Olympics!

[Becks]

What a fantastic first gold for GB this morning! Dreadful conditions on the road for the big road cycling race, but Nicole Cooke pulls out the goods in the last ten seconds of a 75 mile course, having just been dropped off the leading pack a minute earlier. Awe inspiring stuff from the Welsh girl!

And the Chinese Women's 4s in the rowing were looking uber impressive too - shaping up for some exciting finals next week!

[Gross]

BBC were ultra quick on getting the result up on thier website.... but not as quick as BOF were in getting news of the GBR Relay Gold.......

Over here it's all eyes on the basketball... the number 1 sport..

[Mrs H]

Fantastic stuff - she must have felt very at home in those conditions as those of you who ran at Croeso yesterday will recognise

[awk]

BBC were ultra quick on getting the result up on thier website.... but not as quick as BOF were in getting news of the GBR Relay Gold.......

But British Cycling were as quick, if not quicker (not that it matters - BOF did superbly).

Brilliant racing and what a finish!

BTW, anybody wanting to get to see the World Cup at Manchester Velodrome (Oct 31-Nov 2), tickets are on sale now; any track success, and they'll go fast I suspect!

[Adventure Racer]

Could only have been better if Emma Pooley had stayed away in her little break and won. Not that I've got anything against Nicole Cooke - it's just that I'd then be able to claim to have towed an Olympic cycling champion up climbs on a bike - in an event where we were also running round with a map.

[Kitch]

It was fantastic to watch
when they appeared in the dark under the bridge I was telling myself - "No, no she's just being smart and taking account of that sharp kick up (please !)"

the girl nearly exploded when she crossed the line
what I couldn't quite get was that she was bouncing around barely able to stay in her skin and looking for people to hug and scream at and there didn't seem to be anybody in a rush to get to her or anybody particularly bothered - poor girl.
It must be really difficult to celebrate properly if you are wearing cycling shoes.
maybe it was a bit of confusion as the commentators were saying the captions had the Italian first ...?

[Mrs H]

Yes when you heard her explain her tactics it all made perfect sense - i wish i'd had more faith that she would be there when they emerged from behind the parapet.

The swimming this morning was a bit of a last minute nail biter too! she didn't look in with a shout at the last turn - astonishing - but then the US relay team looked out of it with about 10 yards to go

[geomorph]

Yes when you heard her explain her tactics it all made perfect sense - i wish i'd had more faith that she would be there when they emerged from behind the parapet.

The swimming this morning was a bit of a last minute nail biter too! she didn't look in with a shout at the last turn - astonishing - but then the US relay team looked out of it with about 10 yards to go

Ability to stay in contention, plus supreme finishing. If you are not best in world on the home straight, you're bested.

Easier (but not easy) to pull the genie out of the hat when you're in eye contact......let's hope the training's there for the time trials

[Klebe]

Anybody else find themselves late for work this morning!!!

[Adventure Racer]

maybe it was a bit of confusion as the commentators were saying the captions had the Italian first ...?

That was just the commentators getting confused - the caption always said Nicole had won, it's just they went to a shot of the Italian celebrating her bronze medal before they went to Nicole. Reading the comments, it would seem the second and third placed riders were both really pleased - and they weren't just saying that, I think it was genuine http://cyclingnews.com/road/2008/olympi ... =results/2 . After all, in road cycling to mkae the top 3 is far from guaranteed even if you are the favourite and the strongest in the race.

I suspect that may have something to do with Nicole's reaction - she seemed to be in complete shock. The thing is, she had trained for this and expected to be able to win, but can't have ever actually expected to win - in most other sports, winning is either expected or a complete surprise.

The TV coverage was a bit rubbish though - not only did they miss what happened in the final corner, their camera angles were also such that as Nicole attacked all you got was a shot of a bush!

[andy]

It was fantastic to watch
when they appeared in the dark under the bridge I was telling myself - "No, no she's just being smart and taking account of that sharp kick up (please !)"

exactly what I was thinking, as soon as she came into view and you could see she was gaining very rapidly on them you knew she was in with a good shout, it was an 'uh oh' moment followed by a 'COME ON!' moment

[Gross]

Could only have been better if Emma Pooley had stayed away in her little break and won. Not that I've got anything against Nicole Cooke - it's just that I'd then be able to claim to have towed an Olympic cycling champion up climbs on a bike - in an event where we were also running round with a map.

Wow.... I'm impressed!!!! Can I have your autograph please????

[Kitch]

Anybody else find themselves late for work this morning!!!

I have taken the wise precaution of being on holiday next week.

(have just printed out a Monkey mask for Sam in the hope that this will placate him for having to miss Thomas the Tank Engine of a morning).

Gross LTU were mixing it up there in the latter stages of the road race and one of their girls is down as a threat to Victoria Pendleton in the track sprint.

Also watch Kirsty Balfour - medal hope for the 200m breaststroke on Friday. She has European Gold and World Silver.
(for those outside Edinburgh and Scotland the Balfours were big into orienteering until dad Scott took up triathlon, the girls were good.)

[Wendles]

The canoeing was also pretty exciting this morning, well done to David Florence!
ps I'm almost ashamed to say I was jumping up and down at the three day eventing too (and wishing that the last five would bring down fences!)

[Wendles]

Just watching the news about the 'fake' effects at the Opening Ceremony - now that's an idea for 2012 to solve the problems of matching the Beijing spectacular - CGI the lot! Any suggestions??