London 2012 Day 4

GB hopes began with Naomi Folkard reaching the second round of the Women's Individual Archery with a victory over Russia's Kristina Timofeeva. In Judo, Gemma Howell received a disqualification for an illegal leg wrap and bows out.Naomi Folkard's Olympics campaign ended with defeat to Mariana Avitia (Mex) 7-1 and moves Avitia into the last 16.

Over in the pool, GB's Ellen Gandy failed to reach the 200m Fly Semis despite being a medal contender for todayand was 17th fastest but her compatriot Jemma Lowe sailed through as 3rd quickest in 2.07.64. American Kathleen Hersey is quickest in 2:06.41.

Andrew Willis and Michael Jamieson both make the 200m Breaststroke semi finals as second and third quickest with the semis later tonight. GB's 4x200m men qualify for the final in second behind
the US and are fifth fastest going into the final.

Britian's Archery campaign is over for 2012 as 2004 Bronze medalist Alison Williamson loses to Mongolia's Bishindee Urantungalag 7-3.

Good luck to the Women's Gymnastic team and Equestrian Team this afternoon also the swimmers in their semis tonight.

London Day 3 Part 2

After a good morning for Team GB, the day got slightly better with the the Daley/Waterfield 10m Platform Diving as they were leading after three dives but in round four a slip in synchronisation cost them points and meant that they missed out on a medal and finished fourth behind China, Mexico and the USA.

GB did get a medal however in the Men's Gymnastic tema final originally Silver but dropped to Bronze after a controversial appeal by the Japanese who felt they were marked harsly and awarded the Silver after the appeala shame but delighted for the quintet of Louis Smith, Sam Oldham, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Dan Purvis sealed the first Men's team medal since Bronze in 1912.

Over at Wimbledon, British number one Heather Watson, 20, beat Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-2 6-2 to reach the second round of the women's singles,and joined by fellow Brit Laura Robson after after she defeated Lucie Safarova (Cze) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to set up a match with medal favourite Maria Sharapova.Ana Ivanovic (Srb) crushed the hopes of  Elena Baltacha 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to leave Watson and Robson as the only female GB hopes at SW19.

Just like on Day 2 the pool lit up the evenings acton but sadly there was little to celebrate for the British, the night started with success for Caitlin McClatchley as she made the final of the 200m Free. Robbie Renwick went in the Men's 200m Freestyle final only to finish 6th with France's Yannick Angle taking the win ahead of joint second placed Yang Sun and Taehwan Park both finishing in 1:43.93 with Ryan Lochte 4th.

Women's 100m Backstroke next and Gold for Missy Franklin (USA) just 20 minutes after reaching the 200m Free final ahead of Emily Seebohm (Aus) and Aye Terakawa (Jpn) with GB's Gemma Spofforth in 6th. The Men's 100m Backstoke next and Liam Tancock hoping for a medal but sadly only a 5th place finish with America's Matt Grevers setting an OR of 52.16 ahead of fellow American Nick Thoman with Japan's Ryosuke Irie in bronze position.

Lithuania secured their first Gold medal thanks to the stunning display by 15 year old Ruta Meilutyte securing the win ahead of Rebecca Soni (USA) and Japan's Satomi Suzuki in the 100m Breaststroke final.

 GB's night got better with Hannah Miley securing second in her semi to cruise into the final of the 200m IM final and joins Ye Shiwen who set a new OR in her semi, Alicia Coutts Steph Rice and Caitlin Leverenz,Ariana Kukors.

Today's Medal table is massive with so many different winners so far....

London 2012 Day 3 Part 1

Over the next four days my coverage will be mixed with being back in work so I will do a post at 12.30pm of live coverage from the morning and then one at around 11pm with a round up of the action from the day. After two medals yesterday, Team GB are raring to go and it began with Caitlin McClatchey reaching the semi final by winning her heat in the Women's 200m Freestyle. The day got better immediately as Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins set a new OR of 6.44.33 as they sailed through to the final of the Women's Double Sculls rowing.

 Another OR tumbled as Australia's Men's four set a time of 5.47.07 to reach the semi finals with GB also through in their heat three second slower then the Aussie's. Hannah Miley's chances of an medla increased as she qualified 10th fastest for th 200m Medley semi finals with Ye Shiwen (Chn) crusing home in 2.08.90 ahead of Kirsty Coventry and Stephanie Rice with Hannah coming in in 2.12.27.

However ther will be no medal for GB's Paul Drinkhall as he bowed out of the Table Tennis after losing 11-8 11-5 11-9 11-4 in the third round. Depending on my workload I may post during the day but if not it will be at 11pm.

London 2012 Day 2 Swimming Evening

A shock in the Men's Football saw Uruguay beaten 2-0 by Senegal with the Senegalese finishing with only 10 men but Konate's brace secured the win. A big night in the pool started with an amazing Women's 100m Fly final as American Dana Vollmer smashed the WR of 56.06 to win in 55.98s ahead of Lu Ying (Chn) and Alicia Coutts (Aus) with GB's Ellen Gandy finishing in 8th.

Men's 200m Freestyle Semis, GB's Robbie Renwick finished joint third in Semi 1 with Danila Izotov (Rus) behind German Paul Biedermann and 400m IM winner Ryan Lochte (USA). Semi 2 saw Sun Yang (Chn) win ahead of Agnel (Fra) with Park (Kor) in third meaning Robbie Renwick qualifies for the final as 6th fastest.

Women's 100m Breastroke Semi 1 won by Rebecca Soni(USA) who at 50m was in 8th place and cruised through the field in the 2nd 50 with fellow American Breeja Larson in second and Japan's Suzuki in third. Semi 2 saw a new European record of 1.05.21 by Ruta Meilutyte (Ltu) ahead of Efimova (Rus) and Leisel Jones (Aus). Meilutyte's record is even more stunning as she is only 15 years old so a lot more to come from here starting with a Gold in the final I'd think.

GB took an early lead vs UAE courtesy of Welshman Ryan Giggs connecting to a looping cross from fellow 'dragon' Craig Bellamy, the two combining similar to the opening game when Bellamy connected to Giggs' free kick.

Men's 100m Breaststroke final next with history in the making as Cameron Van Der Bergh set a new WR of  58.46 breaking his OR from the Semi's and securing a great Olympic titile ahead of Sprenger (Aus) and Hansen (USA).

As a Brit the next race (Women's 400m Freestyle final) is an important one for me as Rebecca Adlington tries to defend her title from Beijing (a night I remember well as I accidentally smashed a glass as she crossed the line while euphoric) however this time she is in lane 8 with WR holder Federica Pellegrini in the middle. Amazing race won by Camiile Muffat (Fra) with an OR of 4.01.45 ahead of Alison Schmitt (USA) and despite being her weaker event Rebecca Adlington got a medal in 3rd amazing for her despite losing her title she powered through from 5th at 200m to secure the medal she wanted at her home games hopefully not her last with her strongest event the 800m still to come.

Men's 100m Semi's next and GB's Liam Tancock finished 2nd behind Camille Lacourt (Fra) but ahead of 3rd placed Feiyi Cheng (Chn). Semi 2 was won by Matthew Grevers (USA) in 52.66s ahead of Ryosuke Irie (Jpn) JPN and Nick Thoman (USA) meaning Tancock qualifies for the final as third fastest, the final will take place tomorrow (Monday) night.

Women's 100m Backstroke Semi's next , Semi 1 saw American Missy Franklin win ahead of Japan's Ayi Terakawa and GB'S Gemma Spofforth in third and looking good for a place in the final with fellow Brit Georgia Davies in 8th. Semi 2 had a few big hitters including Emily Seebohm (Aus) who set a new OR in the heats and but no records as she came home in first place ahead of Jing Zha0 (Chn) and Anatasia Zueva (Rus) with Gemma Spofforth qualifying as 6th fastest for the final.

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay had been long awaited with the Americans attempting to write the wrongs of Sydney 2000 when Ian Thorpe's Australia took their title after the Americans boasted the race was theirs only to fall to an amazing Thorpe swim. USA are confident this time as new Olympic 400 IM champion Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps spearhead their team.  GB have been pulled back in the football as Eisa equalises. USA fail to get their title back but get Silver after great legs by Lochte and Phelps fell short to an blitzing swim by France with Russia in third, Australia disappointing in 4th.

A great night in the pool has been added to by GB's win over UAE in the football after goals from Swansea's Scott Sinclair and Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge took them from 1-1 to 3-1 and need only a draw vs Uruguay to progress. There was a shock in the football as Spain lost to Honduras, their 2nd loss in 2 games and meant they bow out of the tournament.

Overall a good day for Team GB and on the medal table which is as follows....

London 2012 Day 2 Part 2

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay heats saw GB finish 6th and fail to qualify for the final by being 12th fastest. Ben Ainslie started his pursuit of a 4th Olympic title in his Finn class and finished 2nd in his opening race.

Fencer James Honeybone bows out of the sabre round of 64 with a defeat to Belarus' Valery Pryiemka 9-15 but some success as Colin Oates qualified for the quarter finals of thre 66kg Judo event but sadly lost in sudden-death to Lasha Shavdatuashvili (Geo) and goes into the repecharge with the chance of a bronze medal. Later on Colin lost to South Korea's Jun-Ho Cho to miss out on a place in the bronze medal match.

 The Women's Road Race just like in Beijing has given Team GB its first medal with Lizzie Armitstead claiming Silver behind Dutch rider Marianne Vos with Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya in third.

From around 4pm, The Women's 3m Springboard Final took place and GB's  Alicia Bragg and Rebecca Gallantree finished 7th with Andy Murray securing victory over Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the Tennis in straight sets (6-3 6-3).

Gymnastics saw a wave of success for Team GB as Beth Tweddle hit  a score of 16.133 in the Uneven Bars and in the All-Round qualifying, GB sit second to the USA with an 11 point gap.

London 2012 Day 2 Part 1

Early starts for many events saw GB's Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier bow out of the Badminton doubles after losing both pool games meaning their final game will be for pride.

Over in the Pool, Georgia Davies and Gemma Stopforth both successfully made the Semi Finals of the Women's 100m Backstroke with Robbie Renwick finishing 2nd in his heat and fellow Brit Ieuan Lloyd in 6th in the Men's 200m Freestyle.

In the Womens's Lightweight double sculls, GB's Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland won their heat by nearly 3 seconds over Denmark and New Zealand. 

Back over to the pool for more heats of the Women's 100m Backstroke and Kate Haywood placed 8th in Heat 5 with Siobhan O'Connor in 6th in Heat 6 but neither sadly make the Semi Finals.

Liam Tancock finished 2nd in Heat 5 of Men's 100m Backstroke and secured a Semi Final place and in the Ligthweight Men's double sculls at Eton Dorney, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter won their heat.

Women's 400m Freestyle and Rebecca Adlington speeds through to the Final in 1st with Joanne Jackson in 7th in their heat, WR holder Federica Pellegrini (Ita) came in the next heat and finished 3rd with Pellegrini and Adlington qualifying 7th and 8th fastest.

London 2012 Day 1 Part 2

Having watched the 24 arrow eliminators this morning, I took in the Final between USA and Italy, the Americans having knocked out defending champions and WR holders South Korea in the Semis and a shock as Italy won the Gold medal by a score of 219-218 to deny the US their first Gold medal of the games.

On to the Swimming and a shock in the Men's 400m Individual Medley as Michael Phelps finished 4th out of the medals with fellow American Ryan Lochte taking the Gold ahead of Thiago Pereira (Brz) and Kosuke Hagino (Jpn).

400m Freestyle next and the OR broken in 3.40.10 by Sun YangChn) who swam only three hundreths off a new WR but still took the gold ahead of Park Tae-hwan (Kor) and American Peter Vanderkaay in third.

GB hopes were mixed in the Semi Finals of 100m Fly as Fran Halsall missed out by finishing 7th Semi 1 but happily Ellen Gandy qualified finishing 5th behind new OR holder Dana Vollmer (USA) in Semi 2.

Britain's hope of a first medal fell to Hannah Miley but sadly she finished 5th in a cracking final in which 16 year old Ye Shiwen broke the WR taking a second of defending champion Steph Rice's record from Beijing (Aus) who finished down in 6th with American Elisabeth Beisel 2nd and China's Li Xuanxu in third.

Semis of the 100m Breaststroke saw Brits Michael Jamieson and Craig Benson finish in Semi Final 2 in 3rd and 6th respectively but neither made the final as Semi 1 took 6 swimmers to the final including a new OR for Van Der Burgh (RSA)with the top 2 of Semi 2 joining them.

The final event in the pool was the Women's 4x100m relay which was won by Australia with an OR of 3.33.15 with Netherlands taking the Silver and USA sealing Bronze, Britain finished 5th meaning no medal on Day 1 for Team GB but a massive day for China.

London 2012 Day 1 Eventing

Last night's opening ceremony was amazing, so many surprises from Bond and the Queen 'parachuting' into the stadium to Mr Bean and Chariots of Fire and the saved surprise of the cauldron lighting by seven promising young athletes for the future all nominated by past Olympians.

The ceremony was the brainchild of Danny Boyle and he did not disappoint and made me personally proud to be British and a part of an amazing opening to an historic games.

The ceremony closed with Paul McCartney performing the classic 'Hey Jude' and left everyone who stayed up with a short slumber if they wanted to watch the opening events of Day 1.

From 9-9.20am, Archery from Lords saw GB eliminated from the Men's 24 Arrow by Ukraine losing 223-212 after a close 48 arrows including many perfect 10's.

11am saw the first finals of the games with the Women's 10m Air Pistol won by Yi Siling (Chn) with Slywia Bogacka (Pol) winning the Silver and Yu Dan ( Chn) receiving the Bronze.

GB hopes moved on to the pool with Hannah Miley successfully winning her heat to qualify sixth fastest for the 400m Individual Medley final later tonight and with a big hope of a medal.

Other successes today have included Louis Smith qualifying for the Pommel Horse final next week with fellow Brits, Kristian Thomas and Dan Purvis well placed to qualify in their respective events of Floor and Vault.

Anthony Agogo secured a win in the Boxing beating Junior Castillo Martinez of the Dominican Republic 13-6 to advance to the last 16. Susan Eglestaff won her opening match in the Badminton after beating Slovakia's Maja Tvrdy 21-15 21-10 but her teammates Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier lost 14-21 21-9 21-18 to Russia's Alexandr Nikolaenko and Valeria Sorokina to give them an uphill task in order to qualify for the next round.

Britain's first hope of a medal was in the Men's Road Race which saw a devastating crash in the final stages but the lead group survived sadly with Team GB missing out on a medal with Kazakhstan's  Alexandre Vinokourov sprinting to the Gold followed by Roberto Uran (Col) and Alexander Kristoff (Nor) with the Bronze.

The third Gold came in the Men's 10m Air Pistol with South Korea's Jongoh Jin taking the title, Luca Tesconi (Ita) shooting for the Silver and the Bronze awarded to Serbian shooter Andrija Zlatic.

As I write Roger Federer (Sui) has been taken to a third set in the Men's Singles Tennis by Colombian Ajelandro Falla (6-3, 5-7) despite having two match points and currently leads 2-1 in the third set.

London 2012 Day 1

After seven years of waiting, the official opening of the London 2012 Olympic games is finally here and the nation and the world are all asking one major question, 'Who will light the cauldron to start the games?' The favourite surely has to be Sir Steve Redgrave, GB's most successful Olympian with Daley Thompson also high in the list. However, both are accompanied by David Beckham who many agree has done a lot to get the games to London and also a lot for football in general.

Personally, I think Beckham being chosen would be strange as when mentioned with the likes of Redgrave and Thompson, he falls down in the achievement scale with not having won a gold medal or a standout major trophy (Champions League not too major when compared to Olympic gold) but if he is chosen then like many others I would respect the decision but hope it would not steal the thunder from what will be an amazing 30th Olympiad.

Over the course of the Olympics, I will focus on Team GB's performance in general with being a Brit myself but if possible will cover other main stories.

Come on Team GB!