Olympic Update: Day 7
With one week in the books for the London 2012 Olympics there has been plenty of excitement and controversy. For the first week of the games there was plenty to watch as many sports kicked off their games with a bang. Of course one of the focuses was in the pool as swimming once again took over week 1. Swimming has always been one of the most popular sports in the summer games as it regularly draws massive crowds. This year was no different as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and a host of new talent drew everyone to the pool. With only a few days left in the pool the focus will shift to the only sport that rivals swimming in popularity. In fact it is more of a collection of sports known in these Olympics as Athletics but known to many as Track and Field. The Track and Field competition in the Olympics is the main draw for almost everyone who watches. It gives rise to the best stories and the biggest stars and so it arrives in the last week of the Games. Due to the popularity of both swimming and track and field Olympic organizers schedule both at separate times. The Swimming is generally featured in the first week at primetime, primetime in London of course not here. The swimming then makes way for the other primetime sport in athletics. This is where we sit in day 7 of the London 2012 Games as fans get ready for a busy few days with swimming winding down and athletics just getting started. This year in Athletics there will be more than enough to watch for to keep every sports fan busy. One of the biggest stories going into the Olympics is that of Oscar Pistorius the double amputee who will be racing in the 200m event and the 4x200m event at the Olympics. It was a long struggle for Pistorius who had his legs amputated when he was very young due to a degenerative disease. Since that moment Pistorius has continued to participate and continued to excel especially in running. With specially designed prosthetics Pistorius was able to compete at the highest level of the sport and won multiple Gold medals in the Paralympics. Then he looked to advance as he tried to compete for the Olympics but was told he could not due to his prosthetics. The rule was overturned before the 2008 Beijing Olympics but Pistorius failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics forcing him to postpone his dream for another four-year. In London Pistorius gets his shot as he will compete among able-bodied athletes as the first double amputee to do so in the history of the Olympics. The stories do not stop their though as a rivalry, much like the one in the pool, will be the central focus of most of the Athletics competition. The rivalry between reigning Olympic champion in the 100m Usain Bolt and his training partner Yohan Blake will be one of the major stories of the Athletics competition. In 2008 Usain Bolt seemed untouchable winning without really trying and breaking records in the 100m and the 200m. Then came Blake who, with a legendary work ethic, beat Bolt in the Jamaican trials to get to the Olympics. They will face off head to head in the marquee matchup of the London games the 100m sprint, which will take place on Sunday. That is of course if both move into the finals as either one could be eliminated thanks to the new rule that forces a runner out of the race on one false start. Bolt has already fallen victim to this in the World Championships when he failed to make the finals after a false start. It will be one of the biggest things to watch on the track this year in London. There will be plenty more stories to follow in the Olympic Track and Field competition as people wonder if Great Britain can pull off medals in the signature event of the Olympics or as people watch Kenya look to sweep the long distance races this year. As the track events began in the Olympic Stadium on Day 7 the excitement had built and will continue to build as London 2012 enters its second week.
The Canadian Story
Slip costs Burnett a Medal
Jason Burnett went into the Olympics as a bit of a wild card as he was known for going big but not always necessarily landing and on his day in the Olympics the not landing part burnt him as he slipped on his final jump ending hopes of a medal
Zelinka Starts Strong
Jessica Zelinka began her Olympic journey today with the first four events in the Heptathlon and she started it with a bang running a personal best and finishing second in the 100m hurdles while finishing the first of two days in third place
Basketball lives to play another day
The Canadian women’s teams have been doing great at these games as the Women’s Basketball team beat Brazil today giving them a spot in the quarter-finals as they move into the top 8 teams of the Olympics
Women’s Soccer continues to roll
Women’s teams continue their successful day as the Soccer team was able to get past the loud corwd and beat the home team to move further than any Canadian Women’s soccer team ever has but will be in tough when they take on USA in the Semi-Finals
Armstrong Disappointed Again
Dylan Armstrong has been one of the faces of the Olympics for London and his day came to try to recover from his 4th place finish in 2008 but it wasn’t to be as he finished one spot less in 5th place and again missed the podium
Day 7 Medal Results
Archery:
Men’s Individual
Gold- Oh Jin-Hyek (South Korea)
Silver- Takaharu Furukawa (Japan)
Bronze- Dai Xiaoxiang (China)
Athletics:
Men’s Shot Put
Gold- Tomasz Majewski (Poland)
Silver- Ryan Whiting (USA)
Bronze- David Storl (Germany)
Women’s 10,000m
Gold- Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
Silver- Ally Kipyego (Kenya)
Bronze- Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya)
Badminton:
Mixed Doubles
Gold- Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (China)
Silver- Ma Jin/Xu Chen (China)
Bronze- Christinna Pederson/Joachim Fischer (Denmark)
Cycling:
Men’s Track- Team Pursuit
Gold- Great Britain
Silver- Australia
Bronze- New Zealand
Women’s Track- Keirin
Gold- Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
Silver- Guo Shuang (China)
Bronze- Le Wai Sze (Hong Kong)
Fencing:
Men’s Team Sabre
Gold- South Korea
Silver- Romania
Bronze- Italy
Judo:
Women’s +78kg
Gold- Idalys Ortiz (Cuba)
Silver- Mika Sugimoto (Japan)
Bronze- Karina Bryant (Great Britain)
Bronze- Tong Wen (China)
Men’s +100kg
Gold- Teddy Riner (France)
Silver- Alexander Mikhaylin (Russia)
Bronze- Andreas Toelzer (Germany)
Bronze- Rafael Silva (Brazil)
Rowing:
Men’s Single Sculls
Gold- Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand)
Silver- Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic)
Bronze- Alan Campbell (Great Britain)
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
Gold- Germany
Silver- Croatia
Bronze- Australia
Men’s Pair
Gold- Hamish Bond/Eric Murray (New Zealand)
Silver- Germain Chardin/Dorian Mortelette (France)
Bronze- George Nash/William Satch (Great Britain)
Women’s Double Sculls
Gold- Katherine Grainger/Anna Watkins (Great Britain)
Silver- Kim Crow/Brooke Pratley (Australia)
Bronze- Magdalena Fularczyk/Julia Michalska (Poland)
Shooting:
Men’s 50m Rifle Prone
Gold- Sergei Martynov (Belarus)
Silver- Lionel Cox (Belgium)
Bronze- Rajmond Debevec (Slovenia)
Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
Gold- Leuris Popo (Cuba)
Silver- Vijay Kumar (Indonesia)
Bronze- Ding Feng (China)
Swimming:
Women’s 200m Backstroke
Gold- Missy Franklin (USA)
Silver- Anastasia Zueva (Russia)
Bronze- Elizabeth Beisel (USA)
Men’s 100m Butterfly
Gold- Michael Phelps (USA)
Silver- Chad le Clos (South Africa)
Bronze- Evgeny Korotyshkin (Russia)
Women’s 800m Freestyle
Gold- Katie Ledecky (USA)
Silver- Mireia Belmonte Garcia (Spain)
Bronze- Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain)
Men’s 50m Freestyle
Gold- Laurent Manaudou (France)
Silver- Cullen Jones (USA)
Bronze- Cesar Cielo (Brazil)
Trampoline:
Men’s Individual
Gold- Dong Dong (China)
Silver- Dmitry Ushakov (Russia)
Bronze- Lu Chunlong (China)
Weightlifting:
Women’s 75kg
Gold- Svetlana Podobedova (Kazakhstan)
Silver- Natalya Zabolotnaya (Russia)
Bronze- Iryna Kulesha (Belarus)
Men’s 85kg
Gold- Adrian Zielinski (Poland)
Silver- Apti Aukhadov (Russia)
Bronze- Kianoush Rostami (Iran)
Day 8 Medal Events
(All Time in EDT)
Athletics:
Men’s 20km Race Walk Final (12:00 pm)
Women’s Discus Throw Final (2:30 pm)
Men’s Long Jump Final (2:55 pm)
Women’s Heptathlon 800m (3:35 pm)
Men’s 10,000m Final (4:15 pm)
Women’s 100m Final (4:55 pm)
Badminton:
Women’s Doubles Bronze Medal Match (5:30 am)
Women’s Doubles Gold Medal Match (10:45 am)
Women’s Singles Bronze medal Match ((8:30 am)
Women’s Singles Gold Medal Match (9:15 am)
Cycling:
Women’s Track- Team Sprint Finals (12:42 pm)
Fencing:
Women’s Team Epee Bronze Medal Match (1:00 pm)
Women’s Team Epee Gold Medal Match (2:15 pm)
Rowing:
Women’s Single Sculls Final (4:30 am)
Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls Final (4:40 am)
Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls (5:00 am)
Men’s Four Finals (5:30 pm)
Shooting:
Women’s 50m Three Positions Final (7:45 am)
Women’s Trap (10:00 am)
Swimming:
Women’s 50m Freestyle Final (2:30 pm)
Men’s 1,500m Freestyle Final (2:36 pm)
Women’s 4x100m medley Relay Final (3:07 pm)
Men’s 4x100m medley Relay Final (3:27 pm)
Tennis:
Men’s Singles Final (TBD)
Women’s Singles Final (TBD)
Men’s Doubles Final (TBD)
Women’s Doubles Final (TBD)
Trampoline:
Women’s Individual Final (10:26 am)
Triathlon:
Women’s Triathlon (4:00 am)
Weightlifting:
Men’s 94kg Final (2:00 pm)
|
Medal Table |
|||||
|
# |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 | USA |
21 |
10 |
12 |
43 |
| 2 | China |
20 |
13 |
9 |
42 |
| 3 | Russia |
3 |
12 |
8 |
23 |
| 4 | Great Britain |
8 |
6 |
8 |
22 |
| 5 | Japan |
2 |
8 |
11 |
21 |
| 6 | Germany |
5 |
9 |
6 |
20 |
| 7 | France |
8 |
5 |
6 |
19 |
| 8 | South Korea |
9 |
2 |
5 |
16 |
| 9 | Australia |
1 |
9 |
4 |
14 |
| 10 | Italy |
4 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
| 12 | Canada |
0 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
The Sport Addiction 