Two More

Britain's gold collection continues to grow...

Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles- Men's Team Equestrian Showjumping
Jason Kenny- Men's Sprint Cycling

Big Star & Nick Skelton













 Here's how the top 20 medals table stands as of the end of proceedings today:

Rank	Country				Total
1	China	31	19	14	64
2	United States	29	15	19	63
3	Great Britain & N. Ireland	18	11	11	40
4	South Korea	11	5	6	22
5	France	8	9	9	26
6	Russian Federation	7	17	18	42
7	Italy	7	6	4	17
8	Kazakhstan	6	0	1	7
9	Germany	5	10	7	22
10	Hungary	4	1	3	8
11	North Korea	4	0	1	5
12	Netherlands	3	3	4	10
13	Cuba	3	3	1	7
14	Belarus	3	2	3	8
15	New Zealand	3	1	4	8
16	South Africa	3	1	0	4
17	Ukraine	3	0	6	9
18	Japan	2	12	14	28
19	Australia	2	12	8	22
20	Romania	2	4	2	8

 

And There's More

Another brilliant day for team GB. It's fair to say it is extremely unlikely our haul of medals will catch either China or the USA but nevertheless things are looking very good in deed for this little island nation.

Ben Ainslie won his fourth gold by taking the lead in the Men's Sailing Finn, making him the most decorated Olympic sailor in history.

Later in the day Andy Murray destroyed Roger Federer, winning in straight sets (6-2, 6-1, 6-4) to take the the Men's Singles Tennis title. (A couple of hours later Murray and partner Laura Robson won silver in the Mixed Tennis final)

Team GB now has 10 bronze, 11 silver and 16 gold. China has 61 medals and the USA 60.

(Best not to mention what's been happening at Headingley in the Cricket LOL) 

Super Duper Saturday

Great Britain did quite well today. Gold medals were won by:

Mo Farrah- Men’s 10,000 Metres

Greg Rutherford- Men’s Long Jump

Jessica Ennis- Heptathlon

Laura Trott, Dani King & Joanna Rowsell- Women’s Team Pursuit Cycling

Katherine Copeland & Sophie Hosking- Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Rowing

Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Alex Gregory & Tom James- Men’s Coxless Fours Rowing

Caption not required, surely?

Now don't get me wrong- just because I'm only listing our gold winners doesn't mean I value our second and third placed competitors any less. Anyone deemed good enough to represent their country at the Olympics earns my respect. For a full list of Britain's gold, silver and bronze winners to date, visit the BBC news site here.

Team GB are now in third in the medal table with 14 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze. Our old friends from Kazakhstan have 5 gold putting them in 8th.

While some of this was going on, Dad and SM (who are visiting for a few days) took LL and myself out in his new car to the National Trust house Basildon Park. This was used as the location of the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice which starred Keira Knightley dontchaknow. Here's a picture of the little fella (mostly) being sensible LOL.

 Stately home not included.

Women Olympic Gymnastics Team & All-Around Final

16

The number of years it has been since the United States of American has won a Gold medal in the Women's Gymnastics Team Final at the Olympics. The 'Magnificent Seven' captured this title in 1996 and while we were so close to another title in Beijing, we couldn't overcome the Chinese. But, this year looked different. This team was SOLID. We had strong athletes with big dreams and even bigger skills and routines.

2012 - The Fab Five

Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and Kyla Ross

These fabulous girls took over and won their well-deserved Gold Medal at the Team Finals in London!!! Coming in second was Russia, who fought until the very end. It was estimated that the Team Final would come down to tenths of points, but by a margin of over 5 points these fabulous ladies secured the #1 spot on the podium.

I couldn't tell you how PROUD I am of these girls. They have worked themselves to the bones for this deserving title and deserve all of the glory.

Here are some of my favorite highlights:

 McKayla Maroney's perfect vault. I would seriously like to know where the deduction was in that vault??! Even the judges faces were wide open after. She had the highest score of the night with a 16.233. Her reaction after the vault is also one of my favorite moments. She KNEW she nailed that.

Also, how cute was McKayla as the cheerleader for the girls? You could hear her over everyone during their routines.

Jordyn Wieber's vault and floor routine. She nailed her vault, proving that she deserved to be apart of the All-Around with BOTH teammates Gabby and Aly. EVERY time that girl hit a pass or part in her Floor Exercise that was key on, she SMILED so big. It was the CUTEST thing seeing her SO happy and do so awesome.

Kyla Ross had an amazing bar and beam routine. I was SO proud of her. The hug her and her coach shared after her beam routine was just precious. I also love what McKyla, her long time best friend, said to her after her routine: "That was SO good. I am SO proud of you!"

Aly Raisman crying before her floor routine was even over. After her last pass she basically knew that her team were the winners. I mean she only needed a 10 something to clench Gold!

My favorite part was watching the girls hold hands and stare at the scoreboard waiting to see the results! They were COMPLETELY adorable and their celebration after with hugs and tears was something I'll never forget. I was a mess watching how happy these girls were. They so deserved it! I am so proud of them!

Congratulations to these AMAZING girls! And, a HUGE congratulations to Gabby Douglas, the Gold All-Around Champion! That is three years in a row that the USA has held that title! Also, a very special congrats to Aly Raisman who got 4th place after a tie breaker. She definitely deserved a medal and fought her way through the entire thing! She is SUCH a great sport and a true role model. Definitely a GREAT team captain!

Their support for each other on Twitter was so heart warming. And, so many celebrities tweeted at them including TAYLOR SWIFT. This is beyond cute.

Three More

Victoria Pendleton- Women's Cycling Keirin

Stephen Burke, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas & Peter Kennaugh- Men's Cycling Team Pursuit Sprint

Katherine Grainger & Anna Watkins- Women's Rowing Double Sculls

Were the medals always this big?











Kazakhstan is for the moment at least a distant memory LOL.

Winning Could Be Expensive

Our Royal Mail has announced they will issue an Olympic stamp for every gold team GB wins at the games. First day Covers will be sent out the first working day after a win. The first two were issued today, see the image of the stamps from their website, featuring Heather Stanning, Helen Glover and Bradley Wiggins.

Having (at the time of this post) won a further 3 golds today, this could get to be quite expensive but on the other hand I do want team GB to win as many as possible.

So well done today to the following:

Peter Wilson, Men's Shooting Trap
Tim Baillie & Etienne Stot, Men's Canoe Slalom C2
Chris Hoy, Philip Hindes & Jason Kenny, Men's Cycling Team Sprint

This nice little haul together with a good collection of silver and bronze awards puts Great Britain well and truly above Kazakhstan LOL. 

Golden Day

After five days, Team GB has finally struck gold. In the women's rowing competition Helen Glover and Heather Stanning saw off challenges from Australia (silver), New Zealand (bronze) and the USA to win our first gold of London 2012.

 

Olympic rowing gold.










Later today a second gold followed, when 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins added to his own impressive Olympic haul with a win in the cycling time trials at Hampton Court Palace. Fellow Brit Chris Froome came third with Tony Martin of Germany taking second place.

Well done to all our winners to date.

In the medals table Great Britain has moved up to 11th, a long way behind China, the USA and the likes of Kazakhstan! Now keep repeating: " It's not the winning but the taking part that counts." Yeah right.

Olympic Pictures 30-31 July 2012

Here are a few of the better images from the exciting Olympic games of 2012.  These images are all taken from 30-31 July 2012. Enjoy!