Olympic Update: Day 5
The Drama never ends in the Olympics as after the record-breaking performance in the pool on Day 4 the focus shifted to the badminton courts. It was not for a world record or even for medals as controversy struck the Badminton competition. Yes it is badminton that struck up the most controversy today not one of the most popular sports like gymnastics or swimming. Even though it was not in one of the major events the fact remains that this controversy shocked the Olympics and proved that the IOC will not stand for subpar performance on purpose. The Olympics are about athletes performing at their highest level and pushing the limits of the human body. They are so popular and so impressive because many athletes do just that as world records are broken on a daily basis. These are records that were seemed to be unbreakable four years ago but as athletes continue to push and break these records. This is what the Olympics are about as they represent the ultimate in athletic competition. In day 4 the Olympic ideals took a massive hit though as Badminton saw the exact opposite of great performances. It wasn’t that these were performances were from the bottom of the pack and were athletes looking to do their best. These performances were from some of the best players in the Olympics this year. The defending Olympic Champions China as well as two teams from South Korea and Indonesia looked awful for their quarter-final matches. It wasn’t a matter of the teams just on an off day either as they purposefully blew their matches. It was clear watching the matches that all of these teams did not want to win their matches. It doesn’t seem to make sense for athletes not to win their matches but a new pool system for badminton in the Olympics is essentially behind their performances. With Denmark upsetting one of the Chinese teams earlier one of the teams who won in these quarter-final matches would be forced to compete against the Chinese. As all four teams went about their matches they did not want to face the Chinese team and therefore looked to lose their match in order to give them an easier pass to the finals. The games went on with all teams making rookie mistakes that are so far and above anything that these teams are used to. Serving the shuttlecock into the net and not going hard to get a shot made it clear to the judges that all teams were not playing their best. A warning from the judge did nothing to stop the teams from clearly throwing the match and on day 5 it moved to another level. The governing body of international badminton, The Badminton World Federation, took the necessary steps against these four teams as they removed them from the Olympic competition. Some may say that this was a step too far but it was clear that all four teams were not adhering to the rules that require every player to play to the best of their ability. It was quite frankly an embarrassment to the sport and to the Olympics as a whole. The judgement to remove them from the game was clearly the correct decision as it sent a message to every athlete in the games. This message was that the IOC and related governing bodies will not stand for a lack luster performance that is done on purpose. There is no room for that type of behavior in the Olympics and the right move was made and for the right reason. It was yet another day in the Olympics that was not silent with this decision coming down while it also marks the 10th athlete to be kicked out of the Olympics. London 2012 has rarely been without some sort of controversy or drama and so the only question left is what will Day 6 hold for Olympic fans.
The Canadian Story
Men’s 8 Saves Face
The men’s 8 team were defending Olympic champions coming into London but their first race saw them finish dead last until they finally made their comeback winning a Silver Medal and saving themselves from an embarrassing Olympic performance
Hayden’s Redemption
Brent Hayden has been a constant face in the pool for Canada but he has always struggled at the Olympics never earning a medal until his last game in London when he broke into the podium with a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle
Clara Says Goodbye
Clara Hughes ended her legendary Canadian Olympic career after the time trial where she finished in 5th place only 30 seconds from the bronze at 39 years old and under three months removed from a fractured vertebrae that has only added to the legend of the greatest Canadian Olympian ever
Badminton Medal Within Reach
With so much controversy on the badminton court a few teams got the benefits including Canada who is now in the Semi-Finals after they received second life when four teams were thrown out
CBC sees the Future
Away from London there was also some major news as CBC launched a successful bid to broadcast the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games as all eyes look to the network to match the great coverage done over the last two Olympic Games
Day 5 Medal Results
Artistic Gymnastics:
Men’s Individual All-Around
Gold- Kohei Uchimura (Japan)
Silver- Marcel Nyugen (Germany)
Bronze- Danell Leyva (USA)
Canoe/Kayak:
Men’s K1 Slalom
Gold- Daniele Molmenti (Italy)
Silver- Vavrinec Hradilek (Czech Republic)
Bronze- Hannes Aigner (Germany)
Cycling:
Women’s Individual Time Trial
Gold- Kristin Armstrong (USA)
Silver- Judith Arndt (Germany)
Bronze- Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia)
Men’s Individual Time Trial
Gold- Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain)
Silver- Tony Martin (Germany)
Bronze- Christopher Froome (Great Britain)
Diving:
Men’s Synchronized 3m Springboard
Gold- Yutong Luo/Kai Qin (China)
Silver- Ilya Zakharov/Evgeny Kuznetsov (Russia)
Bronze- Troy Dumais/Kristian Ipsen (USA)
Fencing:
Men’s Individual Epee
Gold- Ruben Limardo Gascon (Venezula)
Silver- Bartosz Piasecki (Norway)
Bronze- Jinsun Jung (South Korea)
Women’s Individual Sabre
Gold- Jiyeon Kim (South Korea)
Silver- Sofya Velikaya (Russia)
Bronze- Olga Kharlan (Ukraine)
Judo:
Women’s 70kg
Gold- Lucie Decosse (France)
Silver- Kerstin Thiele (Germany)
Bronze- Yuri Alvear (Colombia)
Bronze- Edith Bosch (Netherlands)
Men’s90kg
Gold- Song Dae-Nam (South Korea)
Silver- Asley Gonzalez (Cuba)
Bronze- Illias Iliadis (Greece)
Bronze- Masashi Nishiyama (Japan)
Rowing:
Women’s Pairs
Gold- Helen Glover/Heather Stanley (Great Britain)
Silver- Kate Hornsey/Sarah Tait (Australia)
Bronze- Juliette Haigh/Rebecca Scown (New Zealand)
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
Gold- Ukraine
Silver- Germany
Bronze- USA
Men’s Eight
Gold- Germany
Silver- Canada
Bronze- Great Britain
Shooting:
Women’s 25m Pistol
Gold- Jangmi Kim (South Korea)
Silver- Ying Chen (China)
Bronze- Olena Kostevych (Ukraine)
Swimming:
Men’s 200m Breaststroke
Gold- Daniel Gyurta (Hungary)
Silver- Michael Jamieson (Great Britain)
Bronze- Ryo Tateishi (Japan)
Women’s 200m Butterfly
Gold- Liuyang Jiao (China)
Silver- Mireira Belmonte Garcia (Spain)
Bronze- Natsumi Hoshi (Japan)
Men’s 100m Freestyle
Gold- Nathan Adrian (USA)
Silver- James Magnussen (Australia)
Bronze- Brent Hayden (Canada)
Women’s 4x200m Relay
Gold- USA
Silver- Australia
Bronze- France
Table Tennis:
Women’s Singles
Gold- Xiaoxi Li (China)
Silver- Ning Ding (China)
Bronze- Tianwei Feng (Singapore)
Weightlifting:
Women’s 69kg
Gold- Ring Jong Sing (North Korea)
Silver- Roxana Cocos (Romania)
Bronze- Maryna Shkermankova (Belarus)
Men’s 77kg
Gold- Xiaojun Lu (China)
Silver- Haojie Lu (China)
Bronze- Ivan Cambar Rodriguez (Cuba)
Day 6 Medal Events
Archery:
Women’s Individual Bronze Medal Match (10:21 am)
Women’s Individual Gold Medal Match (10:37 am)
Artistic Gymnastics:
Women’s Individual All-Around (11:30 am)
Canoe/Kayak:
Men’s C2 Slalom (10:18 am)
Women’s K1 Slalom (10:57 am)
Cycling:
Women’s Track Team Sprint Final (12:59 pm)
Men’s Track Team Sprint Final (1:15 pm)
Fencing:
Women’s Team Foil Bronze Medal Match (1:00 pm)
Women’s Team Foil Gold Medal Match (2:15 pm)
Judo:
Men’s 100kg Bronze Medal Matches (9:28 am)
Men’s 100kg Gold Medal Match (11:10 am)
Women’s 78kg Bronze medal Matches (9:00 am)
Women’s 78kg Gold Medal Match (11:00 am)
Rowing:
Men’s Double Sculls Final (4:50 am)
Men’s Lightweight Four Final (5:00 am)
Women’s Eight Final (7:30 am)
Shooting:
Men’s Double Trap Final (10:00 am)
Swimming:
Women’s 200m Breaststroke Final (2:40 pm)
Men’s 200m Backstroke Final (2:48 pm)
Men’s 200m Individual Medley Final (3:19 pm)
Women’s 100m Freestyle Final (3:37 pm)
Table Tennis:
Men’s Singles Bronze Medal Match (9:30 am)
Men’s Singles Gold Medal Match (10:30 am)
|
Medal Table |
|||||
|
# |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1 |
China |
17 |
9 |
4 |
30 |
|
2 |
USA |
12 |
8 |
9 |
23 |
|
3 |
Japan |
2 |
4 |
11 |
17 |
|
4 |
France |
5 |
3 |
5 |
13 |
|
5 |
Germany |
3 |
8 |
2 |
13 |
|
6 |
South Korea |
6 |
2 |
4 |
12 |
|
7 |
Russia |
2 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
|
8 |
Italy |
3 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
|
9 |
Great Britain |
2 |
3 |
4 |
9 |
|
10 |
Australia |
1 |
6 |
2 |
9 |
|
13 |
Canada |
0 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
The Sport Addiction 