Jamaica's gold medal winner Usain Bolt is flanked by his teammates silver medal winner Yohan Blake, left, and bronze medalist Warren Weir during the ceremony for the men's 200-meter final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Jamaica's gold medal winner Usain Bolt is flanked by his teammates silver medal winner Yohan Blake, left, and bronze medalist Warren Weir during the ceremony for the men's 200-meter final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, fans leave Olympic Stadium after an athletics event at the 2012 Summer Olympics Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Lead singer Damon Albarn from British rock band "Blur," performs at the main stage of the Skanderborg Music Festival 2012 in Skanderborg, Denmark, Thursday evening Aug. 9. 2012. Blur will perform at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in London on Sunday. (AP Photo/Polfoto, Sisse Dupont) DENMARK OUT
Gold medalist United States' Jordan Ernest Burroughs, participates in the medals ceremony for men's 74-kg freestyle wrestling competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
United States' women's 4 x100-meter relay team members, from left, Carmelita Jeter, Bianca Knight, Tianna Madison and Allyson Felix, celebrate their gold medal win during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. The United States relay team set a new world record with a time of 40.82 seconds (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
LONDON (AP) ? Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
___
ONE MORE BOLT
The London Games are going to get one more Bolt before they come to a close.
Usain Bolt and the Jamaicans will be the favorites when they hit the track for the 4x100 relay finals on Saturday. A victory would give Bolt three golds in London, and six for his already brilliant career.
Bolt rested on Friday while his teammates clocked in at 37.39 seconds, a time that surely will drop with the world's fastest man in the group.
Still, the Americans showed they're not going to just hand Bolt the gold medal. Their time of 37.38 seconds was a U.S. record.
"There's a lot of people there who have come to spoil the party," Bolt said earlier this week. "So we'll see."
? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
___
DRUNK AS A SKUNK
It's hard to picture U.S. men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski as a party animal staggering around the streets of London.
But that's exactly how he jokingly described himself after the U.S. beat Argentina by 26 points on Friday night to advance to the gold medal game.
Krzyzewski took exception to a question from a reporter asking if he had to do any coaching, given he had such a talented roster.
"Absolutely none," he deadpanned. "I'm out every night with my family, drunk as a skunk. Wait till you see me tonight. I'll get in at six and you all are invited to come out with me."
Krzyzewski is famous for his obsessive preparation, so the only headache he'll have on Saturday likely will be the one caused by planning for the Sunday gold medal final against Spain.
? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
___
OLYMPIC POEM
Britain's poet laureate has written a poem to celebrate the triumphs and memorable moments of the London Olympics.
Carol Ann Duffy's poem, titled "Translating the British, 2012," opens with, "The Queen jumped from the sky/ to the cheering crowds" ? a reference to the moment during the July 27 opening ceremony when a stuntman doubling as Queen Elizabeth II parachuted into the Olympic Stadium.
Duffy hails the successes of British athletes in the best Olympics performance the nation has seen in a century.
But she also makes clear that the games shouldn't be a fleeting triumph, writing: "For every medal earned/ We want school playing-fields returned."
Here she was referring to government budget cuts that make it harder for many schools to fund children's participation in sports.
? Sylvia Hui ? Twitter http://twitter.com/sylviahui
___
HANGING WITH GABBY
Now that she's done with her events, Gabby Douglas has more time to hang out at different places in London.
Recently, she was playing with kids at a McDonald's as part of the fast food giant's program to bring children from around the world to the London Olympics and to meet athletes.
A top Olympics sponsor, McDonald's is using the games as a vehicle to promote an active lifestyle for children.
The official McDonald's Twitter account posted a picture on Friday of Douglas grinning with a group of children, along with this description: "Gold Medal Gymnast (at)GabrielleDoug is hanging with our Champions of Play kids in London! Excitement all around!"
? Sylvia Hui ? Twitter http://twitter.com/sylviahui
___
OLYMPIC STYLE PARTYING
The competitions will end Sunday, but then expect fetes that organizers say will be of Olympic proportions.
Consider music director David Arnold's prediction: it will be "the greatest after-party in the world."
"If the opening ceremony was the wedding, then we're the wedding reception," Arnold told the Daily Telegraph ? with everyone from the Pet Shop Boys to Annie Lennox and Fatboy Slim on hand to get people dancing.
Organizers have tried to keep the ceremony under wraps, but details have leaked out in the British media. Some of the performers have let the cat out of the bag themselves.
The Who, George Michael, Muse and Ed Sheeran have all said they will take part in a show that will include performances of 30 British hit singles from the past five decades.
Of course, there will also be ceremonial elements, including an athletes' march, the raising of the flags of Greece ? birthplace of the Olympics ? current host Britain and 2016 Games host Brazil, and the extinguishing of the Olympic cauldron, marking the handover to Rio.
But the main event will be a mashup of music, theater, circus and hit parade.
? Jill Lawless ? Twitter ?http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
___
MEDAL COUNT MOTIVATION
New Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs knew just how important his gold medal in freestyle wrestling was for the United States team.
Burroughs knew that China edged the U.S. in medal count at the last two Summer Games.
So he downloaded a phone app to help track the daily score.
"That was something big for me," Burroughs said after winning the 74-kilogram division Friday. "I wanted to be the guy that could help us out."
After Burroughs' win, the U.S. leads China 41 to 37 in hunt for golds.
The charismatic 24-year-old, who identifies himself on Twitter as (at)alliseeisgold, did just that by defeating Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi of Iran in the title bout.
"Even though China makes all our clothes, they can't beat us at medals," he said.
? Graham Dunbar ? Twitter http://twitter.com/gdunbarap
___
FAST AND FLASH
Carmelita Jeter has some flash to go with her speed.
Jeter crossed the finish line pointing the baton at the clock, which showed a world record of 40.82 for the U.S. women's 4x100-meter relay team. That shattered the old record of 41.37 set by East Germany way back in 1985. It also was the Americans' first gold in the relay since 1996.
Jeter and the other three members of the relay team ? Tianna Madison, 200-meter champion Allyson Felix and Bianca Knight ? wrapped themselves in flags and then looked up at the Jumbotron to watch the replay. When the shot of Jeter crossing the line was shown, Knight thrust her fist in the air.
? Nancy Armour ? Twitter http://twitter.com/nrarmour
___
MARRY ME!
It brings a whole new meaning to Olympic rings.
Love is in the air during the 2012 games, it seems. The question has been popped an estimated 25 times under the large, multi-colored rings inside Olympic Park.
Bram Lobeek, from Utrecht in the Netherlands, finally found the moment he had been looking for all year.
After watching the Dutch men's hockey team beat South Korea this week, he convinced his reluctant girlfriend of almost 10 years to line up for a photo by the rings.
He didn't explain his motive ? and fretted as she started to look bored.
His girlfriend, Hetty van der Pennen, recalled wondering why she was wasting her time there.
"So I was standing and I said 'what is he doing?' and he was pointing at the Olympic rings and he said 'well, these are yours,'" she said Friday. "I said: 'What?' Then he went down on his knees."
? Corrin Grant
___
NO MEDAL FOR OSCAR
There will be no medal for Oscar Pistorius at the London Olympics after the double amputee and his South African teammates finished last in the 4x400-meter relay Friday night.
The South Africans were out of the medals by the time Pistorius took the handoff for the anchor leg, with the Bahamians and Americans already around the second curve. His only hope was catching Venezuela, and he wasn't able to do it. The South Africans finished in 3:03.46, almost seven seconds behind Bahama.
? Nancy Armour ? Twitter http://twitter.com/nrarmour
___
AGONY OF DEFEAT
Morgan Uceny's shoulders heaved as she knelt on the track and pounded her hands on the surface.
The American fell to the ground as she and the rest of the 1,500-meter field rounded the first curve on the final lap. She looked around in surprise and then leaned over and buried her face in her hands. She stayed like that even after Turkey's Asli Cakir Alptekin, who won the gold medal, crossed the finish line. An Olympic volunteer approached her as the other runners were leaving the track and she did not respond, continuing to sob and pound on the track.
Finally, with the other runners already making their way through the mixed zone, Uceny got up, shielding her eyes with her hands, her shoulders still shaking.
? Nancy Armour ? Twitter http://twitter.com/nrarmour
___
PAU POWER
Pau Gasol is simply a different player when he is leading Spain as opposed to when he is Kobe Bryant's sidekick with the Lakers.
In Los Angeles, he's criticized often for being "soft," unwilling to play physical.
With Spain, however, he is the team's gritty backbone, the one they look to when things aren't going so well.
That much was clear Friday night in the semifinal against Russia, when Spain trailed by double digits going into the third quarter.
But Gasol hit a 3-pointer, then threw down a rebound dunk over 7-footer Timofey Mozgov that made it 44-43 in the third.
The surge galvanized Spain, which rolled to a 67-59 win and a place in the gold-medal game.
"It's huge to make it twice in a row to the Olympic finals," Gasol says. "We don't want to be satisfied with just getting to the final."
? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
___
SURGING SPAIN
Early in his rookie NBA season, Ricky Rubio told Kobe Bryant that Spain was going to beat the U.S. in the Olympics.
Unfortunately Rubio was only watching Spain in London. The Minnesota Timberwolves guard is recovering from a torn ACL and is unavailable. So instead of wearing his white Spanish jersey in the semifinal against Russia, Rubio was wearing a green T-shirt and watching from the stands.
But he's on the right track thinking that Spain is not bad. Spain just beat Russia 67-59 and could face the U.S. in the gold-medal game if the Americans top Argentina later Friday. ? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.
Associated Pressgeorge clooney arrested ravi leigh espn greg oden st patricks day st. bonaventure
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.