* Monday sees stellar men’s 200 freestyle showdown
* Men’s gymnastics team final and 10 metres diving on bill
* France steal relay gold, leaving Phelps with silver
* Swimming records for Vollmer and Van der Burgh
* China lead medals table with six golds
By Kevin Liffey
LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) – Organisers will hope for fuller
stadiums and drier weather to keep up the momentum of the London
Olympics on Monday as some of swimming’s great names slug it out
in a heavyweight men’s freestyle clash.
Sports fans from all over Britain, who had been charmed by
the Olympic publicity offensive but let down by a complex ballot
system for the 8.8 million tickets, have been outraged by
footage of empty seats at some of the hottest events including
tennis, swimming and gymnastics.
Organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe said the missing
spectators were mostly officials from sports federations, other
Games officials or their families and friends.
He said organisers were trying to fill spare seats by
inviting local children and teachers to use spare tickets,
selling more tickets and upgrading other ticketholders.
Many of the seats at Sunday’s gymnastics were filled by
soldiers taking a break from Olympic security duties.
Those who did witness Sunday’s action could have had few
complaints about two world records in the pool, a dazzling
exhibition from the U.S. basketball team and dramatic upsets in
gymnastics and the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
Even the stormy weather, which held up the tennis and
equestrian competitions and drenched thousands of spectators,
provided its own drama in the women’s cycling road race.
Monday sees one of the most anticipated races in the pool,
the 200 freestyle where American Ryan Lochte, Sun Yang of China
and France’s Yannick Agnel will all chase a second London gold.
Lochte won gold in the 400 individual medley, trouncing his
compatriot Michael Phelps, Sun triumphed in the 400 freestyle
and Agnel overhauled Lochte to clinch a shock gold for France
with a devastating surge on the last length of Sunday’s 4×100
relay.
TOP SWIMMER?
Monday’s race includes world record holder Paul Biedermann
of Germany and South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan and could decide
bragging rights over who is the best male swimmer at the Games.
Also up for grabs are the men’s 100 backstroke, where Matt
Grevers of the U.S. qualified fastest, the women’s 100
backstroke where Australia’s Emily Seebohm almost broke the
world record in qualifying, and the women’s 100 breaststroke
where 15-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte leads the field.
On Sunday, South Africa’s Cameron Van der Burgh and American
Dana Vollmer set world records in the men’s 100 breaststroke and
women’s 100 butterfly respectively, both erasing times set in
2009 before buoyancy-boosting polyurethane bodysuits were
banned.
Van der Burgh became the first South African male to win
individual Olympic swimming gold.
Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima, trying to be the first male swimmer
to win gold in the same event at three successive Olympics,
could only finish fifth.
There was a further pool gold for France when top-ranked
Camille Muffat won the women’s 400 freestyle.
Phelps’s silver in the relay was his first in these Games,
to go with 14 previous golds and two bronzes, and left him one
shy of the all-time record of 18 held by Soviet gymnast Larisa
Latynina.
Monday’s weather is forecast to be sunny but British cyclist
Lizzie Armitstead could not have been happier with the
rainstorms that helped her land the host nation’s first medal of
the games, a silver.
RAIN DANCE
“What a ride by Lizzie, she was doing a rain dance this
morning, praying for rain. You think I’m kidding – she really
was,” Team GB performance director David Brailsford told
reporters.
Armitstead joined Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya and red-hot
pre-race favourite Marianne Vos in a bold breakaway 50km from
home and, with the downpours weakening the resolve of the
chasers, narrowly lost the final sprint to the Dutchwoman.
The result meant relief for Britain but also for Vos who has
a host of other titles but was desperate for road gold after
finishing second in the last five road race world championships.
Overall, China took a commanding early lead in the rankings
with 12 medals, six of them gold, ahead of the United States on
11 medals including three golds.
China’s Guo Wenjun retained her Olympic title in the 10
metre air pistol shooting on Sunday while compatriots Wu Minxia
and He Zi took their expected easy gold in the women’s
synchronised three-metre springboard diving.
The Chinese team can expect to add another gold by Yuan Cao
and Yanquan Zhang in the 10-metre synchronised platform diving
on Monday and the squad will also try to challenge the American
favourites for the men’s gymnastics team gold.
The latest U.S. basketball ‘Dream Team’, this time featuring
LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, began their title defence with a
slick 98-71 defeat of France, drawing ‘oohs’ from the crowd with
no-look assists, thunderous dunks and sublime handling.
South Korea’s women extended their domination of Olympic
archery by winning a seventh straight team gold although they
needed a near-perfect nine from their last arrow to overcome
China who took their third successive silver.
But there was nothing near perfection from U.S. gymnast
Jordyn Wieber, the world champion who fled from reporters as her
dreams of landing the all-round Olympic crown were shattered.
A scrappy floor routine and a far-below-par balance beam
display meant it was her team mates Gabby Douglas and Aly
Raisman who qualified instead for the individual final.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
