International Olympic Committee : News

London delivers final report, as Games report to Session

9/8/2013 9:00:00 PM

Reflecting on the past seven years, Coe underlined the tremendous successes that LOCOG and all its partners had been able to achieve during the seven years of preparations and, of course, in the delivery of the Games. He also focused on the outstanding legacy that London 2012 has delivered to the city of London, Great Britain, sport, and the Olympic Movement.

This was supported by Denis Oswald, the IOC’s Coordination Commission Chairman for the London Games, who commented, “[LOCOG’s] vision was to use the power of the Games to inspire a generation and transform a neglected part of the capital, bringing major social and economic benefits to a deprived area. This has been a spectacular illustration of the power of the Games to change people’s lives and to modify the face of a city.” LOCOG’s presentation concluded with a standing ovation led by IOC President Rogge in thanks for the work of the British team in delivering the Games.

The organisers of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games were up next with their President Dmitry Chernyshenko updating the Session on their preparations with only five months to go until the Games open. Chernyshenko spoke of the great progress that had been made in delivering venues and infrastructure, as well as in the finalization of Sochi’s operational plans.

Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy noted, “An intensive programme of test events, which was delivered mostly this past winter by Sochi 2014 and the Russian Sports Ministry, has been the most obvious example [of the progress made since last summer]. In total, almost 70 test events have been organized by Sochi. Whether they were of an international or local dimension, they have all been rich in lessons for Sochi 2014 and its partners. They have confirmed the quality of the competition venues and of the teams that will be called upon to operate them at the start of next year.”

Following the fifth visit of the IOC’s Coordination Commission to Rio de Janeiro only a week ago, the hosts of the 2016 Games, led by their President Carlos Arthur Nuzman, presented an update on the advances that were being made in a number of areas of Games preparations including venue and infrastructure construction, planning, and legacy.

Nawal El Moutawkel, Chair of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Rio 2016 Games, spoke of the progress that Rio had accomplished since their last session report in London last July. “Rio 2016 has made significant progress over the last year,” she said. El Moutawakel continued by emphasising that Rio 2016 had identified the key opportunities and risks and was learning the lessons of other major events that were being held in Brazil: “The opportunities and risks are now well identified. The Rio 2016 team, under the leadership of Carlos Nuzman and the new CEO, Sidney Levy, is adjusting its plans accordingly. They are also taking into account the lessons learned from the Confederations Cup and the World Youth Day.”

The last Games report was delivered by President Jinsun Kim and his team from the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee, who presented their new emblem to the Session and the advances that were being made in delivering the Korea’s first Olympic Winter Games.

IOC Coordination Commission Chair Gunilla Lindberg also looked to the future, by reminding the Korean delegation that they would have an unparalleled opportunity to learn from their observation of the Sochi Games and that once Sochi was over PyeongChang would really be under the spotlight, as the world turned its attention to Korea and the 2018 Games.

Dow’s London 2012 stadium wrap reused in Rio social project

8/28/2013 9:00:00 AM

The specialised wrap, which was provided by Worldwide Olympic Partner Dow and featured fabric coated with technology from Dow Elastomers, has been installed at the Bola Pra Frente Institute – a social project that provides education for socially-vulnerable children and teenagers in the Muquiço community of Rio de Janeiro, which will host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Panels from the wrap have been installed as shades at the Institute’s headquarters to increase the available space for outdoor activities. The installation of the shades also offered an opportunity to provide training and work to eight young people in the Muquiço community, who installed the panels and canopies after going through a training programme.

"The opportunity to bring one of our company’s key innovations from the London 2012 Olympic Games to Bola Pra Frente, a social project located at the next Olympic host city, emphasises Dow's commitment to the Olympic Games and to Rio de Janeiro," said George Hamilton, vice president, Dow Olympic Operations.

In addition to the Bola Pra Frente Institute in Brazil, panels from the stadium wrap will also be donated to an organisation in Uganda, which is dedicated to the education and social inclusion of children exposed to the hardships of the country’s civil war.

The remaining panels will then be recycled to be used as material for packaging, flooring and building applications.

London 2012 - Day 11 - Chris Hoy crowned British Olympic king

8/7/2013 11:00:00 AM

Chris Hoy crowned British Olympic king
At the Olympic Velodrome, Chris Hoy successfully defended his keirin title to win a second gold at London 2012, after helping Great Britain to victory in the team sprint. It was the Scot’s sixth Olympic gold in total, and his seventh medal overall from his three appearances at the Games, making him the most successful British Olympian of all time. Cheered on by a euphoric crowd, Hoy pipped Germany’s Maximilian Levy to the line, while New Zealander Simon van Velthooven and Ted Mulder of the Netherlands were tied for the bronze.

Another British favourite Victoria Pendleton, who had already won gold in the women’s keirin, suffered heartache in the defence of her individual sprint title, as she was disqualified after the first leg of the three-leg final against Anna Meares for straying out of the sprint lane. That enabled the Australian to clinch her second Olympic gold, eight years after winning the women’s 500m in Athens. Laura Trott ensured the day ended on another high for Team GB at the velodrome, as she won the first ever Olympic title in the women’s Omnium, completing the six-discipline event ahead of American Sarah Hammer and Australia’s Annette Edmondson, to add to the gold she won as part of the British women’s pursuit team.

Taoufik Makhloufi wins the 1,500m
Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi won the final of the 1,500m in 3:34.08 after launching a successful break in the last lap. USA’s Leonel Manzano emerged at the head of the four-strong chasing pack to claim the silver, just 71/100ths of a second behind Makhloufi, while Morocco’s Abdalaati Iguider crossed the line in 3:35.13 for the bronze.

There was a tense wait at the end of the women’s 100m hurdles final, as all eyes turned to the giant scoreboard for confirmation of Sally Pearson’s victory in a new Olympic record time of 12.35. The Australian finished a mere 2/100ths of a second ahead of the defending champion Dawn Harper of the USA, who was followed over the line by two other Americans, Kellie Wells, who took the bronze, and Lolo Jones who came in fourth.

In the men’s high jump, Russia’s Ivan Ukhov was the only athlete to go clear at 2.38m (doing so with his first attempt) and that was enough to secure the gold. USA’s Erik Kynard took silver with a best effort of 2.33m, while the bronze was shared by three athletes Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT), Derek Drouin (CAN) and Robert Grabarz (GBR) – all of whom cleared 2.29m.

The men’s discus title went to Germany’s Robert Harding who recorded a distance of 68.27m with his fifth throw, to take the gold ahead of Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi, who managed 68.18m with his first attempt, and Estonian Gerd Kanter, who recorded a best distance of 68.03m with his fifth throw.

Brownlee brothers share the triathlon podium
Tens of thousands of spectators flocked to Hyde Park in central London to witness Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee win the men’s triathlon in emphatic style. Having completed the 1.5km swim and 43km cycle race at a high tempo, Brownlee broke free of Spain’s Javier Gómez in the last few kilometres of the 10km run to cross the line first, draped in a Union Jack flag, with a gap of 11 seconds. Alistair’s younger brother Jonathan finished 31 seconds off the pace, having picked up a 15 second stop penalty during the first transition for mounting his bicycle too early, but still did enough to claim the bronze. At the finish Brownlee brothers met in a warm embrace, much to the delight of a delirious public.

Two medals in one day for Alexandra Raisman
At the North Greenwich Arena, China’s gymnasts claimed a one-two in the balance beam, as Deng Linlin (15.600 pts) and Sui Lu (15.500 pts) took gold and silver respectively. Behind them, Romania’s Cătălina Ponor and USA’s Alexandra Raisman recorded the same score of 15.066 pts, but the American was awarded the bronze by virtue of a higher execution score. Raisman again got the better of Ponor on the floor, where the American delivered a wonderful routine to become USA’s first ever gold medal winner in the discipline. Russia’s Aliya Mustafina won the bronze. That took Raisman’s London 2012 medal tally to three, as she also captained USA’s women to gold in the team competition. The men’s horizontal bar produced some sensational performances, notably from “the Flying Dutchman” Epke Zonderland, who served up an incredible routine that linked together the discipline’s three most difficult manoeuvres to win gold, and give the Netherlands its first ever Olympic gymnastics medal.Joining Zonderland on the podium were Germany’s Fabian Hambüchen (silver) and China’s Zou Kai, who took bronze to notch up his sixth Olympic medal. On the men’s parallel bars, China’s Feng Zhe took the title ahead of Germany’s Marcel Ngyuen (silver) and Hamilton Sabot (bronze), the first Frenchman to secure a podium finish on this apparatus and his country’s only medal winner in the gymnastics at London 2012.

Golden moment for Team GB in the dressage
Prior to London 2012, the host nation’s dressage team had never even managed a place on the podium in the team event, which had been completely dominated by Germany since Los Angeles 1984. All that changed at Greenwich Park, where Charlotte Dujardin (on Valegro), Carl Hester (on Uthopia) and Laura Bechtolsheimer (on Mistral Hojris) scored highest to claim gold, relegating the German trio of Dorothee Schneider, Kristina Sprehe and Helen Langehanenberg to an unfamiliar second place. Three-time individual dressage champion Anky van Grunsven, and her Dutch team-mates Edward Gal and Adelinde Cornelissen took the bronze.

China maintain perfect record in the table tennis
At the ExCeL, Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning, who faced each other in the final of the table tennis women’s singles, joined forces for the team event, along with Guo Yue, and the trio proved far too strong for Japan, prevailing 3-0 in the final to underline their dominance of the sport. Singapore produced a similarly comprehensive victory over South Korea in the bronze medal match. By this stage, with just the men’s team final still to come, China had managed a clean sweep of the table tennis gold medals, winning four out of four.

Synchronised swimmers and divers take centre stage at Aquatics Centre
Continuing an uninterrupted sequence of Russian synchronised swimming triumphs dating back to Sydney 2000, Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina secured a resounding victory in the women’s duet at the Aquatics Centre, delighting the crowds with a superb free programme. Spanish pair Ona Carbonell and Andrea Fuentes took the silver, while China’s Liu Ou and Huang Xuechen claimed bronze. While that was happening, Russian diver Ilya Zakharov produced an assured performance in the men’s individual 3m springboard to see off a dual Chinese challenge from Qin Kai and He Chong, each of whom had won gold medals in Beijing four years earlier.

RS:X reaches dramatic climax
Following the completion of the medal races at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberghe and Spain’s Marina Alabau were rewarded for their dominance in the men’s and women’s RS:X windsurfing class. With seven victories from 11 races, including the medal race, van Rjjsselberghe’s victory looked pretty assured from early on, while Great Britain’s Nick Dempsey secured a firm grip on second place in the early stages too. There was drama in the battle for bronze though, as Poland’s Przemyslav Miarrczynski did just enough in the medal race, finishing fourth, to secure the bronze.

Alabau was equally dominant in the women’s competition, securing four race victories on her way to the podium, which she shared with Finland’s Tuuli Petäjä (silver) and Poland’s Zofia Klepacka (bronze).

Iranians shine in weightlifting and wrestling
Iran underlined their status as one of the dominant forces in the weightlifting competitions. Following on from the bronze won by Kianoush Rostami in the 85kg category, and Navab Nasirshelal’s silver in the 105kg, the Iranians went one better in the +105kg category, with Behdad Salimi, lifting 208kg in the snatch – 6kg off his world record – and then 247kg in the clean and jerk, to assemble a gold-medal winning total of 455kg. Sajiad Anoushiravani made it an Iranian one-two on th podium with a total of 449kg ((204kg + 245kg), while Russia’s Ruslan Albegov took the bronze, lifting a total of 448kg (208kg + 240kg). There was further joy for Iran in the Greco-Roman wrestling, where Ghasem Rezaei won the men’s -96kg category final, defeating Russia’s Rustam Totrov in two periods. The other wrestling gold of the day went to South Korea’s Kim Hyeon-Woo who overcame Hungarian Tamás Lőrincz in the final of the men’s -66kg category.

Podium places come into view in the team sports
The semi-finals of the men’s Olympic football tournament produced an all-Latin American showdown for the gold medal In the semi-finals, the Brazilian "Seleção" eased past South Korea 3-0 thanks to a strike from Romulo and a double from Leandro Damiao; meanwhile, Mexico overcame Japan 3-1, with goals from Fabian, Peralta and Cortes, after Otsu had given the Japanese an early lead.

The women’s basketball reached the quarter-finals stage, with the USA (91-48 versus Canada), Australia (75-60 vs China), Russia (66-63 vs Turkey) and France (71-68 vs the Czech Republic) all progressing into the last four. The semi-final line-up for the women’s handball was confirmed too, with Norway, Spain, South Korea and Montenegro all winning their quarter-final ties. South Korea’s women also progressed to the last four of the women’s volleyball, alongside Brazil, Japan and the USA. Finally, in the women’s water polo the USA defeated Australia 11-9 to secure a final showdown against Spain, who edged through their semi-final against Hungary 10-9.

London 2012 - Day 5 - Great Britain's first golds

8/1/2013 3:49:00 PM

Host nation opens gold account…
The first final of the day took place on the rowing lake at Eton Dorney, and turned out to be a memorable one for the local fans, as Helen Glover and Heather Stanning powered to victory in the women’s coxless pairs to give Team GB their first gold of London 2012. As the decibel levels rose to a crescendo, the pair produced a brilliant race to finish almost three seconds ahead of their Australian and New Zealand rivals.

There was also joy on the water for Ukraine, whose quartet of Kateryna Tarasenko, Nataliya Dovgodko, Anastasiia Kozhenkova and Yana Damentieva were triumphant in the women’s quadruple sculls final, finishing comfortably ahead of their nearest challengers, Germany and the USA, who took silver and bronze respectively. The Germans fared better in the final of the men’s eight, who got the best of a tight contest with the Canadian and British crews.

…and grabs one more on the road
Team GB had further cause to celebrate in the afternoon, as Bradley Wiggins, fresh from his victory in the Tour de France, took to the streets of west London to add a time trial gold to the six Olympic medals he amassed in the velodrome at previous editions. He did so in emphatic style, clocking a time of 50:39.54 for the 44km course, to finish an incredible 42 seconds faster than second-placed Tony Martin of Germany. Wiggins’ fellow Briton Chris Froome claimed the bronze. Meanwhile, the USA’s Kristin Armstrong triumphed in the women’s time trial for the second Games running, completing the 29km course in 37:34.82, 16 seconds faster than her nearest rival, Germany’s Judith Arendt. Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya completed the podium line-up to take the bronze.

Records tumble in the pool
In the pool, USA’s Nathan Adrian clinched gold in the men’s 100m freestyle, touching the wall in 47.52 to see off Australia’s James Magnussen by just one hundredth of a second. Canada’s Brent Hayden finished third in 47.80. In the men’s 200m breaststroke, two-time world champion, Daniel Gyurta of Hungary saw off home favourite Michael Jamieson and Japan’s Ryo Tateishi to take the gold in a new world record time of 2:07.28. In the women’s 200m butterfly, China’s Jiao Liuyang claimed gold and set a new Olympic record of 2:04.06, ahead of Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia and Natsumi Hoshi of Japan. And to round off the day’s action at the Aquatics Centre, Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Allison Schmitt – all of whom had already secured individual golds at London 2012 – teamed up with Shannon Vreeland to win the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in 7:42.92 – another new Olympic record – ahead of Australia and France.

Gymnast Uchimura reigns supreme in Greenwich
Japan’s three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura confirmed his status as the best male individual artistic gymnast in the world with a series of stunning displays at North Greenwich Arena. Uchimura, who won silver in Beijing, produced exceptional performances on vault, rings, pommel horse and horizontal bar to record an overall score of 92.690 and claim the gold medal ahead of Marcel Nguyen (GER) and Danell Leyva (USA).

China impress at the Aquatics Centre and the ExCeL
Back at the Aquatics Centre, China underlined their supremacy in the synchronised diving events, completing a clean sweep of all of the available gold medals in London. On the 3m springboard a, Luo Yutong and Qin Kai registered the best scores in five of their six dives, finishing well clear of Russian pair Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov and the American duo Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen.
There was further Chinese domination over at the ExCeL, where the world number one Ding Ning came up against her compatriot and world number two Li Xiaoxia in the women’s table tennis final, with the latter eventually prevailing in a five set thriller. Singapore’s Feng Tianwei joined them on the podium after overcoming Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa in the bronze medal match.

Judo champion Décosse claims Olympic crown
At the ExCeL, French judoka Lucie Décosse – the world number one, and reigning world champion – swept aside all of her opponents in regal fashion on her way to the final of the women’s -70kg category. She won each of her bouts by ippon, taking just nine seconds to dispatch Colombia’s Yuri Alvear in the quarter-finals. In the final, Décosse was too strong for her German opponent. Kerstin Thiele, and added an Olympic gold to her raft of honours. Alvear shared the bronze with Edith Bosch of the Netherlands. Meanwhile, in the final of the men’s -90kg, South Korea’s Song Dae-Nam overcame Cuba’s Asley González by waz-ari, with Ilias Iliadis of Greece and Japan’s Masashi Nishiyama taking bronze.

Limardo writes history for Venezuela
In the men’s épée Venezuela’s Ruben Limardo edged his way to the final thanks to a series of narrow victories, but then produced a rampant display to out manoeuvre Norway’s Bartosz Piasecki 15-10 to claim the title. Limardo became Venezuela’s first Olympic champion since flyweight boxer Francisco Rodriguez in Mexico in 1968, and claimed the first fencing gold for a Latin American country since Cuba’s Ramon Fonst won the foil in St Louis way back in 1904!

The bronze in the men’s épée went to South Korea’s Jung Jin-Sun. But his compatriot, Kim Ji-Yeon took gold in the women’s sabre, with a comprehensive 15-9 victory over Russia’s Sofia Velikaya. Two-time Olympic champion, Mariel Zagunis, who was accorded the honour of bearing the US flag at the Opening Ceremony, was squeezed off the podium this time around by Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan, who took bronze.

Slalom momentum for Molmenti
At the Lee Valley White Water Centre, Italy’s Daniele Molmenti produced a faultless final run to become Olympic champion in the men’s K-1 slalom, ahead of Czech Vavrinek Hradilek and Germany’s Hannes Aigner.

Kim calls the shots
Over at the Royal Artillery Barracks, 19-year old South Korean Jangmi Kim followed up on her gold medal at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, by setting a new Olympic record of 591 in the women’s 25m pistol during qualifying. And she maintained that form going into the final, where she shot a total of 792.4 to outscore defending champion Chen Ying of China and claim the gold. Ukraine’s Olena Kostevych took the bronze.

Sim and Lu raise the bar
Back at the ExCeL, Rim Jong-Sim won North Korea’s third gold in the weightlifting, recording a total lift of 261kg in the final of the women’s -69kg category. Romania’s Roxana Cocos and Belarusian Maryna Shkermankova took silver and bronze respectively. In the men’s competition, China’s Lu Xiaojun clinched gold in the -77kg category thanks to a 204kg lift in the clean and jerk, to give him a total of 379kg. Lu Haojie made it a Chinese one-two, as his total of 360kg was enough to secure silver, while Cuban Ivan Cambar took bronze with a combined lift of 349 kg.

And in other news…
On the courts of Wimbledon, the tennis continued to go to form as the favourites in the men’s singles (Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer ) and the women’s singles (Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Kim Clijsters) all qualified for the quarter-finals.

In the beach volleyball , the two-time champions and hot favourites, Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the USA lost a set for the first time in three editions of the Olympic Games! However, they recovered from this blip to overcome Austrian sisters Stefanie and Doris Schwaiger 21-17, 8-21, 10-15. Among the other Day 5 highlights in the team sports was the USA women’s basketball team’s emphatic 89-58 victory over Turkey.

Russia hold firm for opening win

12/6/2012 9:28:48 PM

The Europeans, who were silver medallists at the Beijing 2008 Games, were cruising to the points in Group A as they led 19-11 in the early exchanges of the second half, but a golden spell by the African champions saw them level at 23-23.

However, Russia regrouped and flexed their muscles to get over the finishing line by a three-goal margin, Liudmila Postnova top-scoring with five goals and Liudmila Bodnieva, Tatiana Khmyrova and Ekaterina Davydenko all grabbing four.

Angola's performance was underpinned by five goals from Isabel Guialo.

In the second match of the morning session, Republic of Korea comfortably saw off Spain 31-27 in Group B, which was something of a surprise result.

Eun Hee Ryu was chief destroyer for Korea with nine goals, while Carmen Martin Berenguer notched seven for the Spaniards.

IOC honours broadcasters for London 2012 coverage

11/30/2012 9:14:00 AM

Entries were reviewed by an international jury headed by IOC Member and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for London 2012, Denis Oswald. The winners received their prizes in Lausanne in the presence of IOC President Jacques Rogge. Members of the IOC Radio and Television Commission were also in attendance, along with representatives from the rights-holding broadcasters, the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games in London, Sochi and Rio, International Federations and the city of Lausanne.

Gold, silver and bronze trophies were awarded in five categories: Best Olympic Sports Production by Olympic Broadcasting Services, Best On Air Promotion, Best Olympic Feature, Best Athlete Profile and Best Olympic Programme.

It was NBC’s night as the broadcaster scooped three gold medals, including a win in the Best Olympic Programme category for its overview programme “The Games of the XXX Olympiad”. It also won gold for Best On Air Promotion and in the Best Olympic Feature its film “Measure and Motion” also took a gold medal. NBC was also runner-up in the Best Athlete Profile category, receiving a silver medal for its feature on David Rudisha, the Kenyan runner who won the men’s 800 metres in London in a new world-record time.

Created in 1976, the Olympic Golden Rings is a prestigious international contest through which the IOC seeks to promote and recognise excellence in television broadcasting of the Olympic Games. The contest is organised every two years, on the occasion of the Summer and Winter Games, under the aegis of the IOC Radio and Television Commission.

The full list of awards (title / director / producer), in order of presentation on the night, was as follows:

The Best Olympic Sports Production by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS)
Gold: Sailing / Christopher Lincoln / Gary Milkis, Ursula Romero
Silver: Canoe Kayak-Slalom / Jaime Garrido Rubira / Ursula Romero
Bronze: Rowing & Canoe/Kayak-Sprint / Matthew Coliandris / Makoto Nakamura

The Best On Air Promotion
Gold: NBC “The Games of the XXX Olympiad – NBC On-Air Promotion” / John Miller / Joseph Lee, Roger Guillen
Silver: Foxtel “Foxtel on Platform TVC” / Ash Bolland / Graham Burrells, Chantal Walker
Bronze: ZDF “Olympia Live” / Anke Scholten / Severine Rapp

Special Award
“MDS” Multi Channel Distribution Service / Kostas Kapatais, Jorge Pickering

The Best Olympic Feature
Gold: NBC Olympics “The Games of the XXX Olympiad ‘Measure and Motion’ / Mark Levy, Brian Brown, Joe Gesue, Philip Parrish
Silver: Sky Italia “Mosaico Olimpico” / Francesco Zupi
Bronze: ZDF “Olympia Live” / Anke Scholten / Nils Kaben

The Best Athlete Profile
Gold: TV Record “Sarah Menenzes – Piaui’s Pride” / Douglas Tavolaro / Thalita Leite, Fábio Harbacher, Marcos Cabral, Odair Marquesolo, Cristina Luckner, Ivana Perecin
Silver: NBC Olympics – “David Rudisha” / Jack Felling, Brian Longenecker
Bronze: ESPN Latin America “Pursuing a Dream – Miguel Correa and Ruben Rezola” / Carlos Sepiurca / Mariano Welch

The Best Olympic Programme
Gold: NBC Olympics “The Games of the XXX Olympiad” / Bucky Gunts / Mark Lazarus, Gary Zenkel, Jim Bell, Mark Levy, Joe Gesue, Molly Solomon, Rebecca Chatman
Silver: BBC Sport “Super Saturday” / Paul Davies / Carl Hicks, Dave Gordon
Bronze: Nine Network Australia “London Live – Day 16” / Shane Street, Alex Rolls / Steve Crawley, Lesley Tapsall, Tim Cleary, Matthew Callander, Brent Williams

Athletes savour the moment at Closing Ceremony

8/13/2012 1:35:00 PM

As Rio de Janeiro receiving the Olympic flag, athletes discussed what London 2012 had meant to them.

Australian diver Olympian Loudy Wiggins tweeted: “Dreams came true, hearts were broken. 2 weeks of sport where race, age or gender don't matter.”

Having competed in four Olympic Games, Wiggins added: “Shame it's only once every 4 years! #equality”

In a similar spirit, British rower Zac Purchase joked: “I want to do an olympics every day!!”

The silver medalist also posted a panoramic photo of the Stadium from the athletes area, adding: “Thank you everyone for making it so special for us athletes!!”

Former Indonesian swimmer and three-time Olympian Richard Sam Bera, watching the athlete procession from the stands, recalled with some emotion: “I used to be down there…”

Great Britain’s Kelly Holmes, a double gold medalist from Athens, echoed his sentiments, describing the Closing Ceremony as “amazing” and “emotional”.

“The end of a long long journey, pain, personal bests, tears,medals,” she tweeted before adding: “#rio2016 here we come”

The Games may be over, but you can follow your favourite Olympians on the Official Athletes’ Hub. Check it out!

Benefits of hosting London 2012 will be ongoing

8/12/2012 8:00:00 AM

The regeneration of East London and particularly Stratford, the site of the Olympic Park, will bring untold benefits to the area and the local communities that live there.

The Olympic Park will be transformed into the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, and the permanent venues within it will bring new leisure facilities to the area. The increased focus on the area brought by the Games coupled with an improvement in transport links and the new shopping centre next to the Park will bring greater visitor numbers and continued investment to the borough.

Permanent venues such as the Velodrome and the Aquatics centre will not only offer affordable facilities to encourage residents of the capital to get involved in sporting activities, they will also have the facilities to host world-class events. These will attract further tourism to London providing an ongoing boost for businesses operating in the capital.

The sporting legacy created by the Games will also have a lasting impact on the capital and its residents. London 2012 has generated a lot of interest in sport and a number of initiatives are already in place to capitalise on the enthusiasm generated and encourage people to get involved.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson described this week how London must continue the momentum created by the Games to secure a lasting legacy for the capital. “We can secure a transport, housing, infrastructure, sporting, cultural and social legacy from these Games and turn these Games to gold for decades to come,” he added.

Women punch their weight on Olympic debut - London 2012 - Boxing

8/12/2012 12:00:00 AM

When Russia's Elena Savelyeva beat Kim Hye Song 12-9 in the first women's bout in Games history, neither could possibly have envisaged the acclaim which would follow as the world's best female flyweights, lightweights and middleweights went toe to toe.

Ireland's almost invincible four-time world champion Katie Taylor emerged as her sport's first true Olympic heroine, accompanied to the ring by a roar of thousands of compatriots so loud it could likely be heard back in her home town of Bray.

Taylor figured in arguably the best bout of the tournament - men or women - when she waged war with Great Britain's Natasha Jonas, winning 26-15 in a furious bout which will live long in the memory of all who witnessed it. "I'm proud but disappointed," said Jonas afterwards. "All I could do was my best on the day and I did that. When you see bouts like that how can you argue that women's boxing isn't as good as the men? I think we've done women's boxing proud."

Jonas's belief was borne out by a series of excellent performances, with Nicola Adams skating to the flyweight gold medal over her old foe Ren Cancan of China, and 17-year-old Claressa Shields claiming America's only gold in the Middleweight division.

Kazakhstan's Serik Sapiyev was the stand-out fighter of the men's tournament, picking up the prestigious Val Barker Trophy for best boxer of the Games after finishing his excellent run with a 17-9 win over Great Britain's Fred Evans.

Vasyl Lomachenko was the other obvious star of the men's competition, skating away to his second consecutive Olympic gold medal and his first in the Lightweight division, a cut above his rivals throughout his excellent competition.

Hosts Great Britain topped the medals table with three golds, one silver and one bronze, their best performance in an Olympic Boxing ring since 1908.

Londoner Anthony Joshua rounded off a magnificent competition by winning a thrilling countback verdict over Roberto Cammarelle after the pair had been locked together at 18-18 at the end of three fast and furious rounds. Earlier, Britain's Luke Campbell had boxed majestically to see off his old rival and friend John Joe Nevin of Ireland.

The Irish had a good tournament, with four - Nevin, Taylor, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes - taking home medals.

Cuba returned to the top of the podium after missing out in Beijing, 18-year-old flyweight Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana particularly impressing, and light-welterweight Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo also taking gold.

China miss out on clean sweep - London 2012 - Diving

8/12/2012 12:00:00 AM

The Chinese were odds-on to go one better than at Beijing 2008 and replicate their perfect record from last year's World Championships.

The sweep was on after the opening week of the Olympics when all four of their synchro teams stood on the top podium.

But two of the most memorable Individual finals in Games history denied them total dominance.

Arguably the most dramatic was in the men's 10m Platform on the final night of competition when China's biggest star, Qiu Bo, took silver.

Qiu had been unbeatable for the past two years and coasted to the world title 12 months ago.

The 19-year-old maintained the trend in the opening two qualifying rounds before he came unstuck in one of the greatest Diving finals of all time.

Great Britain's Tom Daley led deadlocked duo Qiu and the USA's David Boudia by just 0.15 points heading into the final round.

With a 17,500-strong crowd in attendence, Daley attracted a single score of 10 for his final effort.

The 18-year-old's degree of difficulty paled in comparison to Boudia and Qiu though, and when the USA diver produced a brilliant effort before Qiu slightly missed his a stunning upset was celebrated.

Boudia, who edged into the semi-final in 18th, was left amazed while Qiu stood shattered as his quest for a first Olympic gold was ended.

'It still hasn't sunk in that I had a gold medal, that I was standing on the podium and the anthem was playing,' said Boudia.

'Diving is extremely competitive and the rest of the world is catching up but they've stamped their feet on the sport, China.'

Four days earlier, Russia's Ilya Zakharov sprung another major surprise in the men's 3m Springboard.

Zakharov scored an astonishing total of 555.90 points to get the better of China's Qin Kai and world champion He Chong.

'I just can't believe it as of now. I have done it finally,' he said.

China's Wu Minxia equalled the record of six Olympic Diving medals. She completed a hat-trick of Synchro 3m Springboard Olympic titles alongside He Zi before announcing her intention to retire after winning gold in the individual 3m Springboard to equal the record.

On the women's Platform, Chen Ruolin defended both her titles winning the individual and synchro alongside Wang Hao.

The Chinese men's synchro teams were also dominant, with Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquan defying their youth to win the Platform while Luo Yutong and Qin won the Springboard.