02-08-12
LONDON :New Zealand powered to its first gold of the London Olympics Thursday, coming from behind to beat Italy by half a length and win the men's double sculls.
In the pool, Michael Phelps continued his bid to become the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics. In tennis, Serena Williams and British hopeful Andy Murray both advanced to the semifinals, while Britain won two gold medals — in men's canoe double and in shooting.Russian President Vladimir Putin, an honorary president of the International Judo Federation, was the latest dignitary to watch the games. Separately, Olympic officials sought to draw a line under the badminton scandal, a day after eight badminton players were disqualified from the women's doubles for trying to lose their matches and secure a more favourable draw in the next round.
At Eton Dorney west of London, New Zealand's rowing duo Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan, who broke the Olympic-best time in the heats, added gold to their two world titles. The race was without Australian defending champions David Crawshay and Scott Brennan, eliminated in the semifinals along with favoured German crew Hans Gruhne and Stephan Kruger.Minutes later, South Africa's lightweight men's fours won a closely fought race, narrowly beating Britain and Denmark and adding a third gold for South Africa, which already has two from swimming in the London Games.
The crew of James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and Sizwe Ndlovu burst through from lane 5 to catch Denmark, the longtime leader, to win in a time of 6 minutes, 02.84 seconds. Britain just edged the Danes for silver, finishing just 0.25 seconds behind the winner.
In rowing's more high-profile event, the United States held off Canada to win a second straight Olympic gold in the women's eight, maintaining its six-year dominance and leading from start to finish to win in 6 minutes, 10.59 seconds. Canada finished a half-length behind and the Netherlands took the bronze.
The U.S. hasn't lost a competitive race in the eight since winning the world title in 2006.
"That is an American dynasty, baby," said U.S. crew-member Susan Francia, close to tears as she collected her medal. "It's just so special."
South Africa also had its eye on the pool, with Chad le Clos winning his 100-meter butterfly preliminaries. Phelps, the American swimming phenomenon, was second after rallying from last at the turn in the final morning swim of his storied career.
Le Clos won his 100 metres heat in 51.54 seconds, while Phelps took his in 51.72 as he tries to become the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.
Phelps plans to retire after his these Olympics, his fourth. He will swim the 200 individual medley final Thursday night in a showdown against rival Ryan Lochte, and then join his teammates for the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday.
In swimming's glamour event, the 50-meter freestyle, George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago qualified fastest in the preliminaries, with defending champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil close behind.
Cielo had a quick turnaround after finishing sixth in the 100 free the previous night.
"It was hard to sleep last night after the race because the final was so late," Cielo said. "This morning I was more concerned about making enough of an effort to get back. It's a matter of resting now to make sure I get a spot in the final."
Bovell touched in 21.77 seconds to win the sixth of eight heats. The 29-year-old four-time Olympian is solely focused on the 50 at these games after winning his country's first swimming medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 200 individual medley.
In Tennis, Murray delighted a crowd that included Prince William and his wife, Kate, by winning his quarterfinal match and becoming the first men's semifinalist at Wimbledon. Murray, seeded No. 3, beat No. 11 Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-4, 6-1, and on Friday will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Serena Williams tried a left-handed forehand to complement her booming serve and slingshot returns, and while she lost that rally, she won most of the other points, beating former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-0, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.
Seeking the first singles medal of her career, Williams has lost only 13 games through four rounds. She'll face top-ranked Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Friday for a berth in the final.
The badminton scandal still lingered over the games, with defending Olympic champion Yu Yang of China, one of those disqualified, apparently quitting the sport. A comment on a verified account for Yu on the Tencent microblogging service read: "This is my last game. Farewell Badminton World Federation. Farewell my dear badminton."
Yu's retirement could not be immediately confirmed with Chinese badminton officials. In China, the lives of top athletes are closely controlled by sports officials, including decisions on retirement.
The IOC asked the Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian national Olympic committees to investigate the coaches of those disqualified, to determine whether team coaches, trainers or officials should also be punished.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said a "line has been drawn" under the matter, and that the national committees were taking away the players' accreditations and sending them home.
Putin, an avid judo player himself, joined the host nation's prime minister, David Cameron, in watching the judo competition later Thursday. Putin's visit will be his first to Britain since he was reinstalled as Russia's chief in May.
The host nation swept the two top spots in men's canoe slalom, with Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott winning gold, and David Florence and Richard Hounslow in second place. Slovakian twins Pavel and Peter Hochschorner, who were attempting to win their fourth straight gold medal in this event, had to settle for bronze. It was a stunning defeat for the Hochschorners, who have also won the last three world championships and are ranked No. 1.
Another British gold came in shooting, with Peter Wilson winning the double trap. The 25-year-old shooter, who holds the world record, scored 188 points and won by two points ahead of Sweden's Hakan Dahlby, who claimed silver. Vasily Mosin of Russia won bronze after winning a shootout with Fehaid al-Deehani of Kuwait.
No comments:
Post a Comment