Olympic Update: Day 2
The Olympics in Day 2 saw the beginning of what promises to be one of the main stories of London 2012. That is the weather as the games saw the first day where the weather played a major role in the games. It has been one of the main concerns leading up to the games as the weather in London is generally not one way for long. Hosting a summer games could have been an issue as many events require outdoor facilities. For London this could be an issue as London does not see typical summer conditions on a regular basis. Instead London generally sees bouts of sunshine with bouts of pouring rain. There is no knowing what the weather would truly be during the Olympics and even on a day-to-day basis weather prediction is generally inaccurate as it can be great in one second and pour the next. This caused a lot of issues leading up to the Olympics as the organizers looked to reduce as much of the damage that weather could do as possible. This included adding a roof to the legendary Wimbledon main court in order to reduce risk at these Olympics and for the Wimbledon tournament. As the Olympics approached many in London believed that there would be no issues as the summer weather had made an appearance. Then it would not go away as London saw a mini-heat wave forcing the old city to try to figure out what to do with a heat wave. The biggest issue was underground where more people than ever would be riding the tube packed into small cars with no air conditioning. There was relief though as the weather broke with summer conditions still out there for everyone on Day 1. Then came the rain as day 2 saw the real London weather show itself as heavy rain caused issues throughout the Olympics. It was not the disaster that some may have thought but the rain made its impact. The first sport that was truly affected by the rain was the Women’s Cycling Road Race that finished off their race in the pouring rain. Luckily for organizers it did not effect the top contenders, although it did create a few more crashes during the race. The one event that was the most effected was the tennis as they could only run with on the main court with the roof closed. All other courts were closed due to the heavy rain prompting organizers to announce that the days tennis matches were cancelled. London weather struck again though as it cleared up almost as fast as it came in just in time for the tennis events to be put back on although delayed. The beach volleyball also took a bit of a hit delaying games although many were still played in the rain. The weather struck for the first time at London in Day 2 and don’t expect it to stay away for the rest of the games. It will be a focus of these Olympics as the weather could be one of the biggest stories in the Olympics especially when the track and field events begin next week. Whether or not the it has a massive affect is yet to be seen but be sure that the weather may very well be a part of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics. The organizers are simply hoping that this legacy will be the surprisingly great weather had by the Olympics and not of multiple events being cancelled due to the bad weather. Either way it will be something to follow throughout the Olympics as the weather will remain at the top of everyone’s list of storylines especially after Day 2.
The Canadian Story
Canada’s First Medal:
In 2008 it took 8 days for Canada to earn their first medal but in London it was not as much of a wait as Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel won the first Canadian medal, a bronze, on day 2 in the 3m Synchronized Diving.
Heymans makes History:
With Emilie Heymans winning the bronze in the synchronized diving she entered the history becoming the first female diver in Olympic history to win 4 medals in 4 consecutive Olympic Games
More Surprises to Come:
More good news came through for Canadians in Day 2 as the Canadian Women Olympic Gymnastics team qualified for the finals making them the first Canadian Olympic gymnastics team to qualify for the finals
Up and Down Day in the Pool:
After Canada won their first medals of the Olympics in the pool earlier in the day the swimmers looked to repeat the performance as a personal best from Brittany MacLean and a swim off involving Tera van Beilen were seen in the pool but little came from either
|
Medal Totals |
|||||
|
# |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1 |
China |
6 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
|
2 |
USA |
3 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
|
3 |
Italy |
2 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
|
4 |
South Korea |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
|
5 |
Japan |
0 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
|
6 |
France |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
7 |
Russia |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
|
8 |
North Korea |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
|
9 |
Australia |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
10 |
Brazil |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
24 |
Canada |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Day 2 Medal Results:
Archery:
Women’s Team Archery
Gold- South Korea
Silver- China
Bronze- Japan
Cycling:
Women’s Road Race:
Gold- Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
Silver- Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain)
Bronze- Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia)
Diving:
Women’s Synchronized 3m
Gold- Zi He/Minxia Wu (China)
Silver- Kelci Bryant/Abigail Johnston (USA)
Bronze- Emilie Heymans/Jennifer Abel (Canada)
Fencing:
Men’s Individual Sabre
Gold- Aron Szilagyi (Hungary)
Silver- Diego Occhiuzzi (Italy)
Bronze- Nikolay Kovalev (Russia)
Judo:
Men’s 66kg
Gold- Lasha Shavdatuashvili (Georgia)
Silver- Miklos Ungvari (Hungary)
Bronze- Masashi Ebinuma (Japan)
Bronze- Jun-Ho Cho (South Korea)
Women’s 52kg
Gold- Kum Ae An (North Korea)
Silver- Yanet Bermoy Acosta (Cuba)
Bronze- Rosalba Forciniti (Italy)
Bronze- Priscilla Gneto (France)
Shooting:
Women’s 10m Air Pistol
Gold- Guo Wenjun (China)
Silver- Celine Goberville (France)
Bronze- Olena Kostevych (Ukraine)
Women’s Skeet:
Gold- Kim Rhode (USA)
Silver- Ning Wei (China)
Bronze- Danka Bartekova (Slovakia)
Swimming:
Women’s 400m Freestyle
Gold- Camille Muffat (France)
Silver- Allison Schmitt (USA)
Bronze- Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain)
Men’s 100m Breaststroke
Gold- Cameron vsn der Burgh (South Africa)
Silver- Christian Sprenger (Australia)
Bronze- Brendan Hansen (USA)
Women’s 100m Butterfly
Gold- Dana Vollmer (USA)
Silver- Ying Lu (China)
Bronze- Alicia Coutts (Australia)
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Gold- France
Silver- USA
Bronze- Russia
Weightlifting:
Women’s 53kg
Gold- Zulfiya Chinshanlo (Kazakhstan)
Silver- Shu-Ching Hsu (Chinese Tapei)
Bronze- Cristina Iovu (Moldova)
Men’s 56kg
Gold- Om Yun Chol (North Korea)
Silver- Wu Jingbiao (China)
Bronze- Valentin Hristov (Azerbaijan)
Day 3 Medal Events:
Diving:
Men’s Synchronized 10m Platform Finals (10:00 am)
Fencing:
Women’s Individual Epee Bronze Medal Match (2:10 pm)
Women’s Individual Epee Gold Medal Match (2:40 pm)
Gymnastics:
Men’s Team Finals (11:30 am)
Judo:
Men’s 73kg Bronze Medal Match (9:28 am)
Men’s 73kg Gold Medal Match (11:10 am)
Women’s 57kg Bronze Medal Match (9:00 am)
Women’s 57kg Gold Medal Match (11:00 am)
Shooting:
Men’s 10m Air Rifle Finals (7:15 am)
Swimming:
Men’s 200m Freestyle Final (2:43 pm)
Women’s 100m Backstroke Final (2:51 pm)
Men’s 100m Backstroke Final (2:58 pm)
Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final (3:15 pm)
Weightlifting:
Women’s 58kg Final (10:30 am)
Men’s 62kg Final (2:00pm)
The Sport Addiction 