The canoeing sprints were the pick of the morning’s action. The Kayak 4 comes across well on the TV and the men’s K4 1000m was no exception. Although Australia were the only non European crew they proved too strong for their rivals with Hungary taking silver and the Czech Republic bronze. Hungary gained compensation for that defeat thanks to Danuta Kozak in the Women’s K1. Josefa Idem was 5th for Italy in her 8th Olympic Games.
The Women’s 10K open water swim was a gruelling event. Hopes were high for Team GBs Keri-anne Payne but she just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth by only a matter of inches. Eva Riszstov of Hungary won Gold making almost all the running and although getting tired she just held off the challenge of American Haley Anderson, who finished second to claim silver, with Italy’s Martina Grimaldi taking bronze.
The desperately close finishes continue with Canada scoring the only goal of the women’s football bronze medal match in the last minute and that after France had twice hit the woodwork. USA took gold beating Japan 2.1.
The track finals followed the form book. Usain Bolt ran a fantastic bend to successfully defend the 200m crown in a clean sweep for Jamaica with Blake second and Weir third. David Rudisha broke the Olympic record to win the 800m for Kenya in majestic fashion and Ashton Eaton as expected took the decathlon for the USA.
There were two more golds for team GB in sports as diverse as boxing and dressage. Nicola Adams made history by becoming the first woman to win Olympic gold with a stunning display against her Chinese opponent in the flyweight division. We won gold and bronze in the individual dressage thanks to Charlotte DeJardin and Laura Bechtolsheimer.
Our only competitor in the wrestling, Olga Butkevych was beaten by her opponent from Ecuador despite taking an early lead.
Ireland won their first medal of the games in the women’s boxing when Katie Taylor outpointed Russian Sofya Ochigava amid an extraordinary atmosphere at ExCeL.
The women’s team events have reached their final stages. In the water polo USA won gold beating Spain 8.5 while Australia edged out Hungary 13.11.
Norway will meet Montenegro in the handball final after they had beaten Korea and Spain. Brazil and the USA won their volleyball semis against Japan and Korea.
Team GB were thrashed 9.2 in the men’s hockey semi final by Holland who will meet Germany in the final after Germany had beaten Australia 4.2.
The women’s javelin crown went to Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic.
ahorse 