Thread: London Olympics 2012

I don't know why, but I just get empty placeholders instead of images.

Do you see the message about Live Broadcasters though?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Do you see the message about Live Broadcasters though?

no, it isn't on the main page (or any other page I looked at checking for you)

So I'm guessing it's just here, but at least if anyone else gets the same message they'll know there are alternatives.

Cheers

Olympics rowing: Anna Watkins & Katherine Grainger smash record


Great Britain's Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins broke the Olympic record by nearly five seconds to book their place in the double sculls final.

Three-time Olympic silver medallist Grainger and Watkins, who are unbeaten since they teamed up in 2010, won their heat in six minutes 44.33 seconds.

The British men's four won their heat to progress to Thursday's semi-finals.

And GB men's eight held off a fast-finishing Canada to win the repechage and qualify for Wednesday's final.

Grainger, 36, and Watkins, 29, produced a superb display to win their 21st race in a row, and will be favourites to win gold in Friday's final at 10:30 BST.

The reigning world champions were quickly away and had opened up significant clear water by the 1,000m half-way point.

The British pair's time smashed the previous Olympic best set at the 1992 Barcelona Games by Germany.

By the way, have you poor souls in Thailand looked at what time the Men's 100M Final is on?

OMG..............
Olympics football: Spain eliminated at group stage


Spain are out of the Olympic men's football competition after suffering a shock 1-0 defeat by Honduras.

The Hondurans, who won thanks to Jerry Bengtson's early goal, progress from Group D along with Japan, who beat Morocco 1-0.

Brazil beat Belarus 3-1 to qualify from Group C, while Egypt drew 1-1 with New Zealand.

In Group B, Mexico picked up a 2-0 victory against Gabon and South Korea secured a 2-1 win over Switzerland.

Bengtson, who scored both goals in his side's opening 2-2 draw with Morocco, found the net against Spain after eight minutes in Newcastle.


Spain, who lost their opening game 1-0 to Japan, hit the woodwork three times in the second period.

Japan secured their place in the knockout phase when Kensuke Nagai's late effort earned them victory against Morocco.

Renan Bressan opened the scoring for Belarus against Brazil at Old Trafford but Neymar crossed for Alexandre Pato to head in, curled in an impressive free-kick and then laid on a third goal for Oscar.

Olympics judo: Saudi Arabia judoka could pull out after hijab row


The father of a female Saudi Arabian judo competitor says his daughter will pull out of the Olympics if she is not allowed to wear her hijab during bouts.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, 16, is due to compete in the +78kg category on Friday.

A Saudi official said earlier this month that its female athletes would have to obey Islamic dress codes.

But International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said she would have to fight without the headscarf.

The sport has banned the headscarf for safety reasons and Vizer said last week: "The athlete from Saudi Arabia will fight in the spirit of judo and according to the principles of judo without a hijab".

Her father Ali told Saudi Arabia's al-Watan newspaper that his daughter "will not compete in the Judo Games on 3 August if the committee insists that she removes her hijab".

Olympic and Saudi officials are in talks with judo chiefs in order to find a solution but Mr Shaherkani told the newspaper he had not heard back from the International Olympic Committee on the matter.

Shaherkani and 800m runner Sarah Attar are Saudi Arabia's two female competitors.

There is almost no public tradition of women participating in sport in Saudi Arabia, and officials have found it difficult to find athletes who could meet the minimum qualifying standards



She's also been warned by the Olympic committee to shave off that moustache.

Well she might as well fuck off now then. Although I'm not sure she wouldn't be better off in a Burkha.

16? Is that Stone?

Team GB won the Bronze in Men's Gymnastics. They would have had Silver but for a successful Japanese appeal.

Still, Britain's first Gymnastics gong for 100 years, beating the Frogs, Russians and Americans. Well done lads!

Harry not know where you are, i am back in the UK and this fucking bronze is like they have won the olympics, its been on every TV radio station and there repeating it time and time again.

getting bored with the shit already that the commentators are coming out with.

Its a fekking bronze.the flags will be out tomorrow.

Why gold is not gold, and bronze is worth less than a petrol station sandwich | London Spy - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

You can't argue with that

Just in case you missed Team GB winning a bronze medal in gymnastics here it is again:.........



Olympic gymnastics: bronze for GB as Japan win silver on appeal


Great Britain's men won an astonishing Olympic bronze medal in the gymnastics team final - having originally taken silver before a Japanese appeal.

Louis Smith, Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Dan Purvis sealed GB men's first Olympic team medal since a bronze in 1912.

China cruised to gold, with GB second, as the medal prospects of the United States and Germany disintegrated.

Japan, initially placed in fourth, moved up to second after an appeal.

They were unhappy with the pommel horse score awarded to Kohei Uchimura and were elevated above Britain, after lengthy deliberation by the officials, with Ukraine missing out on a bronze medal in the process.

Play media


Olympic gymnastics: Bronze in team final is still unbelievable - GB men

The result is beyond the expectations of the British team, even though they qualified for the final in third place and knew they had the ability to challenge for a medal.

"For all these guys, their first Olympic Games, to get a medal is unbelievable," Smith told BBC Sport. "Silver? Bronze? It doesn't matter, we enjoyed it, it was fantastic."

Thomas added: "It's an Olympic medal at the end of the day, it's what dreams are made of. All I could think about was winning an Olympic medal when I was younger.

"Silver would've been nice but I couldn't complain at all right now. We're in London, it's once in a lifetime and we've made the most of it."

Uchimura, whose appeal denied Britain the silver, told reporters through an interpreter: "I feel sorry [for the British]. It's strange to say I feel sorry for them, though. This is the scoring system so I shouldn't feel sorry. This is just the score."

His appeal centred on whether he had been correctly rewarded for a partially botched dismount in his pommel horse routine. The three-time world champion's score was upgraded by 0.7 marks, enough to take Japan past Britain.

Before the final, not many would talk in more than hushed tones of a bronze medal, let alone of beating Japan. So the 10 minutes spent in silver-medal position, before Japan's successful appeal, were breathtaking as a stunned and elated audience tried to take in the scale of the British men's achievement.

London 2012: Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen denies doping




Chinese gold medallist swimmer Ye Shiwen, 16, has denied taking drugs to enhance her performance, saying there was "no problem with doping".

A US coach earlier said Ye's record-breaking performance in Saturday's 400m individual medley was "disturbing".

Ye Shiwen took seconds off her personal best to break the world record and win a gold medal in the 400m medley on Saturday, swimming faster in the last 50m than the winner of the men's event.

John Leonard - the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association - said her performance was "unbelievable".

But Ye Shiwen said: "There is no problem with doping. The Chinese team has a firm policy so there is no problem with that."

All medal winners at the Olympics are automatically drug-tested.

Olympics boxing: Damien Hooper 'proud' of Aboriginal flag display


Hooper beat Marcus Browne - the first American to lose at the Games - but his win was overshadowed by controversy.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not take action against Hooper, who was criticised by his own Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).

"I'm not saying I don't care [if there are sanctions]. I'm just saying that I'm very proud of what I did," he said.

"I'm Aboriginal, representing my culture, not only my country but all my people as well. That's what I wanted to do and I'm happy I did it."

Hooper's actions could potentially have contravened IOC rules that forbid athletes from making political statements.

An IOC statement said: "It is in the first instance for the AOC to deal with their athlete and we fully support their approach."

Punching Above Their Weight

The countries with the highest percentage of medal winning athletes

1. North Korea
   
   Percentage: 7%
   4 (medallists)/56 (team size)
2. China
   
   Percentage: 6%
   24 (medallists)/389 (team size)
3. Japan
   
   Percentage: 6%
   17 (medallists)/303 (team size)
4. Thailand
   
   Percentage: 3%
   1 (medallists)/37

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

Chinese gold medallist swimmer Ye Shiwen, 16, has denied taking drugs to enhance her performance, saying there was "no problem with doping". A US coach earlier said Ye's record-breaking performance in Saturday's 400m individual medley was "disturbing". Ye Shiwen took seconds off her personal best to break the world record and win a gold medal in the 400m medley on Saturday, swimming faster in the last 50m than the winner of the men's event. John Leonard - the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association - said her performance was "unbelievable". But Ye Shiwen said: "There is no problem with doping. The Chinese team has a firm policy so there is no problem with that." All medal winners at the Olympics are automatically drug-tested.

The Chinky govt probably threatened to make her family disappear if she didn't win gold.

Olympics fencing: Tearful Shin A Lam denied chance at gold



Ukrainian fencer Yama Shemayakina won epee gold but the headlines were grabbed by Shin A Lam on a day of controversy at the ExCel Arena.

The South Korean forced a lengthy delay to competition after breaking down in tears following her semi-final loss to German Britta Heidemann.

Shin looked to have beaten Heidemann only for the clock to be reset with one second remaining of sudden death.

Heidemann then managed to score a decisive hit for a 6-5 win.

The result angered the South Korean camp, who appealed. But their protests were ignored and Shin's coach was eventually escorted from the arena.

"I don't really know how to express the way I feel right now," said Shin. "I've been trying and working to get an Olympic medal for four years. Now I lost it in just one second. It's just impossible to accept."

Level with 2008 gold medallist Heidemann at 5-5 following nine minutes of action, Shin had priority, meaning she would have made the final if she had made it through the sudden-death minute without conceding a point.

But referee Barbara Csar reset the time with one second left after Shin was guilty of an infringement and Heidemann scored the crucial point.

Shin broke down in tears and her coach made his objections clear, but, after lengthy deliberation between technical directors and then officials from the International Fencing Federation, Heidemann's win stood.

After the 70-minute delay, Shin reappeared for her bronze-medal match but was beaten 15-11 by China's Yujie Sun. Shemyakina overcame Heidemann 9-8 in extra-time to win the gold.

Lithuanian 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte wins shock gold



Teenager Ruta Meilutyte won Lithuania's first ever Olympic gold in the pool by beating American Rebecca Soni in the women's 100m breaststroke.

The 15-year-old, who goes to the same Plymouth school as Tom Daley , led from the start and beat the fast-finishing Soni by 0.08 seconds.

Japan's Satomi Suzuki earned bronze, while Australia's defending champion Leisel Jones finished fifth.

"I can't believe it," said a stunned Meilutyte. "It's too much for me."

Having set a new European record in the heats - a mark that beat her personal best by two seconds - Meilutyte swam even faster in the semi-finals on Sunday to qualify fastest for the final ahead of world champion and Beijing silver medallist Soni.

In the final, following a fault at the start, where the bleep went before the swimmers were told to take their marks, Meilutyte astonished both herself and the crowd to hold off her challengers and win in 1:05.47.

Olympic equestrian eventing: Team GB take silver













They're here to see their relative Zara Phillips ... whose performance is a tad shaky at first (she knocked over the second fence and ultimately incurred a small time penalty)



Then Kristina Cook on Miners Frolic performs admirably under pressure in the penultimate ride of the morning to secure the silver medal for Britain! hoorah!!!!!!!!!

Three Sudanese athletes expected to claim asylum after going missing in Britain

Three Sudanese athletes who hoped to compete in the London 2012 Olympics will claim political asylum, it is believed, after they are confirmed to be missing.

Three Sudanese nationals are expected to claim asylum following an Olympic training camp Photo: Rex Features


By Hannah Furness

8:19AM BST 31 Jul 2012

The young athletes had all been granted British visas as part of the Olympic training squad but did not qualify for the final team.
One, Al-Nazeer Abdul Gadir, has already applied for asylum while Sadam Hussein and Osman Yahya Omar have been confirmed to be missing.
They are expected to lodge their own asylum claims in the near future.

Last week, an East African middle distance runner was reported to have entered a police station in Leeds to seeking asylum.

Khalid Mustafa, spokesman for the Sudanese embassy, confirmed that all men had hoped to qualify for the Olympics but had failed to achieve the necessary times in their events.
Ten Sudanese athletes have taken part in Olympic training camps at the University of Teesside, including Beijing 800m silver medalist Ismail Ahamed Ismail.

It is not yet clear what prompted the met to seek asylum or effectively disappear.
Nearly 800 Sudanese nationals applied for asylum in Britain last year, according to figured from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
They made up 790 of the 25,455 total in the UK in 2011.
Asylum applications from Sudan are reported to have peaked in 1993 during the civil war.
The country continues to be unstable, splitting in two in 2011 after the people in the south voted for independence.
The war-torn country has now separated into the Muslim-ruled north and Christian and Animist south, with conflict continuing in Darfur.

Three Sudanese athletes expected to claim asylum after going missing in Britain - Telegraph

^ Asylum Seeking :

A new Olympic event this year with the Sudanese fielding a very strong team capable of clinching all the medals if they can beat the East African contender.

Boxing:

Good win for Prongpayoon Kaeo 19-11 win over the much taller and (seemingly) heavier Algerian Flissi Muhammad in the light flyweight division tonight.

Prongpayoon was too fast and caught Muhammad with some good right hands despite a huge reach disadvantage, he used his fast footwork to great effect.