BC FM-Community Radio for Bristol 6-22-2012
Second hour:

Want to be Part of the London 2012 Olympics? - Yes

Yes you heard it right! You have the chance to be part of the London 2012 Olympics! Thanks to Ariel for making it possible through the “Proud Keeper of the Philippines’ Colors Campaign”

Last June 24, Ariel invited the public to go to the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall for a day-long event for the opportunity to give a piece of their shirt to help create the Philippine flag- a gift to our athletes, to bring with them as they compete in London. And with Ariel color & style, the colors are sure to remain vibrant, especially when the athletes wave the flag proudly for all the world to see.

People came in the hundred in their red, yellow, blue and white shirts. Assistants cut a uniform square piece from each of the shirts, and gave donors the option to cover the square with a patch stating, “Ariel: Proud Keeper of the Philippines’ Colors”. Each patch cost only Php50.00 and all proceeds were also donated to the Philippine Athletes.

During the campaign launch, the Philippines Olympic athletes Hidilyn Diaz, Jasmine Alkhaldi, Rene Herrera and Jessie Lacuna were introduced to the audience and they too gave a piece of their own shirts as well.

Artist such as Rich Asuncion, Steven Silva, Ryza Xenon and Sheena Halili also dropped by to give a piece of their shirt.

Everyone was also treated by Escoal de Samba de Manila and 6 Cyclemind.

If you were not able to drop by the event last Sunday, collection of your shirt pieces is still on-going at Metropole Laundry and Dry Cleaning outlets and

An Olympic Translation App- The Language Blog by K International

As the 2012 Summer Olympics kick off and London prepares for the onslaught of foreign visitors, a new iPhone app is being released to make it easier for all of those people to communicate.

The app, called VoiceTra4U-M, works for both telephone conversations and face-to-face conversations in 13 different languages, including American English, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Malay and Vietnamese. Text-only translation is available for another 10.

The app is the brainchild of the Universal Speech Translation Advanced Research Consortium, otherwise known as U-STAR. This research group was formed with the objective of "breaking language barriers around the world and implementing vocal communication between different languages." It really is a perfect fit for the Olympics.

Of course, there are other translation apps for the iPhone, but VoiceTra4U-M has the advantage of openness, meaning that a country could set up its own servers and use the app to translate its local language, which might give it an advantage when it comes to attracting tourists.

Like all machine translation technology, VoiceTra4U-M is not perfect and does have some drawbacks. For one thing, the actual translating takes place on remote servers, which implies that you do need to have a data connection available to use it. And depending on your carrier, the fees for that data could add up quickly. Then, there's the fact that the conversation will inevitably be full of awkward pauses as the data gets beamed to those servers, translated and sent back.

Finally, the U-STAR team chose to sacrifice breadth of translation ability in favor of accuracy (an understandable decision given the limitations of available technology). As the New Scientist notes,

"U-STAR has also initially focused on translating words and phrase related to tourism, making it 80 to 90 per cent accurate versus Google's 40 to 60 per cent accuracy – though of course, this falls if you want to discuss a topic not covered by the app."

That's not to knock the potential usefulness of this app for travelers, though. Oftentimes as a tourist, all you need is to be able to accurately ask a simple question like "Where is the bathroom?" and then understand the answer.

Tagged as: 2012 London Olympics, iPhone

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Unorthodox Gymnastics: What's the point of the Olympic Trials?

The Olympic Trials, as any fan of gymnastics is very well aware, are now underway in San Jose. (Us fans have only been waiting for this moment, for say, four years.) After competition on Sunday night, we’ll know who is on the women’s team. But the scores and placements from the Trials themselves don’t determine the team. The three person selection committee comprised of Martha Karolyi, Steve Rybacki, Teri Humphrey does. While the Trials figure into their deliberations, they are not necessarily the determining factor unless in the case of gymnasts like Nastia Liukin and Bridget Sloane who haven’t competed in awhile. Because the committee is free to do so, they get to take into account practices and past competitions. Why should the fate of an athlete’s Olympic dream boil down to just one competition? And if we are to reduce a gymnast’s career to just one meet, it should be the Olympics, not the qualification competition.

Yet the Trials still command significant amounts of press attention and every Olympic cycle resurrects the controversies of past Olympic team selections, including the Kim Kelly affair from 1992. Twenty years ago, Kelly thought she earned the 6th and final spot onto the Olympic team only to be replaced late by an athlete that had been too injured to compete at Trials in a closed door session.

At the time, I naturally felt for Kelly. It seemed so very unfair to nine year old sense of morality. Fastest wins the race. Highest score on the test is the top student in the class. Case closed.

But that really only works for individual pursuits, not for team matters. One would never determine the members of a basketball or soccer team in such a way. And since the 3-up-3-count added a bit of strategy to the team competition–no longer simply making it about adding up gymnasts’ all around totals but filling roles on each event–the old way of selecting the team is certainly outmoded.

While selecting teams on the basis of past performance and practices is hardly controversial in the aforementioned team sports, it is often highly fraught within gymnastics. They don’t have a dunking contest to determine the best point guard or forward for the basketball team. However, the less objective seeming the sport is (and gymnastics is certainly a judged, subjective sport), the more we try to demand some semblance of fairness and transparency in team selection. And a head-to-head competition seems like the most transparent and just way to choose a team. It’s democratic in a way, like the way we choose our elected officials. (Winner takes all on election day as opposed to appointment/confirmation process to earn certain government positions.)

But in gymnastics, it mostly doesn’t work. The teams do need to be selected just as an NCAA gymnastics coach decides the lineup for the week’s meet. It’s not democratic. Of course, college meets happen nearly every week during the competitive season and once a year when it comes to the finals. I’m sure people would be more high-strung emotionally about this fact if NCAA championships came around only once every four years instead of every year.

I know this post sounds oddly like I’m throwing my support behind Martha Karolyi, of whom I have often been openly critical. In a way, I am. Yet my problem has never been that the teams are chosen mostly by her. It’s the pretense of guidelines that has always bothered me. If USA Gymnastics would come forward and openly say that there are no true guidelines and that the team will be wholly the choice of the selection committee then I would be somewhat satisfied. It would be honestly admitting what is really happening anyway. Also, even though I have no problem with the team being at the discretion of the committee, I don’t think the selection process needs to be nearly as long and protracted as it has been in the past.

Which brings us to the Olympic Trials. Namely, what is the point of this whole show? Why throw the girls into one final domestic pressure cooker when the results only kind of matter (as opposed to perhaps getting some of the girls out there for the final international meets, especially someone like Sarah Finnegan, who is rather inexperienced)? Is it beneficial to to the gymnasts?

Don’t get me wrong–the trials make for excellent entertainment. (And there you have part of the answer–television ratings.) And I will be watching, rapt, tomorrow night as the women finish their competition and the team is named. But I just wonder if there is a better way to choose the Olympic team…

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Sasha P becomes the First Female Rapper to Carry the Olympic Torch

As the London Olympic games 2012 draws closer Storm 360 is happy to announce the naming of Sasha P as an Olympic Torch bearer, The young lady will make history once again on July 1, 2012 the 44^th day of the 80 day ongoing Olympic relay ,when she will carry the torch in Birmingham UK for the stipulated 300 meters .

This is another feather in the well-decorated hat of Africa's foremost female Hip Hop artiste, a feat that we are indeed very proud of. The Samsung mobile ambassador was chosen through an extensive selection process by the LOCOG moment to shine public nominations which began in 2011, the process provided 2,012 torch bearers of the total 8,ooo from all over the world and apart from athletes and celebrities the selected few were chosen for their impact and contribution to the society and personal achievements.

As one of nine Nigerian representatives which include Kanu Nwankwo (ex-Nigerian International footballer), Banky W (musician), Funke Akindele Oloyede (actress) and Steve 'Yaw' Onu (On Air Personality) Sasha enthuses " I am so excited to be a part of this history, when I was notified that I had been selected in March I couldn't stop smiling but I wasn't allowed to share the information yet, it is a great honor and an opportunity I will not take for granted, God is truly amazing!"

” Sasha continues to make us proud, she is an inspiration to millions of young ladies all over Nigeria and the continent and a shining example that when you are a good person good things keep happening shine on Sasha”

Bale out of Olympics « This Is Jersey

Tottenham winger Gareth Bale has suffered an injury that will rule him out of Great Britain's Olympic football squad, Press Association Sport understands.

Bale was widely anticipated to be included in manager Stuart Pearce's GB team for the Olympic tournament starting at the end of next month.

But it is understood the 22-year-old Wales international has suffered a recurrence of an old back and hip injury after pulling up while running.

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Top 18 Male-Athlete Hotties of Team Great Britain for the 2012 - Yes

My friends and I like to kill time by “people watching”.

2012 US Olympics Trials Swimming Finals Day Five 2012 06 29 HDTV

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00:47:33 | 720 x 406 | H264 – 2021 kbps | 29.97 fps(r) (und) | AAC – 48000 Hz | 687.47 MB

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2012 US Olympics Trials Swimming Finals Day Five 2012 06 29 HDTV x264-2HD – Fast Download

Unfortunatelly, Zippyshare monkeys didn’t found anything related to this post, we’re sorry..

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Yemen Athletes London 2012 Olympics Players List | Spain vs Italy ...

Yemen Athletes London 2012 Olympics Players List
Yemen will send his best players to play in the London Games 2012 . This is going to be the biggest event this year and Yemen athletes will looking forward to get some goal from this years London 2012 Olympics . The name of players who are participating in the London 2012 Olympics will be updated here soon.

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2012 Olympic Player from UK Piggy French

Piggy French Georgina is a British equestrian athlete, said competing eventing horses. He was a good player in the British variety.

Gator Athletes Get Closer To Olympic Berths

There are already a number of current and former Gator athletes who have qualified for the Summer Olympics next month in London and several more may be joining them.

Gator swimmers Matt Elliott and Teresa Crippen have advanced to the finals of the 200 meter breaststroke and 200 meter butterfly events respectively at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials being held in Omaha, Nebraska.

Key Stage 1: How to use an embedded clause, whilst writing ...

During this week, Mrs Brennen's class have been looking at clauses. This activity took place in an English lesson.

As you all know, that the 2012 Olympics are coming up, so the children in Mrs Brennen's class have included a clause in a sentence, but in that sentence they have also written about a certain athlete that is taking place in the Olympics!

Here are a variety of sentences they have written:

1.

Olympics 2012 Stream Preview » Yapperz.com - Speak out loud.

More info about Olympics 2012: http://watcholympics2012online.org/london-olympics-2012-live-streaming-free-in-hd/

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Simply leave as well as speak to company proprietors that have their shop or place of works near the locations where the Queen Jubilee’s function happened. That event just happened over a holiday weekend, presently consider the Olympic games that will definitely spread over several days, and you could be confident that you’ll prefer a far better answer that taking family holidays.

The 2012 London Olympics will be happening this July and also August. While it’s not the most publicized occasion, the boxing competition at the Olympics is constantly one of the most enjoyable. It’s packed with extremely qualified rivals in a one-on-one event, and also they abolish each additional one at a time and energy till just the victor is left standing.

There’s a great offer of details readily available online to aid prepare you for boxing at the London 2012 Olympics. There are lots of different countries represented, although not all of them have large crews or correct medal contenders.

The USA boxing crew at the London Olympics is secured for the Second leading troop in the tournament. They have a sum total of 9 team associates from a feasible 10. Not all of the competitors are strongly placed in their weight classes, nonetheless, there is explanation to be optimistic that the crew does well and provides property several medals.

You may additionally choose to discover more pertaining to ladies’s boxing at the Olympics. This is the first Olympics with women’s boxing as a formal sport, and they have 3 weight programs to rival in.

For fight followers, Olympic boxing is often buried down deep in the TV routine these days, but if you just can’t discover the matches on tv, you’ll be able to locate the results online. As soon as the tournament starts, you’ll be able to locate the results of the matches, as well as to see just how everything is playing out, which teams are doing well, and just how the medal contenders are faring.

Inevitably, there are some truly great sources out there for any type of fight fan. You can easily discover a lot more pertaining to the Olympic boxing tournament before it begins, which fighters are the picks, as well as which countries are the greatest exemplified. As the activity starts to unfold, you’ll be able to adhere to in addition to news, updates and results to find out just how the fighters and countries are holding up, whether or not there have been any sort of injuries or debates, and even more.

Do not skip on the great boxing action at the London 2012 Olympics!

With the London Olympics dispersed right across the South of England later this many years, Essex makes the perfect base for your stay for a number of reasons, and these feature:

Stay clear of the pricey London Squeeze!

London is a sensational financing region with practically hundreds of should view attractions and facilities – any read to Britain would certainly not be thorough without it!

The disadvantage to London may be the charge of hotel and resort and bed as well as breakfast lodging, it may be higher! Demand throughout the Olympics is going to be higher and also therefore seeking cheaper options makes great economic sense as well as will definitely enable you to invest your hard obtained holiday/vacation money on all those attractions!

Essex, just a couple of miles away from the Neighborhood is a great function. The area is well connected by social transportation as well as road infrastructure and it is simply 20 seconds from the heart of the Olympic Park in London’s eastend. Essex shows off a couple of the regions best and also the majority of unspoilt country side with olde folk tales of highwaymen as well as smugglers if you decide to find nearer the coast.

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'Totally devastated' Aaron Cook abandons Olympic selection battle ...

Taekwondo world number one Aaron Cook says he is 'totally devastated' after abandoning his battle to challenge his omission from the London 2012 Olympics. The Aaron Cook selection row has been a major embarrassment for the sport (Picture: AP) Cook, who is world number one and reigning European champion in the -80kg class, but was left out of the squad in favour of Lutalo Muhammad, who is also a European champion but in a different weight division. The British Olympic Association had initially refused to ratify the nomination list from GB Taekwondo and the World Taekwondo Federation also got involved, questioning the selection process, but GB Taekwondo stuck to its guns over Muhammad's inclusion. Cook and his team had threatened to go to court over the issue but have now, reluctantly abandoned their bid. 'Despite my representatives advising me that I still had a good chance of successfully overturning the BOA's ratification of Great Britain Taekwondo's decision not to select me for London 2012, I have decided not to take my case against the BOA to the High Court,' he said in a statement.

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Left image: Design Stories 2012 Mural by Dan Bissonnet ©RIBA, Right image: London 2112 Festival image.

If you are visiting London this summer, but do not have tickets to the Olympics, then you can still get the low-down on the London 2012 Olympic Architecture at the RIBA. They are holding an exhibition titled: Design Stories – The Architecture Behind 2012.

The exhibition is part of the London 2012 Festival.

The 2012 sporting venues and lead architects featured in the exhibition include:

Olympic Stadium – Populous

Aquatics Centre – Zaha Hadid Architects

Velodrome – Hopkins Architecture

Basketball Arena – Wilkinson Eyre/KSS Design Group

Handball Arena – MAKE

Hockey Centre – Populous

Shooting venue – Magma Architecture

Waterpolo venue – David Morley Architecture

Eton Manor – Stanton Williams.

Muse's New Single 'Survival' – 2012 Olympic Theme Song ...

Muse has once again left nothing in the studio with the release of their first single for their upcoming album 2nd Law.

Engage with your customers during the London 2012 Olympics

Posted on June 28th, 2012 by Richard.

… and get more business!

Engage with your customers in a way that they’ll enjoy, add a little spice of competition and make it relevant – then you’ll reap the business rewards.

This is a fabulous way to engage with your customers in a non-sales way but still results in you getting more business.

It is based on a competition we ran for England in Euro 2012 (nuff said about that!). We simply text customers before the competition started asking them how many goals they thought England would score during the tournament. Using the free reply or txtUs number as the originator, we'll built up a bank of replies with their predictions.

The message was, "Can you predict how many goals England will score during Euro 2012? Text back your guess and if you're right there's an iPad 3 up for grabs for one lucky winner. Thanks. xyzCompany.com"

Here's the clever part

The day after each match, there was a great reason to text customers again. Such as, "A fabulous win for England last night. That puts the total at 2 goals now. We're celebrating with 10% off everything at xyzCompany.com".

This was one of the most responsive messages we've seen for some time. There was a legitimate reason to text people. An interesting message to say, as they were in the competition and a general 'good feeling' reason to offer a small discount and direct them to our website. Ticking all the right boxes.

We did it the day after each time England had scored (OK, so it wasn't a long term campaign!) and each time the response was incredible with sales at the site increasing.

So, how does this apply to the Olympics?

How about, "Can you predict how many Gold Medals Britain will win in the Olympics? Text back your guess and if you're right there's an iPad 3 up for grabs for one lucky winner. Thanks. xyzCompany.com" ……?

It starts in less than a month and there'll be a 2 week window in which you can keep in contact with your customers – as I'm sure we'll be piling in the gold's! We'd suggest sending out the initial text about a week before it starts – 'Olympics Fever Pitch' should be about right by then.

Sasol on board as 2012 Olympics sponsor | SASCOC

June 28th, 2012

Brazilian swimmer banned for two years News

Posted on 28th June 2012No Responses

Brazilian swimmer banned for two years

Rio de Janeiro, June 28 (IANS) Brazilian swimmer Glauber Silva has been banned for two years and stripped of his place at the London Olympics for doping.

Silva, who last month qualified for the 100m butterfly event in London, tested positive to excess levels of testosterone during Brazil's Olympic swimming trials in April, Xinhua reports.
He was handed the sentence by Brazil's swimming confederation (CBDA) Wednesday after being found guilty by a doping panel.
The CBDA also announced suspensions to swimmers Flavia Delaroli and Pamela Alencar.
Delaroli was handed a three-month ban for using tuaminoheptane while Alencar was suspended for six months for testing positive for the diuretic furosemide.
Silva's claim that increased levels of testosterone were caused by a hormonal imbalance were refuted by the panel, which said the results were consistent with steroid use.
The suspensions are the latest in a string of doping scandals to hit Brazilian swimming.
Last month, Barbara Benke was banned for four months after testing positive to isometheptene.
In 2011, four swimmers tested positive to furosemide, including defending Olympic 50m freestyle champion Cesar Cielo, who was later cleared.

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UK Newsx.com – The rivalry is not even an issue anymore

Brazil's fierce rivalry with South American neighbor Argentina is being put aside when it comes to basketball Wholesale Snapback Hats. In London, it will be an Argentine coach leading the Brazilian men's team in its return to the Olympics after 16 years.Desperately needing to revamp its basketball program, Brazil didn't think twice when it went after Ruben Magnano, the Argentine who helped his nation win the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Games after a stunning victory over the United States in the semifinals.The Brazilian basketball confederation received an onslaught of criticism at first, but Magnano quickly gained widespread support, especially after qualifying Brazil for the Olympics for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games.The rivalry is not even an issue anymore, unless the subject is football, of course, something Magnano learned firsthand last year.The day after Argentina's It is composed by chen xiaoxiao 2012-06-28 home loss to Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the Copa America, the South American football championship, the Brazilian players decided to give Magnano a hard time on the basketball court. While breaking the huddle following a practice, instead of yelling "Brazil" as usual, the players in unison shouted "Uruguay," loud and clear for Magnano to hear.It was enough to get a laugh from the usually tough and serious Argentine coach."They are always joking with me and I'm always joking with them," Magnano told The Associated Press after a practice in Sao Paulo. "This is natural in sports. It's all about how you take it 47 Brand Snapback Hats.

Social housing starts still plunging Ι Construction Enquirer

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Registrations to build private new homes, the current engine for much-needed growth in the UK's overall housing supply, also decreased, down 3% at 20035 in 2012. The NHBC warned that year on year … Around 2800 London Olympic Village properties split roughly evenly between the private and public sectors were registered during the comparison period last year. Without the Olympic Village effect public … Five firms in race for £22m Derby Velodrome. Dundee station and hotel …

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Artist Residence: PEOPLE'S DAY FESTIVAL BRIGHTON 2012

Brighton & Hove's annual one day, free, festival, People's Day, is taking place on Saturday 14 July 2012. The event will run from 11am-5pm in New Road, Jubilee Street, Jubilee Square, the Pavilion Gardens and Victoria Gardens, Brighton.

Music, dance, sport, and fantastic food from around the globe are all features of this year's event which is designed to bring different communities together in celebration of the city's rich diversity.

Entertainment will be spread across nine different themed zones and include individual stalls run by community groups and volunteers.

There will be a range of activities for all age groups to participate in – from arts and crafts to sports and electronic gaming. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about healthy living, uncover the history and culture of the city and get a chance to relax and unwind. Other highlights include live music by Brighton band, The Fragile Creatures, African drumming and dance workshops, Chinese brush painting, table tennis and penalty shoot out games with local football teams.

This year's event is part of a weekend of festivities taking place ahead of the Olympic Torch relay, which arrives in the city on Monday 16 July.

More details can be found HERE!

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Olympics Missile Plans Challenged By Residents | Londonist

The Ministry of Defence's plans to place missiles in various positions around the Olympics site faces a blow today, as residents of Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone go to court for an injunction to stop weapons being stuck on their roof.

Just to be clear: this is an entirely different building from the one in the news a couple of months ago, the gated Lexington Building in Bow, where residents also went nuts at the prospect of having high velocity missiles stationed above their heads. The MoD still hasn't confirmed whether they're going to put their massive weaponry plans into action, so the Leytonstone folk hope there's still a chance to block the whole exercise. The Press Association quotes their lawyer, Martin Howe, saying:

Security of the Olympics is of course extremely important but could the MoD not find any other way of protecting the Olympic village than by putting the lives of hundreds of innocent council tenants at risk by turning their homes into a military battlefield position?

The blocks of flats are due to have "high velocity missiles" plonked on them. Four other sites

Survival by Muse- 2012 London Olympics Theme Song Video and ...

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SPORT REVIEWS - London 2012: GB women 'will win rowing gold ...

Great Britain will win a first ever women’s rowing gold medal this summer, according to three-time silver medallist Katherine Grainger.

Continue reading the main story

"Can we beat the men in the medals table? Last month in Munich the girls did pull that one off and I’d like to see it! I think we will give them a real run for their money."

Anna Watkins

Grainger and Anna Watkins are two-time world champions in the double scull, while Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have dominated in the pair this year.

“There is no doubt it’s going to happen in London and there are a lot of crews who could do it,” said the Scot.

Britain will be represented in five of the six women’s Olympic rowing classes.

While Britain’s men have won 24 gold medals at Olympics, including at least one at every Games since 1984, it was not until 2000 that Grainger herself won GB’s first women’s rowing medal.

She has gone on to become the nation’s most decorated female rower with three silver medals at three successive Olympic Games, as well as six world titles.

“When I won my first medal back in Sydney it was a huge breakthrough for women’s rowing,” she said.

“Since then I feel very lucky to see it transform from the odd result being a huge success to the women actually being seen as leading the way with the men, and at times outperforming them.

“It is just brilliant to have seen the women’s squad grow in strength and depth, and to see the standard of success that has been set.

Women’s rowing finals

Pair

- 1 August

Quadruple Sculls

- 1 August

Eight

- 2 August

Double Sculls

- 3 August

Single Sculls

- 4 August *

Lightweight Double Sculls

- 4 August

* No Team GB entry

Full Olympic rowing schedule

“Women are arriving in the squad and are expecting to be successful now and compete at the top, top level, not just be part of a team but actually winning events.”

Grainger

and

Watkins

are unbeaten since coming together as a pair in 2010, and they won all three of this year’s World Cup events, seeing off a threatening Australian boat in some style in Munich last time out.

Victory at Eton Dorney in August would cap Grainger’s personal story nicely, given she has missed out three times in succession, but she might not get the honour of becoming Britain’s first female gold medallist.

“Of course everyone would like to be the first to win a gold but for us it is

very much down to the programme,”

said Grainger.

“You don’t get to choose and I am not going to wish one of my team-mates bad just so it is me! We are the third day of finals, so realistically I don’t think we will be the first, but I think for both of us we see it as our medal and our event and a first in its own right.

Analysis – Munich World Cup

Sir Steve Redgrave
Five-time Olympic champion

Grainger & Watkins:

“The confidence they finished that race with will boost them again.

They know they have a race on their hands and that’s what you want. You still need that element of needing to push on and they’ll have one eye on Australia. I think it will be a lot closer race in London; the Australians are coming back from injury and are a class act.”

Glover & Stanning:

“They hugely impressed me last year with their season and this year they’ve just moved away – it looks like no-one will challenge them at all, which is fantastic.

This is their first Olympics so there will be nerves but they’re absolutely flying and I can’t see any reason why that’s going to change.”

“That race and that day will be more important than anything, regardless of what is happening around us.”

Glover

and Stanning won silver in the pair at last year’s World Championships but have taken a major step forward in 2012, winning all three World Cup regattas and seeing off world champions New Zealand in Munich.

“We never sat down at the start of the season and said that we aimed to win every World Cup event,” said Glover.

“Instead we said we wanted to do very well with room to press on to the Olympics, and for that to end up with three golds is quite exciting for us.

“I’m sure the opposition will get closer to us. There are some really great boats out there with loads of experience, with Olympians with several gold medals, and so there are people who are going to try and do things to us, because at the moment we are the crew to beat.

“But we don’t think about that, we are just trying to train as hard as we can and not worry about anyone else.”

And what of the race to be Britain’s first female gold medallist?

“It is something that is of great interest to journalists and people watching, but we don’t really care as long as we do what we do,” said Glover.

“I think the whole team feel that is a really great sort of add-on but really that is just timetabling.”.

Original post:
SPORT REVIEWS – London 2012: GB women 'will win rowing gold …

London 2012: Jenny Meadows injury hits Olympic hopes

Former world and European 800m bronze medallist Jenny Meadows has suffered a further setback in her bid to be selected for the Olympics after aggravating her Achilles injury.

She has not raced all year and has now pulled out of Thursday’s 800m semi-finals at the European Championships.

Meadows, 31, faces an anxious wait ahead of Monday’s Olympic selection.

“I know I’m selectable based on my previous seven ‘A’ standards, but it is no longer in my control,” she said

Meadows and the 800m

1 min 59.39 secs

- Meadows’ time to win bronze medal at European Championships (Barcelona, 2010)

1 min 58.60 secs

- Meadows’ best run in 2011 (Crystal Palace, 2011)

1 min 57.93 secs

- Meadows’ personal best (Berlin, 2009)

1 min 54.82 secs

- current Olympic-winning time (Pamela Jelimo, Beijing, 2008)

1 min 53.28 secs

- world record (Jarmila Kratochvilova, Munich, 1983)

Meadows

secured the 800m bronze medal at the World Championships three years ago

and followed up with bronze at the 2010 European championships.

“It has been a battle to get back to full fitness after suffering an Achilles tear earlier this year,” said Meadows.

Meadows said she “has never been fitter” having trained intensively throughout winter, and that she was “ready to come here [Helsinki] and compete for a medal”.

Meadows, who also had to pull out of the GB Olympic trials, blames her injury on the flight to Helsinki.

“My injury seems to have reacted badly to the flight and whilst we all genuinely believed I would be ready to get to the start line, this setback means I’m so close yet so far,” she said.

Meadows is still in the running for Team GB despite her injury as there are three spots available, although Lynsey Sharp and Jemma Simpson – who finished first and second in the trials – could fill two places by recording the ‘A’ standard of one minute 59.90 seconds at the European Championships.

If Sharp and Simpson qualify, Meadows will have to rely upon the UK Athletics selection panel to pick her in the

discretionary third spot.

The highlight of the second day of the European Championships is set to be the men’s 100m final, where Harry Aikines-Aryeetey will represent Britain..

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London 2012: Jenny Meadows injury hits Olympic hopes

SPORT REVIEWS - London 2012: Gymnast Beth Tweddle's battle ...

“To be honest, I didn’t think at the age of 27 I’d still be wearing a leotard.”

We are now in the closing stages of the career that revolutionised British gymnastics. In two months’ time, the Beth Tweddle era will be over.

Born in South Africa but a proud product of Liverpool, Tweddle entered her first major world event in 2001, aged 16.

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"I want to go skydiving, or skiing or wingwalking, and not wake up in the middle of the night to check an injury"

Beth Tweddle

By 2002, she was a European medallist and Commonwealth champion.

In 2003 came a first world medal, and 2006 saw her crowned European and world champion on the uneven bars.

The idol to a generation or more of young female gymnasts will end her career with three world titles to her name – two on the bars and one in the floor event, the latter won inside London’s O2 Arena in 2009.

Now she sits inside the same arena, which will shortly become the home of London 2012′s Olympic gymnastics, and ruminates on the subject of leotards.

Thousands bearing her name and signature are sold each year, but few are worn by women in their mid-to-late 20s.

“They’re not the most comfortable piece of clothing,” she confesses. “This time, it was nice to pack for two days and not have to put a leotard in the bag.”

While there are gymnasts far older than Tweddle still competing internationally – Oksana Chusovitina of Germany, for example, is 36 – it is rare to get much beyond 20 in the sport.

Tweddle’s longevity and success are remarkable, all the more so as the woman whose achievements helped to haul Britain’s gymnasts forward into a new era.

Her world titles reinvigorated the sport, convinced judges that British performances mattered, persuaded funding bodies and sponsors to come on board, and showed younger gymnasts you could be British and succeed.

“I’ll think more about that when I retire, and I can look back over what I’ve achieved,” she says. “For now, I’m only as good as my next result.”

With one result left to get, Tweddle is set to be named as the leader of Britain’s five-strong women’s gymnastics team for her home Olympics next week, coming through a lengthy battle against her own body to make it this far.

Tweddle’s medals

World titles:

2006 (bars), 2009 (floor), 2010 (bars)

European titles:

2006 (bars), 2009 (bars and floor), 2010 (bars and floor), 2011 (bars)

Commonwealth titles:

2002 (bars)

She missed this year’s European Championships, in May, having had keyhole surgery on a knee problem, and has been sleeping with a machine strapped around her knee to keep it iced through the night (bought with the help of millionaire philanthropist Barrie Wells, who has given a number of Team GB athletes financial aid).

“It runs from above my knee to halfway down my shin and ices and compresses, which is vital as there is not the time during a day’s training,” she wrote in her

Metro column