Summer Olympics 2012 London

[neddy]

London 2012: 'Be quiet, mummy's shooting,' says pregnant competitor

• Eight-months pregnant shooter finishes in 34th overall
• China's Yi Siling wins Games' first gold in 10m air rifle

Malaysian shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi, who is eight months pregnant, shoots at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Less than 12 hours after the Olympic cauldron was ignited, the Games may already have its best quote: "Be quiet, mummy's shooting."

Eight-months pregnant shooter Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibi felt her baby kick several times as she took aim in the 10m air rifle event at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich but took a sanguine view after failing to reach the final. She finished 34th overall shooting 392 targets out of 400.

"I felt her [the baby] kick three or fours times during the competition but I just told her to be calm, to be quiet," said the 29-year-old Malaysian.

"I was quite happy. I didn't perform to my absolute best but I did OK." Did she feel like a role model to women now? "Yes. Not directly. But I think I showed that they can do many things, to be active. I'm not a typical mum."

China's Yi Siling later won the Games' first gold, the 23-year-old world No1 living up to her billing by beating Poland's Sylwia Bogacka into second.

Bogacka, 30, qualified in first place and was leading until the eighth shot, when a wayward effort condemned her to silver.

China's Yu Dan collected the bronze medal with the Beijing gold medallist, Katrina Emmons, fourth.

 

[singveld]

pirate bay change to olympic bay, IOC UK will go ballistic soon.

oh very fast taken down

 

[neddy]

This is 100 times better than the london olympic one, it is cheap, it is small, when you move it, you do not have to extinguish the flame, they did it right, simple job for one man.

Not that they are no problem with money, they spend so much money on the LED lights around the stadium, which is 10 millions, left 17 millions for the rest, then they spend god know what amount on this complex cauldron, they should save money and make sure the performer actually dance in a line, move in synchronise, not spend money on these shit.

Cannot blame them, these days, BIG budget or small, it is all about nation pride, out-doing one other and creating a WOW factor.

This is the largest marketing event for 2012, so you expect new and complex technology.

BTW, the Helsinki one is not movable as well because the gas tank is underground.

The London Games is using low-carbon environmental friendly gas.

Royal Mint made more than 4700 medals for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games - they each weigh about 400g, about as heavy as a jar of Vegemite.

However, what Olympic champions receive contains only a fraction of the real metal.

* Gold medals have only 6g of gold, with the rest largely silver.


* This makes the metals value of a gold medal about $680, while a silver medal is about $374 and bronze about $3.


* If you were to buy your own 400g lump of gold it would set you back about $21,900.


Silver has risen in line with gold, Fraser says.

"There's a reasonable relationship with gold. It does depend a little bit on supply and demand. In the past, silver's been in heavy demand for photographic use, but that's disappeared off the scale now and instead it's used mostly for electronics."

Copper hasn't seen the same growth in value.

In 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, copper was $3.63 a pound, but has since fallen to about $3.40.

"Fundamentally, copper is an industrial metal," Fraser says."It's really down to supply and demand in industrial production. It's complicated by the fact that, in the past few years, we've had the global financial crisis and it's severely reduced the demand in the US and European economies."

 

[singveld]

Mining company Rio Tinto made more than 4700 medals for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games - they each weigh about 400g, about as heavy as a jar of Vegemite.

London medals made by Royal Mint.

 

[singveld]

Olympic swimming sensation Ye Shiwen raises eyebrows, red flags

Ignore, for a moment, the rumours and suspicion. Picture a 16-year-old girl with short spiky hair and big feet, who can wear an Olympic gold medal around her neck and say she's the fastest woman to swim the 400-metre individual medley. Faster over the final 50 metres, even, than American sensation Ryan Lochte.


Not everyone buys the incredible story of China's Ye Shiwen. After her shocking gold-medal race shaved more than a second off the world record and stunned the swimming world, John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, called the teen's performance “unbelievable” – and in a suspicious way.

“We want to be very careful about calling it doping,” Leonard, who is also the executive director of the USA Swimming Coaches Association, said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.

“The one thing I will say is that history in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I will put quotation marks around this, ‘unbelievable,' history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved. That last 100 metres was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers, for people who have been around a while.”

But are you a cheat just because you're good? Extremely, unbelievably good? Ye insists she's clean, and the International Olympic Committee's chief doping officer defended Ye against unproved suspicions on Monday.

Lochte himself joked he might have been beaten by Ye in a freestyle race.

Truth is, it's misleading to infer that Ye had even the tiniest hope of beating Lochte, says Ryan Atkinson, a biomechanist with Canadian Sport Centre Pacific, who has coached elite swimmers.

“Her [overall] time was 23 seconds slower than his,” Atkinson pointed out.

When comparing the two races, you have to look at the whole race and each swimmer's strategy, he said.

True, Lochte was 29.10 seconds in his last 50 metres of the eight-lap race, and Ye was quicker at 28.93. But Lochte went out fast, and “definitely slowed down towards the end,” he said. Ye, meanwhile, likely timed her race so she had more “left in the tank.”

And while Ye's final lap time of 28.93 seconds is incredible, the time is not completely unheard of in women's swimming, he said.

Ye continued to blaze through the pool on Monday, with the fastest time in the heats of the 200 IM, her best event, in which she is the world champion. She won the semi-finals in an Olympic-record time of 2 minutes 8.39 seconds and looks to be a lock for a second gold medal in Tuesday's final.

But what of China's dirty history in the sport – isn't that enough to cast legitimate doubts on Ye's times? The country has been mired in drug scandals since before Ye was born.

Chinese swimmers, including a handful of world-championship winners, failed 40 drug tests between 1990 and 2000, ending a brief period of dominance.


And now there's Ye.

Chinese athletes – and their respected Australian coaches –– are insisting that this isn't the same China that was a disgrace in the 1990s, when ripped, drug-fuelled swimmers emerged from nowhere to beat the world.

China now throws big cheques at some of swimming's sharpest minds, turning to foreign trainers to hone its swimming stars and make them more rounded and relaxed, too.

Ye has trained in Australia with two well-recognized coaches, Ken Wood and Denis Cotterell. Wood has had a contract with the Chinese Swimming Association since 2008, and 15 of China's swimmers in London, plus five of its relay swimmers, have trained at his academy north of Brisbane, rotating through in groups for a couple of months at a time, he told The Associated Press.

China pays him bonuses for Olympic gold and for swimmers' personal bests, and he also got a bonus when Ye won the 200 medley at the world championships in 2011.

No matter how you rationalize Ye's performance, she'll likely have to face the doping officers in the end, says Paul Melia, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Canada's anti-doping administration.

Her incredible performances will be a “huge red flag” for FINA, swimming's governing body, he said.

“She'll be watched very carefully. They'll look at the sport, at the kinds of doping agents used in swimming and target test to see if there's any doing going on,” he said.

“They may track biological changes in blood and urine parameters as well. So I'm sure they're looking closely at all of those things and going forward I'm sure she'll be target-tested.”

Ye started swimming at 6 when a kindergarten teacher noticed her big hands and told her parents she was well-suited for the pool. She earned spots at the 2010 and 2011 world championships, where she won a gold in the 200 IM in Shanghai last year.

Ye was asked this week to explain her rise to prominence.

She credited her hard work.

“I'm very lucky – training is not very hard for me because I've been trained since childhood. We have very good scientific-based training. That's why we're so good.”

 

[neddy]

London medals made by Royal Mint.

Correction. It is Royal Mint in southern Wales, not Rio.

Royal Mint need metals to make the Olympic medals.

The metals, about 9 tons worth, are sourced from Rio Tinto.
The Kennecott mine in Utah and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

It is a 10-hour process churning out the medals.

Better enjoy the London show. I think it will be a last great show from a declining GREAT BRITAIN and sunset EMPIRE.

 

[singveld]

Royal Mint need metals to make the Olympic medals.

The metals, about 9 tons worth, are sourced from Rio Tinto.
The Kennecott mine in Utah and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

if i use your warp logic, the my apple macbook pro also made by rio tinto, since apple need to source aluminum from them. talk sense man.

 

[neddy]

if i use your warp logic, the my apple macbook pro also made by rio tinto, since apple need to source aluminum from them. talk sense man.

Cool down, I have already state I made a mistake, lah!

Anyway, you have done a great job on this thread. TRIPLE GOLD MEDAL for you.

Excuse my slow typing.


CHECK THIS OUT
New record number of condoms for London games: 150,000
http://www.informationnigeria.org/2...0000-condoms-to-be-given-out-to-athletes.html

 

[singveld]

It is not accurate , but funny.

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[singveld]

British Olympic Association's chairman has said, after a US coach cast doubt on her world record-breaking swim.
Lord Colin Moynihan said Ye, 16, had passed drug tests, was "clean" and deserved recognition for her talent.

<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?embedCode=53NnhpNTo-RwVl6Ttq7hq0wrb43NhK_U&width=460&video_pcode=RvbGU6Z74XE_a3bj4QwRGByhq9h2&height=258&deepLinkEmbedCode=53NnhpNTo-RwVl6Ttq7hq0wrb43NhK_U"></script>

 

[singveld]

London Olympic the most disorganised routine ever, performers all dancing at their timing. No uniformity at all. Even the 1941 Berlin Olympic much better. Not even close to Beijing Olympic opening.

why? because he spend most of his budget on this

Each pixel could be controlled by a central computer, allowing the team to create any image they wanted, from a Union Jack to spelling out messages

The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012, showing the pixel screens working

10 millions stering pounds out of total budget of 27 millions pounds.

 

[singveld]

London 2012: How are teen stars re-writing Olympic record books?

Two teenage swimmers are the talk of London 2012 after stunning victories at the Aquatics Centre.


The performance prompted US coach John Leonard to describe her performance as "disturbing", but the British Olympic Association's chairman Lord Colin Moynihan said she had passed drugs tests and deserved recognition for her talent.
Ye went on to break the 200m IM Olympic record on Tuesday, the same day 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte won the 100m breaststroke.
Meilutyte set a world leading time to qualify for the final, where she became Lithuania's first ever Olympic gold medallist in the pool.
BBC Sport asked the experts how it is possible for young athletes to improve their personal bests by such huge margins.
Sharron Davies, 1980 400m IM silver medallist

"When you have 15, 16 and 17-year-old youngsters they can make huge improvements. American 15-year-old Katie Ledecky knocked five seconds off her best time at the US trials to qualify for the 800m.
"Missy Franklin is a phenomenon at 17. On Monday, she got out of the water from a race and 10 minutes later went back in and won the 100m backstroke. These things do happen.

"The big question is over the way Ye swam in the last 50m, that's what we're all finding a little bit difficult to take in. But Becky Adlington's last 50m of the 800m was also quicker than Lochte's, so we have to be careful that we don't jump to ridiculous conclusions.
"I watched a lot of the Chinese girls train at Bath University and every day for nearly two weeks their work-rate was colossal. Ye is probably one that was targeted when Beijing got the 2008 Olympics and she's had the last 10 years to prepare for this event.
"If you work it out in percentage terms, Meilutyte actually made a bigger percentage improvement over the 100m than Ye has in the 400m."
Ian Thorpe, five-time Olympic gold medallist

"If we had an athlete from Great Britain who dropped three seconds we would say 'wow'. I took five seconds off my time in the 400m freestyle from the age of 15 to 16.
"We have to remember young swimmers can take off chunks of time others can't. We should wait. This is what I don't like in sport - when athletes are successful, people say it's because of drugs."
Adrian Moorhouse, 1988 100m backstroke gold medallist

"First of all, Ye Shiwen is no overnight sensation as she won gold at the World Championships last year. I think it is sour grapes and insulting.

"Meilutyte has won a gold medal in the breaststroke and we're all captivated by that because she trains here in Britain, but nobody is questioning her.
"There are a lot of people in China and the base of their pyramid is so wide that if they train thousands and thousands of kids, they might have just found their Michael Phelps.
"At 17, I took four seconds off my best time in the 200m breaststroke and won a European bronze medal. At that age you can make big leaps."
Jon Rudd, Ruta Meilutyte's coach

"A big swim, around the 1:05-1:06 mark, has been brewing for a while. It was just a case of her putting all the elements together on one day.
"She's a great talent, but also an extremely vigilant and conscientious worker, and when you get talent and work ethic you've got the ideal kid.
"I don't know if there's a box left unticked. Everything about her is pretty much as we'd want it - her work in the pool, her work in the gym, her attention to detail. She's very conscientious about her nutrition and rest.
" Plymouth College and Plymouth Leander as a partnership, the school and the club, do a fantastic job in making sure she's looked after well in the classroom, medical facilities, everything she needs.
"My philosophy is to leave no stone unturned. We've done that with her."
Lord Colin Moynihan, British Olympic Association chairman

"Ye Shiwen has been through the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) programme and she's clean. That's the end of the story. She deserves recognition for her talent."

 

[singveld]

Ye's done it again: Chinese swimming sensation, 16, storms to victory in 200m individual medley (and she's set an Olympic record, of course)
Ye Shiwen wins second gold of London 2012
Victory unlikely to defuse controversy about her dramatic performances


Swimming sensation Ye Shiwen smashed another Olympic record in winning a second gold last night – as more than 1.5million Twitter users in China attacked ‘smears’ linking her to drugs.
The diplomatic storm surrounding the 16-year-old dubbed the ‘Mandarin Mermaid’ did little to harm her performance as she swam to victory in the 200m individual medley at the Aquatics Centre in a time of 2.07.05.
It beat the previous Olympic best for the distance she had set in the semi-finals and is unlikely to defuse the controversy over how to explain her dramatic performances damned by a senior US coach as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘disturbing.’

China's Ye Shiwen poses with her second gold medal of London 2012, after winning the women's 200m individual medley final

The 16-year-old trailed until the final length, when her freestyle stroke helped her power to the front
Olympic organisers warned that if there were drug cheats at London 2012 ‘they will be caught’ while Chinese team officials point out Miss Ye had been repeatedly tested and never failed a test.
Miss Ye’s father, Ye Qingsong, yesterday hit back at what he termed ‘biased’ reaction to his daughter’s win stressing the Chinese swimming team had gone through an especially rigorous anti-doping regime.
He attributed her victory to a combination of hard work and guidance from Chinese coaches, adding: ‘The Western media has always been arrogant, and suspicious of Chinese people.’
The criticisms of the teenager have been met by a storm of protest in China where Weibo platforms – China’s Twitter equivalents – were inundated with messages defending Miss Ye and accusing critics of being ‘jealous’, ‘sour grapes’ and ‘shameful bias’.
Some suggested it was a conspiracy by Britain, the US and Germany to damage standing of the Chinese team which currently tops the London 2012 medal table.
Jiang Zhixue, the head of anti-doping work at China’s General Administration of Sport, dismissed the slurs, insisting: ‘It is not proper to single Chinese swimmers out once they produce good results...some people are just biased.
‘The Chinese athletes, including the swimmers, have undergone nearly 100 drug tests since they arrived [in London]. Many were also tested by the international federations and the British anti-doping agency. I can tell you that so far there was not a single positive case.’

Ye Shiwen built a strong lead over Australia's Alicia Coutts in the final length

Ye is congratulated by Caitlin Leverenz (left) of the United States, Alicia Coutts (top) of Australia and Katinka Hosszu (right) of Hungary
Describing Miss Ye as a ‘superwoman’, the respected American John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, triggered the diplomatic storm by casting doubt on her performances suggesting they were reminiscent of swimmers at previous Olympics who had subsequently been caught for using performance-enhancing drugs.
Lord Coe, London’s Olympic chief, urged caution. ‘It’s very difficult to make judgments,’ he said, ‘It was an outstanding performance. I tend to believe...it’s very unfair to judge an athlete by a sudden breakthrough.’
There was support too from Duncan Goodhew, Olympic Village deputy mayor, and a gold medallist in the men’s 100m breaststroke in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He stressed competitors were innocent until proven guilty and that there were always ‘incredible improvements’ in performance at large sporting events.

Former Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards took to Twitter to express his concern writing: ‘Forgive personal reference, but my WR [World Record] 17 yrs old and never been doubted. If my nationality was different?? Point: if I can, anyone can.’
Miss Ye has insisted she has done nothing wrong and never used performance enhancing drugs.
International Olympic Committee communications director Mark Adams said yesterday: ‘We have a very strong drugs testing programme. And we’re very confident that if there are cheats then we will catch them.’
Mr Adams said there had been 1,706 tests so far in London, of which 1,344 were urine and 362 were blood. The first five athletes are tested automatically and then two others at random, he said.
The Chinese media was also robust in its defence of Miss Ye with The Global Times’ Chinese edition saying both British and German media had cast doubts over her performance, while a further report from its website Huanqiu.com takes aim at BBC commentator Clare Balding, accusing her of triggering the row.
The TV presenter had expressed her surprise at the stunning nature of Miss Ye’s performance immediately after the win prompting debate on Twitter over whether the swimmer was being linked to drugs.
Miss Ye’s extraordinary swim had come in the 400m individual medley, in which she managed the last 50m of the freestyle leg in 28.93 seconds – compared with the 29.1 seconds 27-year-old Ryan Lochte managed in the men’s event minutes earlier.
But it was on Weibo that the Chinese really expressed their bitterness over the criticisms of the teenager. Some accused the British of envy – ‘You Brits, don’t join the Olympic Games if you can’t afford losing,’ wrote one user in Sichuan.
Others said Ye’s swim was the product of effort and training.
A user in Beijing asked why the extent of human endeavour was being questioned, saying: ‘Isn’t it the Olympic spirit that encourages people to go higher, quicker and stronger?’
However, there was some support for critics with one Chinese Weibo user in Australia, pointing out British commentators had freedom of speech and so could ask what questions they liked.

China’s deputy anti-doping chief Zhao Jian accused Mr Leonard of thinking ‘too much’ and urged people to wait for test results.
He added: ‘It seems in the sports world people always suspect good scores. You cannot assume a runner is not a normal person just because he runs faster. Those assumptions are not fair to any athlete.’
He added: ‘All Chinese athletes get anti-doping education and training, take an oath and take an exam. Our system is serious and severe.’

 

[neddy]

Welcome to the "UGLY" games.

If the number of medals is how :oIo: China :oIo: want to be respected, wait long long. I think the temptation of monetary rewards is too great. Before, in the Cold War, it was East Germany who want to gain status, and the Americans who want to play politics.

If we look back at Olympic history, we see all these ugly human behaviours. Thankfully, there are still enough good people to give our kids hope for the future.


.....Badminton players booed after not trying
The Associated Press – 2 hours 1 minute ago

LONDON (AP) -- World doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents were booed loudly for appearing to try and lose their Olympic badminton group match in Wembley Arena on Tuesday to earn an easier draw.

Wang and Yu and the team of Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na dumped serves into the net and made simple errors. The longest rally was only four strokes in the first game. The umpire warned them and tournament referee Torsten Berg spoke to all four players but it had little effect.

Eventually, the Chinese women lost 21-14, 21-11 and both pairs were jeered off the court.

The teams had already qualified for the last 16, but the result ensured that the top-seeded Wang and Yu will avoid playing their No. 2-seeded teammates until the final.

The problem was repeated in the next women's doubles between South Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii. Both teams were also warned for deliberately losing points in a match the Koreans won 18-21, 21-14, 21-12. The capacity crowd vented their displeasure on them, too.

"If they play right, the Chinese team, this wouldn't happen," said South Korea head coach Sung Han-kook. "So we did the same because we don't want to play Korea. Nobody likes playing against strong players."

Berg and the Badminton World Federation said they were going to investigate.

Yu said they were only trying to save energy for the knockout rounds starting on Wednesday.

"We would try hard in every match if they were elimination games," she said. "Because they are group stage that's why we are conserving energy.

"If we're not playing the best it's because it doesn't matter - if we're the first or the second (in the group) we're already through. The most important thing is the elimination match tomorrow."

The South Koreans filed a protest with the referees.

"It's not like the Olympics spirit to play like this," Sung Han-kook said. "How could the No. 1 pair in the world play like this? They start playing mistakes."

Australia coach Lasse Bundgaard blamed the group format for the controversy.

"It's not good when you create a tournament where the players are put in this situation," he said. "If you can win a medal by losing, but not by winning, that's not a good situation to be put in.

"I totally understand why they are doing it. Now the Indonesians are doing the same but it's not a good situation to be put in."

Jauhari said she couldn't understand why the South Korean coaches protested their amount of errors.

Polii added: "The referee said to us you are not playing very seriously and since he said that we felt intimidated and disturbed."

 

[chowka]

.....Badminton players booed after not trying

Failure for North Koreans would result in working in Labour Camps.

 

[neddy]

Failure for North Koreans would result in working in Labour Camps.

Labour camps?
Not if they manage to copy all the latest Hollywood & S Korean movies and dramas to bring back home
These days, North Korea corruption is really bad. You want a better life, bribe.


- - - - - - - -


3-D Britiiiisssshhhhhh

It has been billed as the Greatest Show on Earth and the audience inside the Olympic Stadium were treated to a high-tech extravaganza.
Organisers had installed 70,799 tiny panels between the spectators’ seats, which produced amazingly complex images and visual effects.
Audience members at the Olympic Stadium in East London were all handed 3D glasses as well.

But apparently the 3D glasses were just a novelty prop and were not actually necessary for the audience.
Hundreds of people in the audience took to their Twitter pages to express their amusement.
User Stephen Hul tweeted: 'I've had some odd nights out, but sitting in this stadium with sheep, cows, geese and 3D glasses is the best natural high I've ever had.'

Another user Luke Dufficy wrote: 'We have been given 3D glasses...interested to see what it's for!'
Christina Brown ‏tweeted '3D glasses on. Hope this is going to be amazing.'

 

[chowka]

Greatest Olympian ever! Phelps beats all-time record medal tally with double in pool

By MATT LAWTON

PUBLISHED: 19:06 GMT, 31 July 2012 | UPDATED: 23:43 GMT, 31 July 2012

Just when it seemed the Baltimore Bullet was in danger of becoming the silver bullet, Michael Phelps secured one more gold medal to become the greatest Olympian in history last night.

‘There are a lot of emotions going through my head but this is very special for me,’ he said after collecting his record 19th medal. ‘I told the guys when we were on the podium that I wouldn’t be able to sing because I was already a bit teary.’

History maker: Phelps bagged the two medals he needed to become the most decorated Olympian

Phelps' medal tally

15 x GOLD

2 x SILVER

2 x BRONZE

The evening had not started well for the American, as he lost the 200 metres butterfly on the touch to South Africa’s Chad le Clos to leave him with his second silver medal of the Games.
But then came the 4x200m freestyle relay and with it the opportunity to collect the all-important 19th in style.

The Americans had suffered a shock defeat by the French in the shorter freestyle relay, Yannick Agnel catching and passing Ryan Lochte on the final leg to leave Phelps and his team-mates bitterly disappointed.

On this occasion, however, there was no stopping them. Lochte, going off first on this occasion, established a commanding lead that was never threatened and Phelps brought the team home with the second quickest leg of the night. In a repeat of the previous relay, only Agnel was faster.

Phelps appeared to be in control earlier in the evening in what has long been his signature event.

Pipped to the post: Phelps narrowly missed out on the gold medal in his first race of the night - but made no mistake in the second

There have been five world titles as well as two in the Olympics, and had he won again last night he also would have become the first swimmer to win the same event at three successive Games.

He led this race from the start and appeared unstoppable as he turned into the home straight. But as Phelps began to tire, so Le Clos began to close, the South African winning by just five hundreths of a second.

Phelps paid tribute to his team-mates after going one better in the relay. ‘In the huddle I thanked them for helping me get to this moment,’ he said. ‘I’d told them to give me a big lead and they did. I would have loved to have won the fly too but I swam a good time. I would have liked to have had a better outcome in the fly. I was on the receiving end of getting touched out.

‘Chad swam a great race. I’ve got to know him in the last year. He’s a tough competitor and a racer. It’s obviously my last one and I would have liked to win. In the relay I just wanted to hold on in the last leg.’
Le Clos was in tears on the podium. He said: ‘This is a dream of mine, I have always said Michael Phelps was my hero.

Gold standard: The 4x200 freestyle team pose with their gold medals

‘I remember turning in the last 50 and just looking at him underwater and realising this is my hero, it’s crazy. I can’t describe how I felt. In the last 25 metres, I can’t explain what came over me. I’ll have to try to defend my title in four years time, but to beat Michael Phelps is exactly what I have been dreaming of since I was 12.’

Phelps hates losing and even after 15 Olympic golds, 26 world titles and 39 world records, the individual defeats he has suffered here will hurt him. He referred to his performance in the 400m individual medley on the opening night of the Games as a ‘crappy, horrible race’. He finished in a distant fourth to the impressive Lochte.

This is not the Phelps of old, but on occasions at these Games he looks like he has suddenly rediscovered his old form. He was superb in that 4x100m relay, just as he cut through the water with that same power and grace on his freestyle relay leg last night.

Stars and Stripes: The winning 4 x 200m freestyle team celebrate their gold performance

But whatever happens in the events he has yet to contest, he will retire at the end of these Games as the most successful Olympian of all with a record that is sure to stand for many years. After all, Larisa Latynina’s previous mark of 18 had stood since 1964.

Last night there was also success for Phelps’s training partner, Allison Schmitt. Second in the 400m freestyle to Camille Muffat, Schmitt gained revenge last night over 200m by finishing almost two seconds ahead of the French girl with a marvellous swim that brought her both gold and an Olympic record.

Schmitt touched in 1min 53.61sec, with Muffat taking the silver and Great Britain’s Caitlin McClatchey coming home in seventh.

Gold standard: Le Clos was the big winner - taking gold in the 200m butterfly

 

[neddy]

Badminton players charged with tanking
Wednesday, August 01, 2012 - 1:58 PM
Source: BigPond Sport

Eight Olympic badminton players have been charged with misconduct by the sport's governing body after deliberately attempting to lose their matches on Tuesday.

Farcical scenes took place at the Wembley Arena badminton complex when two women's doubles matches were contested by teams who were both attempting to lose in a bid to manipulate the draw later in the tournament.

In the first game, Chinese pair Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na were booed off the court after appearing to deliberately serve the shuttlecock out and hit it into the net.

The match referee reportedly had to go on to the court to warn both teams about their behaviour.

The Chinese top seeds eventually lost, meaning they cannot face the other Chinese team in the tournament until the gold medal final.

Later, Indonesians Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii were briefly disqualified in its match against third-seeded South Koreans Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung. Again, both teams appeared to be trying to lose the match.

The disqualification was withdrawn after protests from the Indonesian team.

The World Badminton Federation later released a statement declaring that the teams had been charged "with 'not using one's best efforts to win a match' and 'conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport'."

South Korean coach Sung Han-kook told Reuters that his teams had thrown their matches in response to the Chinese team's tactics.

"The Chinese started this. They did it first," Sung said via an interpreter. "It's a complicated thing with the draws. They didn't want to meet each other in the semi-final. So we did the same. We didn't want to play the South Korean team again."

THE Badminton World Federation today charged eight female doubles players with ''not using one's best efforts to win a match'' after two matches ended in controversy at the Olympics.

Four pairs of players - one from China, one from Indonesia and two from South Korea - could face disciplinary action.

 

[neddy]

THE eight badminton players at the centre of allegations of throwing matches have been disqualified from the Olympics.

Aussie Coach Lasse Bundgaard, who lodged the complaint, was at the venue last night when the tanking controversy erupted.

"I think it was clear or potentially clear from the matches that there had been some possibility of tanking, of the athletes not trying,'' said Australian team deputy chef de mission Kitty Chiller.

"Lasse has lodged a protest. He didn't do that in order for Australia to progress in any way, shape or form. He genuinely feels it was very important for the integrity of the sport to lodge that protest.

"He cares about the sport and if it is found that that has happened it's certainly not something that we would encourage or condone.''

Players from the controversial two matches were booed off court after they appeared to deliberately serve into the net, or hit the shuttlecock long or wide.

 

[singveld]

Swiss gymnast Giulia Steingruber performs on the balance beam during the Artistic Gymnastics women's qualification at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 29, 2012, in London.