Sunday 29 July 2012

London 2012: Team GB wins first Olympic medals - BBC News

London 2012: Team GB wins first Olympic medals - BBC News

Team GB has won its first London 2012 medals, with cyclist Lizzie Armitstead taking silver in the women's road race.

Swimmer Rebecca Adlington has taken bronze in the final of the 400m freestyle.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe insisted Olympics venues were "stuffed" with sports fans, after a row about empty seats on Saturday.

However, on Sunday empty seats could be seen at several sports, including basketball, volleyball and tennis.

Armitstead, 23, from Otley near Leeds, was beaten to the gold at the end of the 140-kilometre race by Holland's Marianne Vos in a sprint finish on The Mall.

She said: "I'm really, really happy. Maybe later I'll start thinking about that gold, but I'm happy with silver at the moment."

Adlington, 23, who lost her title to Camille Muffat of France, said she was glad she had won a medal at a home games.

"The crowd were just absolutely amazing, this is what I wanted, this is what picks you up, this is what gets you from fourth to third and gets us on that podium. I know so many people wanted me to get the gold and sorry about that, but I tried my absolute hardest, I'm so pleased with that."

Her battle to hold on to her 800m freestyle title will begin with heats on Thursday morning before Friday night's final.

In other Olympic developments:

Lord Coe spoke out as the row mounted over unfilled seats in several Olympic venues.

At some venues, seats in the accredited "Olympic family" areas - reserved for groups including officials, sports federations, athletes, journalists and sponsors - have remained empty.

"I don't think you will be seeing this as an issue, long-term through the Games," he told a press conference.

Organisers Locog said it would fill some of the empty seats with servicemen and women, as well as local students and teachers.

It said it would also sell more tickets, after some 1,000 tickets were released on the London 2012 website on Saturday night.

A system has been introduced similar to the one used at Wimbledon, where people coming out of the stadium handed on their tickets so the seats could be made available to others.

A Locog spokesman added that it would examine options to upgrade the tickets of members of the public and move them into accredited areas.

On Sunday, empty seats were seen at venues including basketball at the Olympic Park, where troops filled the gaps, tennis at Wimbledon and volleyball at Earl's Court.

Around 100 seats at the gymnastics at the North Greenwich Arena were also given to troops.

But many other venues were full, including boxing, judo and fencing at ExCel, badminton at Wembley Arena and shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

American Paul Fondie, who now lives in Kew, west London, said he was frustrated by the number of empty seats at the men's gymnastics at the O2 on Saturday.

He said he and his wife had not been able to take their six-year-old son because they could not get an extra ticket.

"It tainted my experience of the Olympics - it was our moment to come under the microscope and show that London can do it well."

Andy Murray has claimed his first Olympic singles victory, beating Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-3.

And Briton Ben Ainslie opened his quest for a fourth Olympic gold medal with a second place finish in the opening race in the sailing at Weymouth Bay.

British teams have been competing in basketball, handball, hockey, volleyball, water polo and the football on Sunday.

What are your experiences of the London 2012 Olympic Games so far? You can get in touch using the form below:

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions


Source: www.bbc.co.uk

London 2012 Olympics: Paula Radcliffe withdraws from Games with foot injury - Daily Telegraph

“However, the down side is that it can break your heart and spirit many times over when your body is simply unable to match what your heart and brain want it to do.”

Charles van Commenee, the UK Athletics head coach, said: “This is obviously a disappointing day for Paula and our sport but it was important to her that if she made the start line it would be in the best possible shape. It wasn’t meant to be and she has taken the right decision to withdraw at this stage.

“I think it is important that we don’t look at Paula’s career in Olympic cycles. She is undoubtedly one of the greatest female distance runners of all time and still holds the marathon world record.”

Radcliffe has been dogged by injury and health problems since she returned to competitive racing following the birth of her second child, Raphael, in 2010, forcing her to admit on several occasions that her body was suffering from irreversible wear and tear after two decades of high-mileage pounding.

She has raced just once this year, in the Vienna Half-Marathon in April, where she was hampered by bronchial problems and recorded the slowest time of her career at that distance.

Following her latest setback, a worsening of an osteoarthritis condition that was first diagnosed in 1994, she flew to Munich for treatment at the hands of sports specialist Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, though not even the man known as “Healing Hans” could solve her problems.

Initially unable to run without pain, she continued to work on a cross-trainer in the hope that her injury would settle down, but Sunday’s fitness test confirmed her fears that the London Olympics were out of reach.

“As desperate as I was to be part of the amazing experience of the London Olympics, I don’t want to be there below my best,” she said. “If I can’t be there and give it my best, then I would rather someone else who can do that is able to be there.

“I have been through the mill emotionally and physically the past three weeks, cried more tears than ever, vented more frustration and at the same time calmly tried every direction and avenue available to heal myself.

“Now is the time to rest totally, give my body chance to recover and assess calmly what can be done and where I go from here. In the meantime, I will be supporting the team as strongly as ever.”


Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

No comments: