The peculiar Phelps!

Michael Phelps is an extremely talented athlete, with success in every single contest he has participated so far. Yesterday, he booked his place in history. He became the most decorated Olympian of all-time, after winning a gold in 4×200 Freestyle relay and a silver in 200m Butterfly.

Overall, Phelps owns 19 Olympic medals, 15 of which are gold ones. Larisa Latynina (ex Soviet gymnast) had set a record of 18 medals back in 1964 and Phelps surpassed it. It seems like no one will top him anytime soon, though.

In this year’s Olympics he has got 1 Gold and 2 silver medals while he competes in 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle Relay and 4x100m Medley Relay.

London 2012′s Olympic miracle – Ruta Meilutyte

Ruta Meilutyte wins the Women’s 100m Breaststroke gold medal, crushing USA’s superwoman Soni. This would be a typical piece of information but it’s not.

That is because Meilutyte is only 15! The young lady from Kaunas of Lithuania has surprised the whole world with her amazing performances in the preliminary round and in the semi-final. No one expected this to happen, though! All eyes were on her and she got away with the gold medal, in a very competitive heat.

Meilutyte also participates in 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle.

For the record, Soni from USA got the silver and Suzuki from Japan got the bronze as she finished third.

Here’s Ruta after her stunning win:

London’s Olympics: The Weaknesses

We all know that when a city is set to host the Olympic Games, it’s expected to live up to some expectations and standards. While Britain talks about “the greatest Opening Ceremony of all times”, the rest of the world doesn’t seem to agree. “A ceremony made from British for British” say some, “A ceremony that resembled a British musical” say some others. However, that is history now.

What has really made a bad impression those days is Britain’s irresponsibility. From that strange woman who marched with the Indian team in the Opening Ceremony to the weak safety measures to today’s unbelievable events, the loss of Wembley Stadium’s keys and the extinguished Olympic fire! All those bring up a serious question: Wasn’t Britain ready for the Olympics or all those are terrible coincidences?

The conlusions are up to you!

Most important updates – Day 3 in London’s Olympics

London’s games never stop and let’s see the most important updates of the day up until now.

• Ye Shiwen, after her win in 400m Individual Medley (swimming), easily headed the field in the heats of the shorter medley event.
• Alin George Moldoveanu from Romania won a tussle with world number one Niccolo Campriani of Italy to claim gold in the men’s 10m Air Rifle in shooting.
• In Women’s basketball, China had a great morning as they easily defeated Croatia with 83-58.
• Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins from Great Britain had set a new Olympic record and they’re mostly in favour for a gold medal in women’s double scull rowing.
• China is expected to dominate the Diving events, which will take place in a few minutes.

Results

For the latest results, you can visit the official London 2012 page for schedules and results, which is updated all day long.

Day 3 in London’s Olympics update #1

Good morning everyone, stay tuned today for results and news about today’s games in the following sports: archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, equestrian, fencing, handball, hockey, judo, sailing, shooting, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and weightlifting!

An update on the medals so far:

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	People’s Republic of China	6	4	2	12
2	United States of America	3	5	3	11
3	Italy	2	3	2	7
4	Republic of Korea	2	1	2	5
5	France	2	1	1	4
6	Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	2	0	1	3
7	Kazakhstan	2	0	0	2
8	Australia	1	1	1	3
8	Brazil	1	1	1	3
8	Hungary	1	1	1	3
11	Netherlands	1	1	0	2
12	Russian Federation	1	0	3	4
13	Georgia	1	0	0	1
13	South Africa	1	0	0	1
15	Japan	0	2	3	5
16	Great Britain	0	1	1	2
17	Colombia	0	1	0	1
17	Cuba	0	1	0	1
17	Poland	0	1	0	1
17	Romania	0	1	0	1
17	Taipei (Chinese Taipei)	0	1	0	1
22	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
22	Belgium	0	0	1	1
22	Canada	0	0	1	1
22	Republic of Moldova	0	0	1	1
22	Norway	0	0	1	1
22	Serbia	0	0	1	1
22	Slovakia	0	0	1	1
22	Ukraine	0	0	1	1
22	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1

Day 2 in London’s Olympics update #3

Archery

Women’s

Republic Of Korea’s team will go home with yet another gold medal! China got away with the silver and Japan had beaten Russia and got their first medal in archery ever, the bronze!

Men’s

The Italian archers proved their power once again and won the gold medal in Men’s Archery, followed by USA who took the silver one and the Republic of Korea who will go home with a bronze one.

Diving (Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard)

Gold medal time for China, as He Z and Wu M performed greatly in the final. Silver for USA’s Bryant and Johnston and bronze for Canada’s Abel and Heymans.

Fencing (Men’s Individual Sabre)

Hungarian champion Aron Szilagyi has defeated his Italian opponent Diego Occhiuzzi in Fencing and he received the gold medal while the latter received the silver one. The medal holders’ group got completed by the Russian superstar Nikolay Kovalev who took the bronze medal.

Judo (Men’s 66kg)

Medal time in Men’s 66kg Judo as well. The gold one went to the Georgian Lasha Shavdatuashvilli, the silver went to his Hungarian opponent in the final, aka Miklos Ungvari and the bronze one went to the Korean Jun-Ho Cho.

Shooting (Women’s Skeet)

USA, supporting the tradition in Women’s Shooting, got another gold medal home with Rhode. The Chinese Wei finished the competition second, followed by Bertekova from Slovakia.

Enough with the medals, let’s see what happened throughout the evening and check the highlights!

• France’s Camille Muffat set a new Olympic Games record to secure gold in the women’s 400m Freestyle at the Aquatics Centre.
• 15-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte breaks the European and makes it to the 100m breaststroke final!
• Dana Vollmer from the USA wins the Women 100m Butterfly gold medal and sets a new world record.
• USA smashed France earlier this evening in Basketball with 98-71.
• Spain, in basketball as well, shattered China’s every hope for a winning debut in the competition, 97-81 in.
• In men’s beach volleyball, The Netherlands hold out against Venezuela.

A few more games are up to commence, you will read details and scores about them tomorrow, stay tuned!

 

Day 2 in London’s Olympics update #2

Badminton

Women’s Singles – Group Play Stage

India vs Switzerland 21 / 9 - 21 / 4

Japan vs Slovenia  22 / 20 - 21 / 18

Netherlands vs Lithuania 21 / 16 - 21 / 7

Thailand vs Sri Lanka 21 / 13 - 21 / 5

Singapore vs Slovakia 21 / 5 - 21 / 11

Basketball

Men’s Preliminary Round

Brazil vs Australia 75-71

Beach Volleyball

Men’s Beach Volleyball – Preliminary Round

Netherlands vs Venezuela 1-2

Women’s Beach Volleyball – Preliminary Round

Netherlands vs Spain 1-2

Boxing

Men’s Welter (69kg) – Round of 32

United Republic of Tanzania vs Republic of Moldova 7-20

Australia vs People’s Republic of China 7-20

Seychelles vs India 8-18

Men’s Light (60kg) – Round of 32

Kazakhstan vs Thailand 12-12

Canoe Slalom

Men’s Canoe Single (C1) – Heats 1st Run Ranking

1. Slovenia

2. Spain

3. France

4. Czech Republic

5. China

6. Australia

7. Germany

8. Russian Federation

9. Italy

10. USA

11. Poland

12. Japan

13. United Kingdom

14. Argentina

15. Kazakhstan

16. Slovakia

17. Greece

Men’s Football

First Round Group C

Egypt vs New Zealand 1-1

Day 2 in London’s Olympics update

The Games have started before long and let’s see what is going on today in London. (Results of today’s games)

Archery (Women’s)

China vs Italy 200-199

Great Britain vs Russia 208-215

Japan vs Ukraine 207-192

India vs Denmark 210-211

Basketball (Men’s Preliminary  Round A)

Nigeria vs Tunisia 60-56

Beach Volleyball (Men’s)

Spain vs Czech Republic 2-0

USA vs South Africa 2-0

Men’s Handball

Iceland vs Argentina 31-25

Women’s Hockey

New Zealand vs Australia 1-0

Judo

Men’s 66kg

Uzbekistan vs Libya 1011-0002

Belize vs Hungary 000-100

Women’s 52kg

Luxembourg vs Dominican Republic 1011-002

Mongolia vs Cuba 000-020

Rowing (Women’s Lightweight Double)

The teams that made it to the semi-finals from all 3 heats are:

Great Britain

Denmark

Greece

Australia

China

Germany

Water Polo (Men’s)

Greece vs Croatia 6-8

Stay tuned for more results later today!

An insight into Olympics’ Opening Ceremony.

Tomorrow is the big day for worldwide athletics. London has been prepared and the city is ready for the Olympic’s Opening Ceremony. It is expected to be a breath-taking, extravagant and glamorous ceremony with many surprises!

When the most huge bell of Europe rings, the Opening Ceremony will start. Throughout the day, the Big Ben will tick 42 times, opening the gates for “The Isles Of Wonder”, aka the name that was chosen for the huge event. (inspired by William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”).

Before the actual event, the spectators will have the chance to watch a short documentary, filmed in Buckingham Palace, which features Queen Elizabeth and Daniel Craig as James Bond. The latter will be landed inside the stadium with the help of a parachute and this will be the signal for the ceremony to begin.

The show will be directed by one of the most famous directors in the world, Danny Boyle and will feature melodies from The Beatles, Sex Pistols and Paul McCartney.

A few facts about the Opening Ceremony:

• Like in every Olympics Ceremony, there will be a parade of each country’s athletes. All national teams appear with alphabetical order apart from the Greek team, which is always first as an honour for establishing The Games, and the British one, which will appear last as the host country.
• There will be speeches from Seb Coe and Jacques Rogge once all the nations are in the stadium. After that, they will invite the Head Of State in to officially declare the Games open.
• 15.000 artists and performers will give their 100% to entertain us.
• It is estimated that 4 billion people will watch the Opening Ceremony.

The ceremony begins tomorrow at 21.00 (London Time). The Olympics will last until August 12.
For schedules and results, go here.

Olympiacos becomes the European Champion of 2011-2012! (Final 4 2012 Tribute)

How can I start writing this post with so many emotions overwhelming me? I’ll try to remain as calm as I can. Impossible, since my team, Olympiacos, is the reigning European Champion after a crazy final against the powerful CSKA Moscow!

Let’s start from Friday, though. On Friday, Istanbul of Turkey welcomed thousands of Euroleague Basketball fans along with the best four teams of the season: Regal FC Barcelona, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and CSKA Moscow! That was the day of the 2 semifinals, which would eventually determine the 2 teams that’d advance to the final!

Semifinal 1 – CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Athens

CSKA faced last season’s Euroleague champions in the first semifinal and won 66-64 after a heart-breaking 4th quarter! Panathinaikos, despite the team’s overexertion, didn’t manage to win since CSKA got a little bit luckier in the last minute of the game.

With only 9 seconds remaining, Teodosic of CSKA missed 2 crusial free throws and Panathinaikos’ coach called out for a time-out and complained to the referees for ball travelling by Siskauskas. The referrees didn’t agree with Pana’s coach and Diamantidis had the ball in his hands for one last trial to take the game to overtime. He didn’t pass the ball on time, deja vu much from their first game vs. Maccabi, in Tel Aviv, in the playoffs.

CSKA won and once again confirmed that they were made to win, even if Panathinaikos fought until the end.

Semifinal 2 – Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Regal FC Barcelona

This year’s Euroleague miracle, Olympiacos, beats Regal FC Barcelona on Friday’s night game 68-64, breaking Blaugranas’ hearts. Olympiacos was in control in most parts of the game, never allowing Barcelona to break their spell.

As always, Olympiacos was in charge in the first half, taking advantage of Barcelona’s initial anxiety. With some great 3 point shots and passion, they made the game look ideal. However, Barcelona ruled in offensive rebounds, something that deprived Olympiacos from extra possessions, aka additional points. It’s not over until it’s over, they say. Olympiacos grabbed almost every offensive rebound in the last quarter and this was a vast contributor to their win. The Reds got in the game entitled as the ‘outsider team’ and proved everyone wrong, with those young players showing their burning passion to one of the most experienced teams of Europe.

3rd place game – Panathinaikos vs. Regal FC Barcelona

After shocking losses for both teams, The Blaugranas faced The Greens in the 3rd place game in which the Spanish team won, 74-69. Panathinaikos showed no real passion for that game, bearing in mind the tough loss over CSKA. (Opinion: Every game is a new one, how can the coach and the players declare they have no motivation before the game begins? This is not the ex European Champions’ attitude towards a legendary team like Barcelona!)

The Greens had their fans’ support even in the 3rd place game, creating a great atmosphere before the final! Panathinaikos’ shining star in the game was once again Dimitris Diamantidis, who ended the game with 17 points. No particular interest, however, since Jasikevicius (Pana) and Navarro (Barca) didn’t play. It was a mediocre game and it seemed that both teams were disappointed from Friday’s games.

The Final – CSKA Moscow vs. Olympiacos Piraeus

This final was more than just crazy. It was insane.