London 2012 – Day One

Mark Cavendish missed out on Olympic gold in controversial circumstances in day one of the London 2012 Olympics. The World Champion finished in 29th place after their team tactics failed to play out as they did in Copenhagen last year.

After a race dogged by individual errors, it was Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov, a former drug cheat who served a ban in 2009, who took the gold medal.

Gymnast Louis Smith will be a main contonder for gold in the Pommel Horse after his qualifying routine scored 15.800.

In the rowing, Helen Glover and Helen Stanning have reached the final of the women’s pair, setting a new Olympic record in the process with a time of six minutes 57.29 seconds.

Andy and Jamie Murray are out of the men’s doubles in the tennis losing 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 to Austrian pair Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya. There was good news from Olympic debutant Elena Baltacha, who won 6-3 6-4 against Agnes Szavay, however world number one Caroline Wozniacki was too good for Anne Keothavong, winning 4-6 6-3 6-2.

The biggest story comes from the pool, as 16-(yes 16!) year-old Ye Shiwen of China won the 400m medley, breaking the World Record by over a second, clocking a time of four minutes 28.43 seconds. Briton Hannah Miley was unable to keep up with the pace, finishing in fifth place.

That gold from Shiwen has helped China top the medal table with five golds and two bronze medals, with Italy just ahead of USA in second place having two gold medals.

Day Two has the women’s road race, men’s football and men’s and women’s swimming finals in another action packed day of London 2012.

Dean Mears, Sports Editor