rowing

Esther Bintliff The morning warm-up – Wednesday 1 August

August 1, 2012 10:58 am by Esther Bintliff

A referee urges Indonesian and South Korean teams to play fairly in their women's doubles match on July 31. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/GettyImages)

Is it ever worth trying to lose a game so that you can get a better position in the draw for the next round?

Clearly these women badminton players (two pairs from South Korea and one pair each from China and Indonesia) thought so at some brief, misguided moment on Tuesday; they now face a disciplinary hearing. We’ll be bringing you updates on this story as we get them throughout the day.

In the meantime, here are a few highlights from today’s schedule:

Rowing – The Team GB women’s pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are hot favourites for a gold this morning, reports Ben Fenton. The UK men’s eight team are also tipped to win a medal, although they have to contend with a dominating German crew.

Swimming – After Michael Phelps’ record-breaking performance last night, attention will be back on the pool for the Men’s 100m freestyle final at 20.17.  Read more

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Posted in Athletes |

Jolly Boating Weather as GB hopes for gold

August 1, 2012 9:31 am by Ben Fenton

Great Britain's Helen Glover (R) and Heather Stanning in the women's pair heat 1 of the rowing event at Eton Dorney on July 28 (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/GettyImages)

At Eton Dorney, the crowds lining the 2,000m course that is home to Eton College’s rowing teams are already enormous and it is only just past 9am. The system for getting people into the course is incredibly efficient and spectators have been restricted only by the speed with which they can walk.

Even the press have stopped moaning here at Eton Dorney, not least because they can get a hot bacon roll for breakfast.

The rowing competition is all over by 12.30, so it’s definitely a sport for early risers. Which is precisely the reason why I didn’t pursue it myself at university! Read more

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Posted in Athletes, Spectators |