Swiss financiers will have a little bit more gold to add to their bullion stocks after Fabian Cancellara proved himself the most powerful man in road cycling with a much deserved win in the Men's Individual Time Trial. Over two laps of a demanding 23km circuit that had parts for the both the climbers and the strong men, Cancellara was able to make up enough time on the flat to peg back surprise Swede Gustav Larsson who had gotten away from him on the uphill parts of the course. In the end Cancellara, the two-time World Time Trial Champion, had over 30 seconds to spare over Larsson, with Levi Leipheimer (US) over a minute back to take the bronze. Leipheimer was visibly disappointed with his performance, smashing his handlebars as he crossed the line at the finish. The leading Australian performer was Cadel Evans who was fairly consistent throughout to finish 5th. Countryman Michael Rogers ensured there were two Australians in the top 10 with an 8th place finished. But it is Cancellara who must get all the plaudits, taking a much deserved gold after his bronze medal performance lit up the games on Day 1.
Gold - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Silver - Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
Bronze - Levi Leipheimer (US)
Swimming
Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of all time adding two more gold medals to his tally in the pool yesterday. Phelps won his 4th of these particular games with another world-record performance to take the Men's 200m Butterfly, and added his 5th, and his 11th of his career (the all time record) when the US Men's team smashed the world record to take gold in the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. The Australian team managed to pick up the bronze thanks to a strong final leg from Nick Frost. Stepahnie Rice grabbed her second, and Australia's fourth, gold of the games with a barnstorming Freestyle leg to break her own world record in the Women's 200m IM, again pipping Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) who took the silver. The male sprinters were on fire in the Semi-Finals of the Men's 100m Freestyle with Alain Bernard (France) and then Eamon Sullivan (Australia) breaking each other's world record in consecutive races. Today's final looks like a cracker, with the winner likely to be the first man under 47 seconds. Australia also has another gold medal favourite with world record holder Jess Schipper in the Women's 200m Butterfly.
Football
The Olyroos have been eliminated from the Football Tournament of the Olympic Games after a 1-0 defeat to Cote d'Ivoire saw them fail to get out of the group stage.
Rowing
Australian pair Drew Ginn and Duncan Free easily moved through to the final of the Men's Pair and are in a good position to take the gold medal on Saturday. David Crenshaw and Scott Brennan (Australia) are also through to the final of the Double Sculls after winning their semi. Australia's Men's Four and Women's Eight also qualified for their respective finals.
Basketball
The Opals continued their unbeaten run at this years games with a comprehensive 90-62 win over Korea.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's are now 2 and 0 at this years games after slaughtering South Africa 10-0 in their second pool game.
Water Polo
The Australian Women's team threw away a valuable two points conceding a last second goal to Hungary in their 7-7 draw in their second group game.
Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) got some redemption over Rafael Nadal (Spain) by teaming up with Chris Guccione to defeat the Spaniards 6-2 7-6 in their Round 2 doubles encounter.
Gymnastics
The Australian women's team recorded their best ever performance to finish 6th in the Team final. The gold went to China who won the event for the first time.
Medal Tally after Day 5:
1 - China - 17-5-5 (27)
2 - USA - 10-8-11 (29)
3 - Korea - 6-6-1 (13)
6 - Australia - 4-2-6 (12)
No comments:
Post a Comment