London 2012 - Day 3 Summary - Medals and Suprises

Today twelve gold medals have been awarded in London aswell as many of the team sports have had their initial matches. There have been plenty of good duels and many suprises and the medal table after day one looks like this:

China has really gotten out in front winning four golds in Shooting, Swimming and Weightlifting. In second place a bit suprising we find Italy who managed to take two golds today. I say suprising because one of their gold medals came from Men's Team Archery, that's right, the event every expert had pegged South Korea winning after thier stellar performances in the first two rounds. However the Koreans lost to USA in the semi-finals and ended up with a dissapointing bronze. Another suprise came in the Road Cycling event where everyone had GB athletes ranked for medals. However they failed to reach a break out group and ended off the podium. A good thing for Norway who took an unexpected bronze medal :D

Italy did a spectacular job in the Women's Individual Foil Fencing event where they took out all three medals crushing the opposition. The Australian 4x100m Freestyle Swimming Relay team also dominated in their event suprisingly beating the Netherlands golden girls in the process.

In the Women's Handball event Great Britain had their first ever Olympic handball match against Montenegro, one of the favourite teams in the competition. In my opinion the end result doesn't really tell the story of how far this team has come in only six years where many players only started playing the game four years ago. They stayed behind Montenegro around 5 points for almost half the match not allowing them to run ahead which is incredible for this team, in the end they ended up loosing 31-19, but they have a real chance of making the semi-finals as their other opponents are far less dangerous than Montenegro. Another shock came in the other group where defending champions Norway lost against France 22-21 after being behind the entire game. They will have to sharpen up if they want to win this tournament, and France just might end up as their opponents in an eventual final.

In Women's Football there were no upsets and clear favourites are turning out for the eight spots in the quarter-finals.China dominated the field in badminton showing why they always win many golds in this event. Many other events also started today, but it's still hard to make predictions after just qualifications and/or first matches.

It has been a great first day of the games and if you are interested in more detailed results go to www.london2012.com where you can find all the results from the first day of competition.

London 2012 - First Olympic Gold goes to...

The first gold medal has for several Olympic Games been awarded in the Women's 10m Air Rifle competition. The gold medal went to Yi Siling (CHN) winning by only 0.7 points over Sylwia Bogacka (POL) and the bronze medal going to Yu Dan (CHN). The final was very exciting with there really being a real duel between the chinese and polish with Siling only being assured of victory after her last shot. A good way to start of the Olympics and speaks of good things to come.

London 2012 - Opening Ceremony

So I know I have been really hard on people to keep their expectations low for the Opening Ceremony. Last night I had the pleasure to watch the ceremony with some of my friends at my local pub (properly british) and I was actually a bit positively suprised. The opening was a bit wierd, but the trip through british history was actually really good with the highlight of course being when the Olympic rings where "constructed" and flown up in the air. Another favourite was the short film that depicted James Bond escorting the Queen in a helicopter to the arena where two people parachuted from the helicopter. Right before the teams entered the arena there was a beautiful commemerence dance for the victims of the London bus bombings. Their faces was also on the dresses of the girls leading each team into the arena. Everyone in the UK have been talking about who's going to light the torch and to everyones suprise it turned out to be 7 up and coming athletes that had been nominated by 7 of the UK's greatest olympians. They lit what is in my mind the most spectacular Olympic Cauldrons I have ever seen, made up of flowers, one for each country competing in the games.

All in all it was a great opening ceremony, but there were times where things got a bit strange and at sometimes extremely brithish to the point where it wouldn't very well translate to other countries. The games are finally officially open and I can't wait to watch all the excitement alongside the rest of you :D

London 2012 - Archery ranking event causes angry crowds and new world records

So today the Archers went through their ranking rounds which determines who will face who in the knock-out competition. A good result here gives a team or a singles athlete a much easier way to the finals. Before the event even got started trouble began as people started crowding outside to spectate the event. The only problem was that this wasn't meant to be an event where spectators would watch and the organizers had said that this was an event one couldn't get tickets for. However a big crowd had interpreted this as the event being a free event where one didn't need tickets. People where not happy when they where told they couldn't get in to see the event, but in my mind people should have understood that this was a closed event and that there's nothing like a free arena event in the Olympics.

So over to the results that were nothing short of amazing with two new world records for the ranking rounds. In my post about the Men's Archery competition I said to look out for South Korea and boy was I right, Im Dong-Hyun or "Koreas blind archer" as he is known by his fans improved on his own world records by three points giving a total of 699 out of 720 points. I think his teammate Bubmin Kim probably was a little annoyed of Im's amazing performance as he finished only a point behind Im at 698 that on any other day would have been a new world record. Third place also went to their fellow teammate Jin Hyek Oh who shot a very respectable 680 taking third place a whole ten points ahead of the closest competitors. The South Korean Men's team of course won the team ranking which came as no shock, the shock came when they smashed the world record by 18 points ending up with a total of 2,087 out of 2,160 points.

In the Women's competition ended in a three-way tie between Ki Bo Bae (KOR), Lee Sung Jin (KOR) and Tan Ya-Ting (CHT) scoring 671 out of 720 points. Again Bo Bae (KOR) showed that the Women's competition is the South Koreas to loose with her getting the top spot with more tens inside the x-ring. It came as no suprise that the South Korean Women's team came out on topafter the ranking round and they had a healthy distance to the other teams.

After seeing the ranking results there isn't any doubt in my mind that South Korea will be going home with a minimum of two gold medals and it would be no suprise if they went home with all four. I even think the men have a shot at winning all the medals as their rankings put them in a position to do so, but it'll be a hard fight.

London 2012 - Day 2 Summary

So today has seen the start of the Men's Football competition got underway with the first group matches. Unlike yesterday there was no drama with the flags, trust me I was so waiting to see if they got the South Korean flags wrong just because that would have been hilarious. Today the people responsible for yesterdays flag mistake have made numerous appologies in international media and has assured that this will not happen again.

So onto the matches, in Group A there were some suprising events. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) looked for a long time like they might actually pull off a draw against Urugay, but in the end Urugay ended up winning 2-1. Great Britain started off wonderfully against Senegal leading 1-0 for most of the match. That was until Senegal put in a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game and cleverly played to ensure the draw with the game ending 1-1 which means that the GB team didn't get off to the start I personally think they needed in order to win this year. The press in GB is relentless when it comes to Mens Football and they will be slaughtered tomorrow.

In Group B suprisingly the group is still completely open after both games ended in draws. The match between South Korea and Mexico ended 0-0 even though both teams had several possibilities to score throughout the match. In the match between Gabon and Switzerland the swiss team got off to a flying start getting a penalty goal after only 5 minutes. The African Champions bounced back in the end of the first half and the match ended 1-1. In my eyes this group is anyones for the taking at the moment, but the next match will be crucial for all the teams. There isn't room for loosing a game at this point for any team.

Group C started off with a game between Belarus and New Zealand whete the Belarus team had full control of the match winning 1-0. The match between Brazil and Egypt was a very confusing one with Brazil absolutely dominating the first half leading 3-0 at half-time, but after the break the gas ran out for Brazil and the Egyptian team took over scoring 2 goals with the game ending 3-2. In my opinion the second half of this game showed that Brazil was very lucky to get away with a win as it could have gone really bad really fast and it also proved that even though they lost the match Egypt is a team to watch out for in this tournament.

Group D held the biggest shock yet in this tournament with Japans unexpected victory over the mmuch discussed favourites Spain, with the match ending 1-0 despite Spain clearly being the team in control for the most part of the game. I told you that the Olympics always gives suprising results. Luckily for Spain the match between Honduras and Morocco ended in a draw 1-1.

All the teams still have alot to play for in this tournament and I'm sure that we haven't seen the last of suprises of the tournament yet. So tomorrow will be the day many people have waited four years to see, the opening cermony of the 2012 London Olympic Games. I have said several times now that I'm expecting it to be a bit of a let-down and I haven't changed my mind yet, but time will tell I guess, they have a lot to live up to from the opening ceremony from Beijing. Also on tomorrow is the ranking rounds for the Archers which decides who they face in the knock-out part of the competition.

London 2012 - Day 1 - Competition starts and a technical error shocks the games

Finally the time has come after four long years, the 2012 London Olympics have started and the first day of competition didn't let anyone down. Today has seen the first matches of the Women's Football competition and one incident especially has the entire world buzzing at the moment. When the match between DPR Korea (North Korea) and Colombia was about to start the technical errors to end all technical errors happens; The flag is wrong for DPR Korea, but not just wrong, no it's South Koreas flag that comes up on the screen with the athletes. If you live under a rock and don't know how bad the relationship is between the two countries here's a recap: there is constant military action on the border, they threaten with war every couple of months and in the Olympic games any team competition they're in is set up so they won't face each other before an eventual final as a match between the two countries can be enough to spark war. The DPR Korean team was off course wildly offended by this and refused to play the match to start with, the match was postponed for over an hour before the team agreed to play after what I presume had to be after a mountain of apologies and groveling. This is the one technical error that really is going to go down in Olympic history as the worst of them all. You could tell in the match that the DPR Korea team was fired up and they gave it their all to beat Colombia 2-0, but in the last minutes of the game things got a bit to heated between the teams and three players ended up being carried of the field after injuries within a ten minute period.

The Great Britain team took to the field for their first match against New Zealand and you could almost feel the nerves thay had. The Women's team has never scored in an Olympic tournament and they desparetly wanted to win. At first it looked like New Zealand was the only team attacking, but after 15 minutes of akward play the brits turned it up and shifted the match in their favor. The GB team had the most amount of chances during the game, but New Zealand did give them a hard fight. In the end it was Stephanie Houghton who made history scoring GBR first Olympic goal and they won the match 1-0. Without a doubt the closest match of the day and I have a feeling New Zealand will bounce back. In the same group Brazil demolished Cameroon winning 5-0.

Sweden had an easy time against South Africa winning 4-1, but the fans from South Africa on the stands got to see their team score their first ever Olympic goal and what a goal it was. Portia Modise lobbed the ball from around the half-way line of the pitch over the Swedish goalkeeper making the crowd go wild. In the same group Japan and Canada had a more even result, but it was Japan who controlled the match winning 2-1.

In the last group it looked like their might be a major upset when after 14 minutes France where up by two goals against USA the major favourite to win the tournament. However the USA team showed why they are favourites pulling themselves together and winning the match 4-0. In the same group as staded earlier the DPR Korea team beat Colombia 2-0 after having complete control of the game.

It was a thrilling game and it's clear that there are some strong teams this year in the Women's competition and I think it'll be interesting to see which teams make it to the quarter-finals. Tomorrow it's the start of the Men's competition and there's bound to be some good matches.

Shooting - With one millimeter between gold and failure

So before I start writing this post I know that some people will think me writing about Shooting Sports as insensitive after what happened in Denver last week and at Utøya last year. My thoughts are with those left behind after the shootings in Denver as I know how hard it is to loose a loved one in that way, but I also feel it's important to seperate what happened in these incidents from the sport of Shooting. The Olympic disciplines of Shooting has nothing to do with harming others or aggression or any one of the many stigmas put on the sport over the last years. People who do this sport are take safety as a number one factor and they compete in this sport to win not so much over their opponents, but rather over themselves. The sport teaches discipline, concentration and confidence as its main components and the people of the sport have in many nations spoken out for more gun control. I am myself both an athlete of this sport and someone who lost someone in gun related crime, but I feel there's a huge divide between the two that must not be forgotten. Again I would like to share my sympaties with the people both directly and indirectly involved in the Denver shootings and I honestly hope that this is the last time that guns are ever used in this way.

The sport was one of the original sports of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 and has only been of the programme two times in the 1904 St Louis and the 1928 Amsterdam games, with the women being allowed to compete from the 1984 Los Angeles games. The sports various different disciplines is practised all over the world and this is one of the sports where there truly is a mix of athletes from all corners of the world. There are three different categories of disciplines; Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun. In the Rifle and Pistol events the athletes shoot at 10-ring target either 10m, 25m or 50m away and in the Shotgun events athletes shoot at clay pigeons moving across a field. In the Rifle events depending on the discipline the athletes compete either standing, kneeling or lying down, while in the Pistol and Shotgun events the athletes stand. In London there are a total of 15 gold medals up for grabs, 9 for the Men's and 6 for the Women's competition. All athletes will go through qualifying rounds where the best, 8 - 10 depending on the event,  move on to the finals where their scores are added to their qualifying score. The margins for error are extremely small and scores on the top level are insanely close, if an athlete is even so much as 1mm out of position it could end up costing them their chance at the podium.

For the Rifle shooters there are events in Men's 50m Prone, Men's and Women's 50m 3-Positions and Men's and Women's 10m Standing Air Rifle. To explain the Prone event is where athletes lie on the ground shooting and 3-Positions is where athletes shoot in every stance (standing, kneeling, prone). Ones to look out for in the Rifle competition are: Nicolo Campriani (ITA), World Champion at the Men's 10m Air Rifle and has since also become an amazing 3-Positions shooter and it wouldn't suprise me if he came away from London with two gold medals. In the Men's 50m Prone event you'll have to pry that gold medal from Sergei Martynov (BLR) who is hungry for gold after two Olympic bronze medals in this event. For the Women's competition the big name is Sonja Pfeilschifter (GER) for me is the one to beat, she has got medals in both events from every major competition except the Olympics, but she loves the venue and I think she will strike gold this time.

The Pistol events are Men's 50m, Women's 25m, Men's 25m Rapid Fire, Men's and Women's 10m Air Pistol. The ones to look out for are: Tomoyuki Matsuda (JPN), World Champion in two events and a big favourite to medal in both 50m and 10m Air. In the Women's competition have an eye out for Zorana Arunovic (SRB) who is the World Champion at 25m and silver medallist at the Air event.

The Shotgun events are Men's and Women's Trap, Men's Double Trap, Men's and Women's Skeet. These names tell how many clays and how the clays are sent across the field. Look out for home favourite Richard Faulds and Peter Wilson (GBR) who are looking to make the crowds go wild in the Men's Double Trap event. In the Women's Skeet and Tap events look out for Kimberly Rhode (USA) who has no less than four Olympic medals under her belt and is looking for more.

In Shooting events it's all about who can be at their absolute best on the day of the competition, that's the person who's going to win. Weather plays a huge part in this event so luck is also a key component.

Olympics only days away :D Week 1 sports

So finally the wait is almost over and the 2012 London Olympics are just days away. So let's talk about what's coming up this week that you should look out for. This wednesday the Football competition starts a bit early with the first group round matches in the Women's competition with the Men's first matches starting on Thursday. On Friday the Olympics officially starts with the much anticipated opening ceremony which I predict will be dissapointing no matter what they do as I'm certain they won't live up to the standard of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing games. The Archers will be coming in to the stadium after having gone through their ranking rounds earlier in the day.

On Saturday the sports that you can look forward too are: Archery, Badminton, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Cycling - Road, Equestrian - Eventing, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics - Artistic, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball and Weightlifting. There are twelve gold medals to be handed out with the first medals of the game going to the Women's 10m Air Rifle (Shooting). The other medals are:
- Men's Team (Archery)                  - Men's Road Race (Cycling)            - Women's Foil (Fencing)
- Men's -60kg (Judo)                      - Women's -48kg (Judo)                   - Men's 10m Air Pistol (Shooting)
- Men's 400m Medley (Swimming)  - Men's 400m Freestyle (Swimming) - Women's -48kg (Weightlifting)
- Women's 400m Medley (Swimming)      - Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Swimming)

On Sunday the week closes with action from: Archery, Badminton, Baketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe Slalom, Cycling - Road, Diving, Equestrian - Eventing, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics - Artistic, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo and Weightlifting. 
There are 14 gold medals up for grabs in:
-Women's Team (Archery)     -Women's Road Race (Cycling)    -Women's Synchronized 3m (Diving)
-Men's Sabre (Fencing)          -Men's -66kg (Judo)                     -Women's -52kg (Judo)
-Women's 10m Air Pistol (Shooting)   -Women's Skeet (Shooting)   -Mens's -56kg (Weightlifting) 
-Women's 400m Freestyle (Swimming) -Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Swimming)    
-Women's -53kg (Weightlifting)   -Women's 100m Butterfly (Swimming)   
-Men's 100m Breaststroke (Swimming)

This upcoming weekend I strongly suggest you get your shopping done early on Friday and get set in the couch in front of the TV to follow all the jam-packed action. The medal events on both Saturday and Sunday are spread throughout the day so you can see as much as possible. In all the team disciplines there are also many exciting matches where you can see the sports played on the top level. Stay tuned to the blog as I comment on the things I see and the medals won that you might have missed. One thing is for sure, I know what I'm doing this weekend :D

Field Hockey - How will the blue field affect the players?

The sport of Field Hockey originated in Great Britain and quickly became popular around the world in countries which held british colonies and when Field Hockey made its first appearance at the Olympics in the 1908 London games it was these countries that fought for the title. However as time moved forward the sport became popular around the world and many different nations started winning titles. In the 1980 Moscow games the Women made their Olympic debut on the field and have been a staple of the games. The sport is one of the lesser popular ones, but it holds alot of excitment and entertainment. Field Hockey is played on astroturf (artificial grass) pitches that are 91.4m long and 55m wide which has a layer of water on it that eneables the ball to move quicker by reducing the friction. The goal of the game is to get a ball into the opposing teams goal using a special hockey stick and players must be inside the opposing teams scoring zone to be allowed too shoot at the goal. Each team compromises of 11 players where one player is the goalie and there can be up to five substitutes that can be used at any time of the game. Usually at the Olympic games the pitch is green, but in London the pitch will be blue which might cause some problems for teams that aren't used to playing on blue surfaces. There are two gold medals up for grabs, one for the men and one for the women. There are twelve teams in each competition thats been split into two pools of six where every team plays each other with the two best teams from each group advancing into the semi-finals.

The favourites in the mens competition are current Olympic Champion Germany and the currently number one ranked team in the world Australia. Outside favourites are the Netherlands and home favourites Great Britain that might just get enough support from the home crowd to take home the gold. In the Womens competition the favourites are the current Olympic Champions and world ranked number one the Netherlands. Their biggest competition comes from Argentina, Germany with Great Britain as outside favourites.

I think this Olympics will have full stands with crowds cheering for the home favourites and with the added pressure of a new colour on the pitch who knows which teams will end up on top this time around I can't wait to see.

Athletics - Track 100 - 400m - Can anyone beat Bolt?

So for the Athletics section of the Olympics I've decided to split it into several different post to be able to talk more about the favourites in each of the events. Athletics have been a staple of the modern Olympic games being on the Olympic programme from the first modern games in 1896, with women included from the 1928 Amsterdam games. The Athletics competition is always one of the most exciting competitions that always have a massive audience. The competition is often divided into four different categories: Track, Field, Combined and Road events.

Today I'll be talking about the track events that are between 100m and 400m long including running, hurdling and relay events. These events are always very competitive and have for a long time been big public favourites in the Olympic games.

To start up let's talk about probably the biggest event of the Olympic games at the moment, the 100m sprint. This has been named the event where the fastest Man and Woman on the planet are named and superstars of the sport are born. In the Men's event the huge favourite is Usain Bolt (JAM) who has since his extraordinary win at the 2008 Beijing games been by far been the fastest man on the planet smashing old world records pushing the limits of what scientist have predicted is humanly possible. He however has shown that he's human and has been beaten in races the last couple of years. The main challenger is Yohan Blake (JAM) the current World Champion who ironically is Bolts training partner and teammate, but he won after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. Another person to look for is Christophe Lemaitre (FRA), the only white man to have ever run under 10 seconds and is a two-time European Champion in this event, but it's unsure if he will be racing in the 100 m as he is more competitive in the 200m and might want to focus on that. In the Women's event the favourite is Carmelita Jeter (USA) the World Champion, but will face competition from Shelley-Ann Fraser the current Olympic Champion and Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)  who has the capability to win in 100m, but is better at 200m. In the Men's 4x100m relay the Jamaican team are huge favourites to take gold, but the competition for the other medals are between France, the Netherlands, USA and Great Britain, However anything can happen in relay events making them incredibly thrilling. For the Women the duel for gold will be between Jamaica and USA with the other countries that make the final vying for bronze.

In Men's 110m hurdles the favourites are Jason Richardson (USA) the current World Champion and Liu Xian (CHN) who won a gold in the 2004 Athens games and missed the finals in Beijing because of injuries. Both these guys are amazing and will give the games an amazing duel. In the Women's 100m hurdles there is another duel between the World Champion Sally Pearson (AUS) and Dawn Harper the current Olympic Champion who came third in the World Championships. this will be yet another exciting duel.

The 200m event often has the same favourites as in the 100m, but who beats who can often change. The two favourites in my mind is Usain Bolt (JAM) the World and Olympic Champion and Chrisotophe Lemaitre (FRA) the European Champion. Lemaitre has a much better chance to medal in the 200m and if he just focuses on this event he might just beat Bolt and take the gold. In the Women's event Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) the World Champion will probably hava another duel agains Carmelita Jeter (USA), but is much more likely to win this one.

In the Men's 400m there are two identical twin brothers in Kevin and Jonathan Borlee (NED) that are both vying for medals, but the favourite to win is the current Olympic Champion LaShawn Merritt. In the Women's competition the sister of the Borlee twins, Olivia (NED) is hoping to make a mark, yes this family is 400m crazy with yet another brother doing well as a junior. However the favourites are Allyson Felix (USA) and World Champion Amantle Monsho (BOT). In the Men's 4x400 relay event the favourites are USA, Jamaica, the Netherlands and South Africa. For the Women the favourites are USA, Jamaica and Russia. One person to look out for in the 400m Mens race for not being a favourite  but rather an inspiration is Oscar Pistorius (RSA) also known as "Blade Runner". The reason why I call him an ispiration is that Pistorius is a double leg amputee and runs on prosthetic legs especially made for running. He was banned from the 2008 Beijing games due to accusations that his prosthetics gave him an advantage (stupid I know), but he has fought his way into international competitions taking silver in the relay event at last years WC and I'm happy to say he has qualified and been picked as a part of the Olympic team. Make sure you try to keep an eye out for him if you haven't seen him before because what he does is amazing.

The Men's 400m hurdles is likely to be a duel between home favourite Dai Greene (GBR) and Javier Coulson (PUR) with both men having beaten each other in races the last couple of months, but who knows how the pressure will affect Greene. For the Women the duel is between World Champion Lashinda Demus (USA) and Olympic Champion Melaine Walker (JAM) who switches on who wins races at the moment.

The sprint distances are always exciting with athletes pushing the limits of the human body. There is sure to be amazing results and duels on the track during the games.

Canoe Slalom - White water fury

The sport of Canoe Slalom was modelled after slalom skiing and the first competitions in the 1930s took place on flat water, but as the sport progressed it was moved over to white-water rapids. It was first introduced to the Olympic programme in the 1972 Munich games, but didn't become a permanent part of the Olympic programme before the 1992 Barcelona games. Athletes compete by negotiating either a Kayak or a Canoe down a 250m artificial white water course dropping 5.5m with 13.000 litre of water beinng pumped in every second and is if that's not enough the athletes also have to negotiate a maximum of 25 gates where red gates have to be passed upstream and green gates passed downstream. An athlete gets two runs in the qualification round that together decides if they move on in the competition to the semi-final and from there to the final, 2 penalty seconds are added for touching a gate while missing a gate incurs a 50 second penalty. The finals are run with a different set-up in the gates basically making it a whole new course. There are events using both canoes and kayaks, in canoe event the athletes kneel and use a single blade paddle while in kayaks they sit and use a double-bladed paddle. To win a race in Canoe Slalom an athlete has to have incredible upper body strength, control and precision.

There are four gold medals up for grabs in London, the Men compete in Canoe Singles (C1), Canoe Double (C2) and Kayak Single (K1) while the Women compete only in Kayak Single (K1), but in four years time in the 2016 Rio games the Women will also be competing in C1. 

In the Women's K1 event the battle will be between Corinna Kuhnle (AUT) who has won the past two World Championships and Jana Dukatova (SVK) who got silver in the past two World Championships, but has won the past three World Cups. I think they will be out to see who is really the Queen of Canoe Slalom. In the Men's K1 event the favourite is Peter Kauzer (SLO) who had a phenomenal year last year winning both the World Championship and the World Cup, but he will se competition from athletes like Daniele Molmenti (ITA) and Mateusz Polaczyk (POL) who aren't far behind him.

The Men's C1 event is very open and every person that makes it to the final can end up winning, but my favourite to win is two-time Olympic gold medallist Tony Estanguet (FRA), but he will face strong competition from his fellow frenchman Denis Gargaut Chanut (FRA) who is the current World Champion. The clear-cut favourites to win the C2 events are brothers Pavol and Peter Hochschorner (SVK) who have 3 Olympic gold medal from the past three games, 5 World Championship gold medals (won the past 4) and 10 World Cup overall gold medals. If they don't win this event I will be very shocked indeed as they are in a league of their own and have shown that pressure doesn't get to them at all.

This event is extremely fun to watch and if you haven't seen it it has the same tension as slalom skiing where every little thing you do worng can cost you a medal. One lapse in concentration can have a favourite out before the finals even start. Be sure to catch at leat one of the finals in this event during the games.

Basketball - Can anyone beat the USA???

The sport of Basketball originates from North America and is one of the most popular sports in the USA. Basketball was first introduced at the 1936 Berlin games becoming a permanent feature in the olympic programme, followed by the introduction of the Women's event at the 1976 Montreal games. The sport is played with two teams of five trying to throw a ball into the opponents net which hangs 3m above ground, the court is 28m long and 15m wide. Teams are allowed only 24 seconds of possession of the ball to score before the ball is turned over to the other team. This particular rule makes the game fast and exhillarating. Players can either score two points for a throwing the ball into the basket from withing a 6.75m radius from the basket or three points from shots outside this zone. There matches are made up of four 10 minute sessions of play with the clock stopping for every break in play.

In London the twelve team in oth competitions will be split into two groups of six where they play every team in the group. The best four teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals with their opponents being decided based on their placement in the group, win your group and you have an easier way to the final, place fourth and you will have the hardest way there. To be able to win a team needs to have both excellent individual players, but also amazing teamwork and tactics.

The favourites to take gold for both the Men and Women are without a doubt the USA, the real question for Olympic games is if anyone can beat them? Out of the 26 gold medals that have been handed out in Olympic history the USA have won 19 of them and if you subtract the two they had no chance of winning since the USA boicotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics they have won a staggering 19 out of 24 possible gold medals. In the years they didn't win they still took home a medal meaning they always medal in this event. In my opinion there isn't any chance that any of the US teams go home without a medal and my prediction is that two gold medals are the USAs to loose. Any other team has a chance to medal, it all just comes down to who they face in the final knock-out part of the tournament. Two teams to look out for are Argentina in the Men's competition, they actually beat the USA in the 2004 Athens games, and Australia in the Women's competition, these girls have taken home the silver three times in a row and are hungry for gold.

Do you think the US teams can live up to the expactations or will they crumble? leave a comment below.

Football - Why do the favourites always loose in the Olympics?

The sport of Football is one of the traditional Olympic sports having been on the Olympic programme since the 1900 Paris games and has since then only been of the programme once in the 1932 Los Angeles games. The Women's competition was introduced in the 1996 Atlanta games earning the Women's sport alot of recognition. As Football is the biggest sport on the planet I'm assuming that there isn't any need for explaination of how the game is played. In London the tournament will start with a group stage where teams are split into groups dependent on rankings (four groups for the men and three groups for the women). The best eight teams from the group rounds move on to the quarter-finals where the knock-out stage begins. 

In the last couple of games there has been several suprising results in the Men's competition like Nigerias silver finish at the 2008 Beijing games. Iraqs fouth place finish at the 2004 Athens games or Cameroons win at the 2000 Sydney games. It also always seems that the worlds best teams when it comes to rankings and the world championships have a hard time actually producing the goods when the Olympic games come around. The favourites this year in my mind are Great Britain, they have the home field advantage with crowds that are going to go wild once they step out on the field. This however puts alot of pressure on the players to produce outstanding resultts and if the group rounds don't start off to good I think they could be in trouble. Other favourites are Brazil, Spain and Mexico, but you never know who will shock us this year. The last three games there have been some interesting results and I think we're going to see at least one suprise team on the podium.

In the Women's competition the out-right favourites to win are the USA, this team has been in every olympic final only loosing once in the 2000 Syndey games when Norway took the title from them. Since then they have won two more Olympic golds with Brazil in second place and Germany taking bronze, but as Germany failed to qualify we will not see this podium a third time. Outside favourites include Sweden and Japan who have placed fourth in the past and are looking for their first Olympic medal in the sport. My prediction is that USA will take the gold medal and that any of the other teams have the capability to take the other medals, but it will all depend on who faces who in the knock-out.

With the possibility of suprising results and dramatic play the Football at the Olympics is always entertaining to watch and with crowds that are certifiably Football-crazy the atmosphere will be incredible and I can't wait to watch.

Water polo - A action packed exhausting sport

Water Polo started in the 19th century as an aquatic version of rugby that was played in rivers and lakes. As the sport became more popular and the game was more developed it has become today a sport that is very similar to Handball. The sport of Water Polo has been on the Olympic programme since 1900 Paris games and the Women's event was introduced during the 2000 Sydney games.

The sport is played in a 2m deep pool that's 20m wide and 30m long for the Men and 25m long for the Women. There are two teams of seven on the field at the same time and the aim of the game is to put a ball in the opposing teams goal scoring more points than the opposing team. Each match is divided into four periods of eight minutes, at the start of each period it starts with a rush to the middle for the ball and each team has only 30 seconds to score before they have to hand over the ball to the other team. Players swim up to several kilometers during a game in order to win making stamina an extremely important part of the game.

In London there is two gold medals up for grabs, one for the Men's and one for the Women's competition. The teams are split into two groups based on rankings where they play against all teams in the group. The best teams then move forward to the quarter finals and the finals. The better you do in the group round the easier your way to the finals will be.

So onto favourites. In the Men's competition the competition is very stiff with several teams gunning for the gold medal. Hungary has won the past three Olympic games, but they haven't medaled in the past two World Championships since. Italy the current World Champions will be looking for a win feeding of their stellar performance last year at the WC. However other countries like Serbia, Croatia and Spain are never far behind in the fight for the medals so this competition can go either way

In the Women's competition the fight for the gold will be between several countries as well. USA is a clear favourite to take a medal as they have done in the past three games, but they were knocked out of the podium in last years WC. Other favourites include Australia, China and Russia who always place high, however the big upset is the World Champions Greece failed to even qualify for the games and will not be participating at all which is a big shame.

The competition in this sport where almost all the countries have the ability to win promises some exciting moments indeed. Usually in team sports it's easier to predict winners, but in this sport it's all up in the air and these games are going to be electryfing to watch.

Swimming - Without the athlete loved by a nation

Swimming is one of the biggest sport of the Olympics and has always been a part of the modern Olympics programme in one form or another. It was in the 1908 London games that the rules had been formalised and that the competition was held in the pool as we are accustomed to today. In this Olympics will also showcase a marathon 10km event as the only outdoor event. Swimmers compete in a pool that's 50m long, 25m wide and 3m deep that has been divided into ten spererate lanes where the two outer lanes aren't used for competition. There are four different kinds of strokes used in olympic swimming: Breaststroke, Backstroke, Freestyle and Butterfly, which all apperar as individual, medley and relay events. The athletes in London will be competing for a total of 34 gold medals, 16 each for the Men's and Women's competition in competition ranging from 50m to 10km. 

So before talking about some of the names to look out for I would like to explain the title of this post. On the 22nd of July there was a terrorist attack in Norway where 77 people where killed, most of them younng kids on a political summercamp. This affected the entire nation deeply and while this was happening the World Swimming Champiuonships was underway in China. Alexander Dale Oen, Norway's best swimmer throughout time swam to the country's first ever WC gold only three days after the attack. After the semi-final he pointed to the flag on his swimming cap and later said "I'm honoring those who died". After winning the next day on the 100m Breaststroke final he broke down in tears on the podium as the national anthem was played and in the interview later when he started talking to the Norwegian press he completly broke down in tears. As one of those who lost somebody I can't explain it properly, but what he said and did affected me and many other people deeply. On the 30th of April this year he was training in Flagstaff, USA when he was found dead on his bathroom floor. This was such a blow to the country, here was the now national hero who had shown the emotion the country was feeling was now dead. My first reaction was that this couldn't be real, but then  slowly you realised it wasn't and it brought back alot of the sorrow from last summer. In the European Championships later all the Norwegian athletes had is initials A.D.O. printed on their swimming caps. It's believed he died from a heart defect which is becoming an increasing problem as performers train even harder from an even younger age. For me it's going to be wierd that he's not going to be at the Olympics as that was something the entire nation had been waiting for. However the entire swimming community has been incredible in showing their support for the incredible athlete and man Alexander Dale Oen was and he will forever be remembered in his home country as one of the greatest athletes and public figures of all times. I know the Norwegian swimmers going to the Olympics will be racing with him in mind.

So looking forward to the Olympics there are many favourites to talk about, but before that let's talk abit the biggest star of them all, Michael Phelps. So for anyone who doesn't know Michael Phelps holds the record for most gold medals one in one Olympic games with eight and the record for most gold medals of all-time with 14. In the 2008 Beijing games he set out to win eight gold medals and made his dreams come true becoming the greatest olympian off all time winning gold in every event he entered. It's in these events he is now in 2012 also favourite to win: 100m and 200m Butterfly, 200m freestyle, 200m and 400m individual medley, 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay. If he wants he will take medals in all these events easily.

So because of the number of medal events let's talk about some of the favourites I'm looking forward to seeing instead of going through the list of events:

- Cesar Cielo, 50m Freestyle and Butterfly/100m Freestyle (World Champion/Bronze WC, World Record)
- Sun Yang (CHN) 1500 Freestyle (World Champion, decimated the field setting a new World record)
- Terese Alshammar (SWE) 50m Freestyle and Butterfly (World Champion).
- Rebecca Soni (USA) 100m Breaststroke (World Champion)
These four will surely take at least one medal each in my opinion and is somebody for you to have your eyes on during the games. They all have the talent, skills and experience necessary to win Olympic gold and don't be suprised if they all end up winning.

The Men's relay is all about the USA team and I think they will take all the gold medals, but for the Women's competition I think that it's a bit more open with the teams from The Netherlands, USA, Australia and China fighting for the medals.

As with many sports the sport of swimming is unpredictable and there's a chance that champions may fail and give rise to new and unexpected stars in the swimming world. Micheal Phelps might be a machine, but even he might buckle under the immense pressure put on him by the entire world. One thing is for sure nothing is decided yet and it will be a thrilling few weeks with swimming during these games with athletes producing better and better times as the games draw closer.

So who is your favourite to win? think Michael Phelps will fail? leave a comment below

Judo - With a favourite that isn't allowed to represent her own country

The sport of Judo was developed by Dr Jigoro Kano in the 19th century as a sport using moves from jiujutsu. The sport was first introduced to the Olympics in the 1964 Tokyo games and the Women's competition was introduced at the 1992 Barcelona games. It's made itself into one of the highlights of the Olympic games for many people and is a highly popular sport with competitors from all over the world competing at the highest level.

The sport is played on a 14m x 14m mat between two competitors. In Judo athletes use an intracate mix of attack and defense moves to take points from their opponents by either throws or holds with different moves giving different points. In London there will be 14 gold medals up for grabs in 7 weight classes for both the Men's and Women's competition. Each weight class will be split into two and is a knock-out competition, with the winners of each group competing for the gold medal. There is one bronze medal awarded to each group with the loosing semi-finalists competing in a rpechage against the loosing quarter-finalists. Each game last for maximum of five minutes and the athlete with the highest score wins, but there are certain moves that give an athlete immediate victory.

Before talking about some of the favourites in this event there is one person that will be dissapointed that she hasn't been allowed to compete for her own nation. Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS) who competes in the Women's under 52kg class has been dreaming about competing for her country of Kosovo since the nation separated from Serbia four years ago. However the IOC has yet to recognize Kosovo as an independent country and therefore they wouldn't allow any athletes to compete for the nation, but Kelmendi applied to be allowed to compete as an independent athlete under the IOC. However if not saying so directly the IOC didn't want to send that kind of political statement and dictated that since Kelmendi has an Albanian passport as well that she should represent Albania in the games. I think it's petty that they won't recognize Kosovo as an independent nation just because Russia is one of the countries heavily opposing it and it's a joke that they aren't allowing athletes from Kosovo to compete as independent athletes when they have done the same thing for athletes form East Timor in the past. The IOC should be ashamed of themselves for the way they are treating these athletes, many who unlike Kelmendi cannot compete for another country in international competitions. The IOC and especially the Olympiics should be free of such power struggles and corruption and athlethes from around the world should be allowed to compete regardless of where they are born. Kelmendi said it herself that she is lucky that she gets to go to the games at all, but feels bad for those that are not allowed to compete on the international stage at all. I hope Kelmendi does well in the games as she is a World Junior Champion and that if she gets on the podium that she wips out Kosovos flag from a pocket.

Other athletes that will make an impression on the 2012 London games are:
- Sarah Menezes (BRZ) Women's -48kg (Bronze at 2010 WC)
- Rishod Sobirov (UZB) Men's -60kg (Bronze at 2008 Beijing games)
- Wang Ki-Chun (KOR) Men's -73kg (Silver at 2008 Beijing games)

The competition in the top level is quite competitive and there's alot of people from many nations that have a chance at the gold medals. It's going to very exciting to see the finals of these games and see who comes up on top, one wrong step could spell defeat for any favourite.

Handball - who will come out on top?

So I know I've talked a bit about this sport before in a previous post, but I didn't really talk much about who the favourites are. Also now the line ups for the group rounds are posted and this will help in calculating who will make it to the quarter-finals and from there to the finals to decide to winners. Unlike other sports I follow this sport religiously and havent missed a championship since the age of 13 and I will therefore try to predict all the medals.

For both the men and women there are 12 teams divided into two groups of six where the top 3 move on to the quarter-finals. Win your group and you face the third team in the other group giving you an easier way to the finals.

For the Men's competition the groups are:
A - France, Sweden, Iceland, Great Britain, Argentina and Tunisia
B - Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Denmark and South Korea
From this I think that from Group A France, Iceland and Sweden, in that order, will be the teams advancing to the quarter-finals, while Croatia, Spain and Serbia will go on from Group B. The bronze final will be between Iceland and Spain where I predict that Iceland will take the bronze medal. The final will be between France and Croatia and even though many might disagree I think Croatia will win while France gets the silver medal. I'd love to say Great Britain had a chance at going through, but I think they should focus on trying to not loose to hard and hopefully pulling out a victory. These groups are so unfair seeing as the historically three worst teams are in Group A.

For the Women's competition the groups are:
A- Montenegro, Russia, Croatia, Great Britain, Brazil and Angola
B - Norway, Spain, Denmark, France, Sweden and South Korea
Ok again totally unfair groupings with GB and Brazil in the same group, but as the host nation GB got to choose groups and they totally picked the right one. From Group A Montenegro, Angola and Russia will be the teams that move forward in the competition. Group B is alot harder, but I'm gonna say that Norway, Denmark and Sweden/South Korea will be advancing. The bronze medal match will be between Denmark and Russia. The finals will be between Montenegro and Norway, where Norway will take the gold. I might be biased though as I'm Norwegian, but Norway are the raining European, World and Olympic Champions and I therefore think anyone putting them anywhere other than the top of the podium as slightly crazy.

If you haven't ever seen an Olympic level handball match please watch during these Olympics as it's a fast, hard and thrilling sport that also shows of skills you could only dream of :D

What do you think? Is there any hope for other countries? Is a country going to shock the world? You tell me, leave a comment below.

Team GB medal hopes - Have they lost their minds???

In a recent show at BBC Radio 5 there was a team of sport experts assembled to comment on the medal chances of Team GB athletes. The goal set by the funding body for the London 2012 games was to collect a total of 48 medals, however the panel of experts assembled by BBC was alot more optimistic predicting a staggaring 95 medals. To put things into perspective during the 2008 Beijing games Team GB came back with a more than respectable total of 47 medals.

After looking at the individual sport breakdown of the panels medal hopes I think they were extremely optimistic in which sports there would be medals for Team GB. However I do think that the brits have medal potential especially with home field advantage and a home crowd so I think they can get more than 48 medals, but 95 is wishful thinking from the so called "experts". Infostrada, a sport statistics company, has predicted a mid-way point between the two estimates predicting that Team GB will take 64 medals.

I think that being on home turf will have an impact on the medals so my very "uneducated" guess on how many medals Team GB will take is 61. This is based on performances I know of from british athletes recently and adding a few due to home field advantage :P

As to the winner of the overall medals table I think that China will once again beat the USA in overall number of gold medals, but that th USA will take home more medals overall.

What do you think about Team GB's medal chances???


This is an article about all the predictions if you don't really know:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18787235

Taekwondo - A hard hitting and kicking sport

The sport of Taekwondo is a martial arts sport that originated in Korea and is still the national sport of South Korea. The name Taekwondo can be loosly translated to "the way of the hand and foot" which roughly sums up the sport where competitors score points with kicks and punches. The sport is extremely popular around the world with Olympic medallist from every continent which is suprising seeing as the sport was first introduced to the Olympics during the 2000 Sydney games.

The Olympic format there are eight gold medals up for grabs in four weight classes for both the Men's and the Women's competition. In each weight class the competition is done as a single elimination tournament. All competitors that loose to one of the two finalist at any stage enters what's called the repechage. The winners of the two repechage pools go up against the two semi-final loosers to compete for two bronze medals, yes in Taekwondo there are two bronze medals instead of the usual one. I love the repechage because it ensures that the best athletes ends up with the medals and that one doesn't win a medal because of bad luck in the match up.

There are many favourites from many nations in the upcoming games, but the South Koreans are big favourites. the only problem is that South Korea can only bring four athletes to the games and because they have favourites in every weight class it will be hard to try and figure out who will be chosen. At the 2008 Beijing games the four athletes that went to the games came home with gold meaning that whoever goes from South Korea will have major pressure to win their weight class. If you look aside from the South Koreans there are plenty of other athletes that you might want to have your eyes on in the games. Rohullah Nikpai (AFG) for example became a national hero at the last Olympics after winning Afghanistans first ever Olympic medal taking bronze in the Men's Flyweight class, will he take the countries first ever gold? Another athlete looking for gold is Chika Chukwumerije (NIG) who also took a bronze medal in the last Olympics. Home favourite Jade Jones (GBR) is the currently best ranked female british athlete and is hoping that homecourt advantage will lead to an Olympic medal.

My prediction is that South Korea will win the four weight classes they enter competitors, but for any of the other weight classes the field is wide open and predicting any one to win is hard. I'm hoping for Nikpai (AFG) winning his first gold medal. Either way there will be plenty of excitement in this Olympic tournament.

Who do you think is going to win? Leave a comment below     

Beach Volleyball - Sun, sand and skimpy outfits

The sport of Beach Volleyball originated on the sunny beaches of Santa Monica USA in the 1920s. The sport quickly spread across the world as a popular beach pass time and today the sport can be found throughout the world. The game became a popular sport as well and today the World Cup has a huge following and is an increasingly popular sport. The sport was first introduced to the Olympics in the 1996 Atlanta games.

The game is played on a field of sand with a net across the middle of it with two players on either side. Players score points by landing the ball within each others area and is played as best out of three sets. In London the tournament will start with a preliminary group round where the 16 best teams qualifies for the knock-out part of the competition. There are two gold medals up for grabs, one for the Women's and one for the Men's competition. To win the team needs to have skill, stamina, tactics and excellent partnership. The sport has been critisized for objectifiying women by the regulation that women have to wear clothing that  isn't limited to how little it can be, but rather to how large it can be while the men play in shirts and shorts. This of course is to keep interest in the sport by having women in skimpy outfits jumping and running around.

For the Women's competition it's looking to be another battle between teams from the USA, China and Brazil. Larissa França & Juliana Felisberta (BRA) have won numerous competitions together including six out of the last seven World Cups and are the raining World Champions and are the big favourites to take home gold, but the cold weather in London might work against them as they are used to warmer climates. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh (USA) have been the Brazilian teams biggest competitors the last couple of years and are also more than capable of winning the gold as they have done in the past two Olympic games. The outsideres are Xue Chen and Zhang Xi who currently hold the World number one ranking and won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing games. Personally I think it's long overdue for the Brazilians to get their gold medal as they are the best team in the world.

For the Men's competition has a more solid favourite in Emanuel Rego and Alison Ceruti (BRA) who are the current World Champions and won the last World Cup. They will face competition mainly from Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rodgers that are the current World number ones, but since winning the 2008 Beijing games has had a hard time winning championships.

This sport is always fun to watch and one that I like to watch both during Olympic games and otherwise. The finals i think will be very close and will show some of the best Beach Volleyball in the world.

Triathlon - Will the home favourites live up to the demands of the fans?

Triathlon is a sport that compromises of three different disciplinces - swimming, cycling and running and was first introduced at the 2000 Sydney games as an Olympic sport and is one of the fastest growing Olympic sports.

The competitors will start the competition with a 1500m swim which compromises of two laps where the swimmwers come out of the water at the halfway point, a 42km bike ride over eight laps and a 10km run to the finish line. Between every discipline the athletes change out of gear from one event into the other and this is one of the most crucial stages of the race as valuable seconds can be lost. The men and women compete seperately, but compete on the same course. To win a Triathlon competition an athlete needs to have all-round skills on every event, have amazing stamina and the tactics to plan their races right. 

In the Men's competition the gold medal fight will be between two brothers that have become icons of the sport, Allistair and Jonathon Brownlee (GBR). They together have won all the World Cup events they have entered the last two years and are dominating the mens side of the sport. My prediction is that one brother will win and that one brother will take silver making the home crowd go wild. For the Women's competition the field is a bit more open, but the favourite is another brit Helen Jenkins (GBR), but she is facing hard competition from Erin Densham (AUS) and Emma Snowsill (AUS) who are also red hot favourites.

All in all I think it's coing to be a public celebration with thousands of people lining the track to witness the GBR athlethes try to take the gold medals. It's going to be a feat to watch and I can't wait to see who will come up on top.

Boxing - Women make their Olympic debut

The new addition to the olympic programme this time around is the inclusion of women in the boxing ring. Boxing has been a part of the olympic programme since the 1904 St. Louis games making it one of the oldest Olympic sports, but it's also the sport where it has been the hardest for women to prove that they can compete at an Olympic. Boxing is also as far as I know the only sport that has an actual upper age limit, after the age of 34 you can not compete in Olympic games due to medical reasons since boxers take hard blows to the head alot. 

The Olympic format of the boxing tournament will be a knock-out tournament in different weight classes with the fight schedule decided based on rankings from competitions before the games. There are 13 gold medals up for grabs in this sports, 10 weight classes for Men's and 3 weight classes for the Women's competition. The fights take place in bouts where the fighters score points for clean hits to the head and the person with the most amount of points at the end of the last bout wins. A competitor can also win by knock-out where a person is hit to the ground and can't get up within a ten count from the judge. The men will compete in three bouts of three minutes while the women will compete in four bouts lasting two minutes.

To win a gold medal in boxing the athletes need to have a combination of strength, speed and the ability to think on their feet. Stamina is also a key to success since even if you are leading in points if you are taken out by knock-out in the last round you still loose. 

There are so many weight classes that talking about favourites is going to get a bit boring for you to read. However have a look out for these competitors:

- Katie Taylor (IRE) Women's Lightweight

- Felix Diaz (DOR) Men's Light Welterweight

- Luke Campbell (GBR) Men's Bantamweight

These athletes are ones i think can make a big impression on the boxing competition in this Olympic games tournament. However there are a vast number of talented athletes from almost all countries of the world competing so there will most likely be a few suprises up on the podium. 

I can't wait to see if the women can give as an exciting show as the men and secure their spot in the olympic programme once and for all.