Beijing Olympics thread

[Panda]

It's less than a week until the start of the Beijing Olympics.

Will you be watching? How do you expect your country to fare? Do you think the games should be in Beijing? (God, this sounds like a report on Newsround.)

All-purpose Olympics thread is now open!

[Thor]

No it will be a disaster in Beijing. Something bad is bound to happen.

I think the UK will do really well and get 15 golds.

[Panda]

I have my misgivings about it being in Beijing but hopefully it will at least bring certain issues to the world's attention.

GB should do well. 15 golds might be a bit much but I think 10 is possible, given the strength of the cycling squad. I think our performance in the boxing will surprise some people, too. Athletics could be a disappointment this time around, though Phillips Idowu should win gold if his head's in the right place.

[Panda]

Today's news:

100m world record holder Usain Bolt has confirmed he will double up at the Games...

[frag]

Aug 2, 2008 12:30:10 GMT 1 Panda said:

100m world record holder Usain Bolt has confirmed he will double up at the Games...

He should get the gold medal for "most apt name"...

[Laurence]

We'll get loads in sailing, rowing and cycling but bugger all elsewhere.

[Smurfie]

I'll be watching. I'm thoroughly looking forward to it.

[*~Julzywoo~*]

I will be watching as much as i can possibly, should be good, i think we will do well and pick up lots. I do have a feeling something horrible is going to happen though

[Doctor Blind]

They are 7 hours ahead aren't they?

I shall be watching whenever possible, I'll be stuck at work for the opening ceremony on Friday afternoon though. Have the haze problems cleared up yet, I was watching a live link on the news last night and the visibility looked about 3 KM or less, actually looking at Beijing aiport's observations it wasn't much above 5 KM all day. Ugh, that air quality and heat.

[Panda]

Aug 6, 2008 15:52:51 GMT 1 Doctor Blind said:

They are 7 hours ahead aren't they?

Yes. BBC's live coverage runs from approximately 2am until 6pm each day...

[Smurfie]

Aug 6, 2008 15:10:15 GMT 1 Laurence said:

We'll get loads in sailing, rowing and cycling but bugger all elsewhere.

We normally pick up a few silvers in the equestrian as well - a couple of our medal winners from 2004 are competing this year.

[Panda]

Swimmer Mark Foster has been announced as the British flag bearer at Friday's opening ceremony.

[rubcale]

Good medal haul for the Btirs but it's hard to see where we will get any in Athletics. Maybe Kelly Sotherton and a bronze fro 4x400 women.

Disappointing runs from Saunders and Oharagu (sp) before the games but then they weren't fancied at the Worlds either.

Nothing will ever equal Kelly Holmes at Athens 2004 though especially the 800m - I cried for days afterwards.

[Panda]

Aug 6, 2008 18:48:47 GMT 1 rubcale said:

Good medal haul for the Btirs but it's hard to see where we will get any in Athletics. Maybe Kelly Sotherton and a bronze fro 4x400 women.

Disappointing runs from Saunders and Oharagu (sp) before the games but then they weren't fancied at the Worlds either.

Nothing will ever equal Kelly Holmes at Athens 2004 though especially the 800m - I cried for days afterwards.

Phillips Idowu should get at least a bronze medal. The women's 4x400 does look our best chance in the relays...

Martyn Rooney in the men's 400 could have an outside chance of a medal...

[Maximo Mark]

I'd imagine we'll pick up something from Boxing. Maybe Andy Murray could get a medal, he's playing well at the moment. And the badminton pair are usually fancied too aren't they?

[Panda]

Aug 6, 2008 19:02:37 GMT 1 Maximo Mark said:

I'd imagine we'll pick up something from Boxing. Maybe Andy Murray could get a medal, he's playing well at the moment. And the badminton pair are usually fancied too aren't they?

I think we'll do very well in boxing. We have two pairs in the badminton mixed doubles (including Robertson & Emms, who won silver in Athens) but both apparently have tough draws.

We usually get a medal in the canoeing and we could get something in the shooting.

Our triathletes tend to do well everywhere except the Oympics and our female modern pentathletes have a good recent record.

[Panda]

The women's football competition got underway today. Football usually begins before the opening ceremony as there isn't enough time to complete the tournament in the space of 16 days.

Group E:
Canada 2-1 Argentina
China 2-1 Sweden

Group F:
North Korea 1-0 Nigeria
Brazil 0-0 Germany

Group G:
Norway 2-0 USA
Japan 2-2 New Zealand

[Panda]

Britain's leading hope for a boxing gold medal, Frankie Gavin, is out of the Games as he hasn't made the 60kg weight limit at lightweight.

[Panda]

Men's football results:

Group A:
Australia 1-1 Serbia
Ivory Coast 1-2 Argentina

Group B:
Japan 0-1 USA
Netherlands 0-0 Nigeria

Group C:
Brazil 1-0 Belgium
China 1-1 New Zealand

Group D:
Honduras 0-3 Italy
South Korea 1-1 Cameroon

[Panda]

Singles draws for tennis...

Men:
Roger Federer (Swi 1) v Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)
Lee Hyung-Taik (Kor) v Rafael Arevalo (Spa)
Tommy Robredo (Spa) v Andreas Seppi (Ita)
Tomas Berdych (Cze) v Ivo Karlovic (Cro 14)
Gilles Simon (Fra 10) v Robin Soderling (Swe)
Frederic Niemeyer (Can) v Guillermo Canas (Arg)
Thomaz Belluci (Bra) v Dominik Hrbaty (Svk)
Chris Guccione (Aus) v James Blake (US 8)
Nikolay Davydenko (Rus 4) v Ernests Gulbis (Lat)
Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) v Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu)
Komlavi Loglo (Tog) v Kevin Anderson (Sa)
Max Mirnyi (Blr) v Nicolas Kiefer (Ger 15)
Fernando Gonzalez (Chi 12) v Sun Peng (Chn)
Marin Cilic (Cro) v Juan Monaco (Arg)
Olivier Rochus (Bel) v Ivo Minar (Cze)
Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) v David Ferrer (Spa 5)
David Nalbandian (Arg 7) v Zeng Shaoxuan (Chn)
Nicolas Massu (Chi) v Steve Darcis (Bel)
Simone Bolelli (Ita) v Victor Hanescu (Rom)
Gael Monfils (Fra) v Nicolas Almagro (Spa 11)
Mikhail Youzhny (Rus 13) v Jiri Vanek (Cze)
Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) v Thomas Johansson (Swe)
Rainer Schuettler (Ger) v Kei Nishikori (Jpn)
Robby Ginepri (US) v Novak Djokovic (Srb 3)
Andy Murray (GB 6) v Lu Yen-Hsun (Tpe)
Agustin Calleri (Arg) v Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)
Marcos Daniel (Bra) v Jurgen Melzer (Aut)
Frank Dancevic (Can) v Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi 9)
Radek Stepanek (Cze 16) v Michael Llodra (Fra)
Sam Querry (US) v Igor Andreev (Rus)
Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) v Jonas Bjorkman (Swe)
Potito Starace (Ita) v Rafael Nadal (Spa 2)

Women:
Ana Ivanovic (Ser 1) v Mariya Koryttseva (Ukr)
Tatiana Golovin (Fra) v Lucie Safarova (Cze)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) v Sybille Bammer (Aut)
Jill Craybas (US) v Patty Schnyder (Swi 13)
Vera Zvonereva (Rus 9) v Yan Zi (Chn)
Shahar Peer (Isr) v Sorana Cirstea (Rom)
Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) v Francesca Schiavone (Ita)
Chan Yung-Jan (Tpe) v Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol 8)
Serena Williams (US 4) v Olga Govortsova (Blr)
Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Sara Errani (Ita)
Peng Shuai (Chn) v Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa)
Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) v Alize Cornet (Fra 15)
Daniela Hantuchova (Svk 10) v Ai Sugiyama (Jpn)
Selima Sfar (Tun) v Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) v Sofia Arviddson (Swe)
Kateryna Bonarenko (Ukr) v Elena Dementieva (Rus 5)
Venus Williams (US 7) v Timea Bacsinszky (Swi)
Sania Mirza (Ind) v Iveta Benesova (Cze)
Gisela Dulko (Arg) v Casey Dellacqua (Aus)
Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) v Victoria Azarenka (Blr 12)
Flavia Penetta (Ita 14) v Kaia Kanepi (Est)
Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) v Virginie Razzano (Fra)
Ayumi Morita (Jpn) v Marina Erakovic (NZ)
Li Na (Chn) v Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus 3)
Dinara Safina (Rus 6) v Mara Santangelo (Ita)
Alicia Molik (Aus) v Lindsay Davenport (US)
Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) v Klara Zakopalova (Cze)
Zheng Jie (Chn) v Agnes Szavay (Hun 11)
Dominika Cibulkova (Svk 16) v Pauline Parmentier (Fra)
Marta Domachowska (Pol) v Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul)
Milagros Sequera (Ven) v Alona Bonadrenko (Ukr)
Cara Black (Zim) v Jelena Jankovic (Ser 2)