International Olympic Committee : News

History for Africa but Lei gets gold - London 2012 - Fencing

7/31/2012 11:30:00 PM

Egyptian Alaaeldin Abouelkassem, 21, had to settle for silver and not the gold he was really looking for - and looked like he might grab.

That went to China's world number nine Lei, who came from 13-12 down to win 15-13 after a day of shock results which included Britain's medal hope Richard Kruse heavily losing his first contest.

Bronze went to Republic of Korea's Choi Byungchul with a nail-biting 15-14 victory over Andrea Baldini, the 26-year-old Italian.

Szilagyi claims Hungary's first gold - London 2012 - Fencing

7/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

It was the 13th time a Hungarian has triumphed in the event - and that includes an amazing run of 11 out of 12 victories between 1908 and 1964.

Szilagyi is the only Hungarian fencer in the world's top 50 - he is ranked sixth - and was the country's only representative in the 36-strong field.

He was also one of the youngest taking part, but after four earlier wins he easily beat Italian Diego Occhiuzzi 15-8 in the final.

Bronze went to Russian Nikolay Kovalev, who had beaten German world number one Nicolas Limbach in the quarter-finals.

Kovalev beat Romanian Rares Dumitrescu to claim third place.

Occhiuzzi found himself 7-0 behind in no time at all, fought back to 9-5 and 12-7, but Szilagyi was simply in unstoppable mood as he became his country's first winner of the title since Bence Szabo at Barcelona 1992.

The competition was full of shocks, with none of the world's top five or the last two winners of the title reaching the semi-finals.

Golden night for Shemyakina - London 2012 - Fencing

7/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

Shemyakina was up against Germany's 2008 champion Britta Heidemann in a final that went into a minute's extra time when they tied 8-8.

And it was the former who achieved the decisive hit as the fight headed into the last 30 seconds.

World number one Sun Yujie of China claimed the bronze after defeating Republic of Korea's Shin A Lam.

Medals up for grabs in seven sports this week-end at London 2012

7/27/2012 10:54:00 AM

Athletes will be chasing gold in archery, cycling, fencing, judo, shooting, swimming and weightlifting on Saturday, with a total of 12 Olympic titles up for grabs.

The men’s team archery competition will take place at Lord’s Cricket Ground, with Korea’s Im Dong Hyun aiming to become the first archer to win three gold medals in the event, following his successes at the 2004 and 2008 Games.

Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin Hyek will join him in the Korean team, but they will face stiff competition from the USA, whose team features individual men's No.1 Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie.

In cycling, the men’s road race will see competitors tackle a 250km out-and-back course that is the longest in Olympic history and features nine laps of a 15.5km section, the highlight being the short but steep Box Hill climb. Up to one million spectators are expected to line the route, which will start and finish on The Mall in central London.

Reigning world champion Mark Cavendish from Great Britain and Germany’s Andre Greipel will be among the top sprinters while attackers such as the Belgian Philippe Gilbert and Peter Sagan of Slovakia will be hunting for a breakaway.

In the ExCeL centre, which is hosting the fencing competition, Italy’s Valentina Vezzali will be chasing a record fourth consecutive individual Olympic gold medal in the women’s foil. With three individual and two team Olympic gold medals, as well as six individual and seven team world titles, Vezzali is already the most successful single-weapon fencer in history and will also be trying to become the first woman to win four consecutive individual gold medals in any sport at the Olympic Games.

The judo events also get underway on Saturday at ExCeL, with medals up for grabs in the men’s -60kg and women’s -48kg events. Uzbekistan’s world no.1 Rishod Sobirov will be aiming to add an Olympic gold medal to his men's -60kg world title and the bronze medal he won in Beijing in 2008, while Romania’s Alina Dumitru will be hoping to defend her women’s -48kg title, after winning gold four years ago.

The Excel centre will also play host to the weightlifting events during London 2012, with the women’s 48kg gold medal due to be contested on Saturday. China’s four-time world champion Wang Mingjuan will be among the favourites to strike gold.

Saturday will also see the Olympic medals awarded in both the women’s 10m air rifle and men’s 10m air pistol events, which will take place at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Defending champion Katerina Emmons from the Czech Republic could become the first athlete to win consecutive gold medals in women's 10m air rifle, but she will have to beat Olympic debutant Yi Siling of China, who is the world-ranking leader and 2010 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) world champion.

In the pool, fans will be treated to four finals on the opening night, with the USA’s Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps set to go head-to-head in the men’s 400m individual medley, and medals also up for grabs in the men’s 400m freestyle, the women’s 400m individual medley and the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

More sports grace London Olympic venues

12/8/2011 3:30:00 PM

London’s Olympic venues have played host to six more sporting events, as preparations continue for next year’s Olympic Games. The handball, table tennis, fencing, boxing, judo and taekwondo events all formed part of the London Prepares series, which is bringing world-class sport to the British capital’s Olympic venues in the build-up to London 2012.

The events form an integral part of the London 2012 Organising Committee’s (LOCOG’s) preparations for the Games, enabling it to test vital Games-time operations, including competition equipment, scoreboards, results services, workforce and officials.

The London Handball Cup saw six top women’s teams battle it out over five days of competition in the Olympic Park’s newly-built Handball Arena. Austria took the gold medal after defeating Poland 23-22 in a closely fought final, while Angola took the bronze medal with a 29-24 win over China.

Over 10,000 tickets for the event were given out to local schools, colleges and residents, creating a superb atmosphere in the arena, which will be used as a multi-use venue after the Games.

“It is great to see competitive action in the Handball Arena,” said David Luckes, Head of Sport Competition at LOCOG. “The test event has run very smoothly and the atmosphere generated by the local crowd has been electric. Not only have we been able to test our operations, this has also been a great chance to showcase handball to a wider audience.”

Herbert Müller, coach of the winning Austrian team, was also impressed with the event. “It was a great honour to play at this tournament and I really like the Olympic Handball Arena, especially the multi-coloured seats,” he said. “The organisation was perfect and the whole Austrian team really enjoyed it.”

Elsewhere, London’s ExCeL exhibition centre opened its doors to a variety of sports as it played host to fencing, table tennis, boxing, judo and taekwondo events. The London Boxing International Invitational saw both male and female competitors taking part in four days of competition from 24-27 November, while the London International Invitational Men's Foil competition took place from 26-27 November.

“It was great competing in the venue that the Olympic Games will be held at next year,” said American fencer Gerek Meinhardt, who took gold in the individual foil event. “It was really amazing motivation seeing the facilities and getting familiar with some of the procedures that will take place if I qualify for the Games.”

The 2011 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour Grand Finals were also held at ExCeL from 24-27 November, with the world's best players competing for the Pro Tour title.
“The ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals is always the yearly highlight of the professional tour,” said Judit Farago, the chief executive and competitions executive director at the ITTF. “But this time both the motivation and the interest from the players was higher than usual with the attraction of competing in what will be an Olympic venue next year.”

From 3-4 December, ExCeL also hosted the London Prepares International Invitational Judo event, featuring male and female athletes from around the world, and the Taekwondo International Invitational, which featured 60 athletes from 18 countries.

“This significant competition has given us the unique opportunity to validate our current planning, crystallise operations and rehearse Game-time deliverables and everything here has gone very well,” said Luckes. “Moreover, we have been able to test parts of the venue and our technology solution, while it has been equally important for our invaluable sport-specific volunteers and workforce to gain the exposure and tangible experience of being involved at a major international event.”

The ExCeL venue will also host wrestling and weightlifting events from 10-11 December.

Singapore 2010 adopts new sport formats

8/12/2010 3:39:00 PM

The first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore will feature all 26 sports currently on the programme of the London 2012 Olympic Games. What will differ in some cases are the disciplines and format, such as 3 on 3 street basketball, a mixed gender relay in the swimming pool, a medley relay on the track or events in which athletes from different National Olympic Committees compete on the same team. Read on to see what your favourite sports will consist of in Singapore...

Aquatics (diving and swimming)

Aquatics comprises diving and swimming. There will be two diving events for both men and women, 3m springboard and 10m platform. Swimming events include freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and medley, both individual and relay. As a first, a mixed gender event for 4 x 100m freestyle relay and 4 x 100m medley relay is included.

Archery

Archery will feature individual men, women and mixed team competitions. The distance that athletes will be shooting is 70m.

Athletics

Athletics comprises a total 36 events for both men and women. The track events will include 1000m and 3000m races as well as a 2000m steeplechase and a medley relay. There will be eight field events (four jumps and four throws).

Badminton

Badminton will feature men’s and women’s singles events in Singapore.

Basketball

Basketball 3 on 3 will be played at the YOG. There will be two teams of three players on court at any one time. This fast-paced game is played on a half court, with one basketball hoop. It includes two periods of five minutes each. The winner is the first team to score 33 points, or the team that is leading the game at the end of the fifteen minutes of play.

Boxing

Boxing will feature men’s events. There will be 11 different weight categories, ranging from 48kg to the 91kg+ division.

Canoe-Kayak

Canoe-Kayak will feature four events for men and two for women. Both will race
in head-to-head sprints and obstacle slaloms in the kayak category. The men will also compete in the same events in canoes.

Cycling

The Cycling competition will involve teams. Each team consists of three men and one woman. The three men are required to compete in one discipline each (BMX, MTB and Time Trial), while the woman has to compete in all three disciplines. All male riders also have to compete in the Road Race.

Equestrian

In Equestrian, only the jumping events will take place (team and individual). The Organising Committee will provide the horses, which will be assigned to riders by draw. For the team event, there will be six teams representing each FEI regional zone.

Fencing

Fencing will feature individual competitions in the foil, epée and sabre for men and women, and a mixed team competition.

Football

Football will consist of a six-team competition, representing all continents, for both men and women.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is split into artistic and rhythmic, as in the Olympic Games. The artistic competition will feature eight individual men’s events and six individual women’s events. The rhythmic competition consists of two events – individual and team – for women.

Handball

Handball is a six-team tournament, representing all continents, for men and for women.

Hockey

Hockey is the same as football and handball – a six-team competition, representing all continents for both men and women.

Judo

There are a total of eight weight categories for both men and women in the Judo competition. There is also a mixed team event.

Modern Pentathlon

The Modern Pentathlon competition consists of four of the five modern pentathlon disciplines: fencing, swimming, running and shooting. The fifth discipline, riding, will not be competed at Singapore 2010. The run-shoot format will be competed. In the Combined event, laser shooting is being used for the first time.

Rowing

Both the men and women will compete in two events in Rowing – single sculls and pairs.

Sailing

The Sailing competition comprises four events, with men and women sailing in either the one person dinghy or the windsurfing.

Shooting

In Shooting, the men and women will compete in both air rifle and air pistol.

Table Tennis

Table tennis will consist of men’s singles, women’s singles and a mixed team competition.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo will see athletes competing in five weight categories per gender.

Tennis

There will be both men’s singles and doubles and women’s singles and doubles in the Tennis tournament.

Triathlon

The Triathlon competition format for individual competitions includes a 750m swim in open water, a 20km cycle ride and a 5km run. The 4 x mixed team relay competition includes a 250m swim in open water, a 7km cycle ride and a 1.7km run.

Volleyball

Volleyball is a six-team men’s and women’s competition.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting sees men competing in six weight categories, while women will compete in five weight categories. The combined results of the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk will produce the champion of each weight category.

Wrestling

The Wrestling competition will see men compete in Greco-Roman (five weight categories) and freestyle (five weight categories) and women in freestyle (four weight categories).