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.