barely out of the saddle and were waiting for each other to make a move.

Eventually, Vos put the hammer down in the final 300 metres. Armitstead closed the gap but could not catch the Dutch rider, crossing the line just inches behind.

Armitstead claimed the first-medal honour that many thought would have arrived in the men's road race on Saturday. But she said: "It’s not at all something that I would have expected, of course I would have loved for the men to win a medal yesterday. It’s not something that I had even contemplated or thought about so I’m over the moon.

"I don’t think it will sink in for the next few weeks, I think it’s because I’ve got another race in the time trial on Wednesday so I’m still in competition.

“Winning this race in front of my family and friends is the most special thing I’ve ever experienced in my life; it’s so crazy and so inspiring!

"The crowd was unbelievable, we were kind of pulled along by the noise, I've never experienced anything like it I just felt exhilarated all the way."

Rebecca Adlington back in the medals

If it was Armitstead's afternoon, the cheers in the evening for Team GB came in the Aquatics Centre for Rebecca Adlington who recorded Team GB’s second medal of the Games by securing Bronze in the 400m freestyle event .

In doing so, Adlington became the first British swimmer in history to win medals at two successive Olympic Games after her two Golds at Beijing 2008.

The Mansfield-born swimmer, 23, thrilled a vociferous home crowd in the Aquatics Centre with a well-executed race plan which saw her cement third place with a strong final 50 metres.

Pre-race Gold medal favourite Camille Muffat lived up to the hype and did not disappoint, setting a new Olympic record of 4:01.45 as she claimed her first Olympic title ahead of American Allison Schmitt.

“After only qualifying in eighth this morning I didn't know what to expect, and tonight there was no pressure on me at all,” said Adlington. “I know everyone else wanted to say, 'Oh you got the gold in Beijing,' but to me I was not expecting that at all, so I am so, so pleased with that tonight.”

Moved by the support of the crowd,  Adlington choked back tears when describing the pride she felt .

“I'm crying because the crowd is so overwhelming,” she said. Twelve years of hard work has gone into that and it's hard, it was so hard. It's always the 400m that feels tougher than the 800m. I'm so glad I got a medal at a home Games, not many people can say that.”

Radcliffe out of the marathon

Team GB marathon runner Paula Radcliffe has been forced to withdraw from the Olympics due to medical reasons.

Radcliffe has been suffering with a foot problem and after a fitness test on Sunday it was concluded that she would not be able to race competitively to the best of her abilities.

Radcliffe said:

“From the day when it was announced that London had won the bid, taking part and performing well in the London Olympic Games has been a major goal in my life. That is why it hurts so much to finally admit to myself that it isn't going to happen.”

The BOA and UK Athletics also intend to nominate a replacement athlete, and they will work with the International Olympic Committee and International Association of Athletics Federations to secure approval under the Late Athlete Replacement policy. Freya Murray is the reserve for the Marathon.

Gymnastics

The men’s artistic gymnastics team will look to stun the world again as they compete in the team final today.
The team outscored Olympic champions China as they topped their session and were only outscored by USA and Russia as they qualified third overall with a score of 272.420, and also secured five places in the individual finals.

Louis Smith will look to better his Beijing Bronze in the pommel horse after his spectacular routine in the qualifying round saw him score 15.800 and will be joined by 19-year-old Max Whitlock in the final.
Kristian Thomas and Dan Purvis will compete in the all-round final after qualifying fifth and tenth respectively, with Thomas also qualifying for the vault final as Team GB’s men’s gymnasts compete in the first Olympic final of the post-war period.

Swimming

Liam Tancock will compete in the final of the Men’s 100m Backstroke today with fellow Brit Robbie Renwick also confirming his place in the Men’s 200m freestyle.

Both booked their places last night, with Tancock placing second in his semi-final in a time of 53.25 seconds, while Renwick finished third in his with a time of one minute 46.55 seconds.

Gemma Spofforth will also compete in the final of the Women’s 100m Backstroke after reserving her spot with a third place finish in her semi-final with a time of 59.70.

The three British swimmers will look to boost Team GB’s medal tally in the pool after Rebecca Adlington’s success last night.

Daley and Waterfield look to make a splash

Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield will be in action for Team GB in the Synchronised 10m platform today.
The pair are the current World Series champions and will be looking to occupy one of the positions on the podium. Perhaps even improving on Waterfield’s Silver medal in Athens, Britain’s first medal in the event since the 1960 Rome Olympics.

While Waterfield will be competing in his fourth Olympics, this will be only the second time that his partner Daley will have featured.

Other GB medal hopes...

Zoe Smith competes in the women’s 58kg Weightlifting. The teenager finished fourth in the European Championships and will compete in her first Olympic Games.

Daniel Williams will compete in the -73kg of the Judo against Rasul Boqiev, while Sarah Clarke will enter the -57kg against Pavia Automne.