Londoners turned out en masse today to celebrate Great Britain’s more than 500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Gold Medalists Chris Hoy (cycling), Rebecca Adlington (swimming), and Victoria Pendleton (track cycling) were among those featured on the 12 floats that snaked their way through the downtown streets.
Great Britain earned 47 Medals in the Olympic Games, including 12 Golds. It was their best showing more than 100 years. The GB team earned 102 medals at the Paralympic Games, finished second in the medal tally to host nation, China.
London is the site of the next Summer Olympic Games, which begin on August 29, …read more

China’s athletes earned more than twice the number of Medals than Great Britain, who ended the Paralympic Games in second place in the Medal count. Chinese athletes, including runner Li Yansong pictured above, were awarded a total of 211 Medals (89 Gold, 70 Silver, and 52 Bronze). Great Britain earned a total of 102 (42 Gold, 29 Silver, and 31 Bronze). The United States ended the Games with 99 Medals and Ukraine was fourth with 74 total Medals. Canada was awarded 50 Medals, putting them in seventh place overall.
(photo © Newscom)

In a dramatic finish, Great Britain edged out the Australians in Beijing to win the Gold Medal in the mens coxless four rowing event. Below the team talks about their victory and what it has meant to them. If you missed this event on TV, the second video is the finish of the race.

The athletes of the XXIX Olympiad started arriving back to their homes around the world today, many to a hero’s welcome. Here are some scenes:

Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar (L) and boxer, Vijender Singh (R) meet with Indian President Pratibha Patel

(photo of Singh and Kumar © Newscom)

It was a crazy day at the Bird’s Nest on Thursday. Both the United States mens and womens 4×100m relay teams dropped their batons in the qualifying heats and were disqualified from the events. In addition, there were also a lot a positive things happening at the “Nest.” Here are the highlights:

Andrey Moiseev of Russia won the Gold Medal in the men’s modern pentathlon competition. That’s the five-event content, which includes epee fencing, pistol shooting, a 200m freestyle swim, show jumping, and a 3km cross-country run. The event was added to the Olympics in 1912. It is designed to …read more

It was a Dutchman, Maarten van der Weijden, that finished first for the Gold Medal on Thursday in the first ever 10k swimming marathon, despite Great Britain’s David Davies leading for most of the race. Davies and Bronze Medalist, Thomas Lurz of Germany both drifted to the outside at the finish, allowing van der Weijden to win the race.
Van der Weijden’s victory is even more surprising since he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001 and struggled with it through 2003, before being regaining his health and returning to swimming.

The USA men’s 4×100m relay team was eliminated during a qualifying round on Thursday when they dropped the baton during the hand-out between Darvis Patton (third leg) and Tyson Gay (anchor). This is the end of a disappointing Olympics for Tyson Gay, who was expected to be one of the stars of the Games. Gay failed to qualify for the men’s 200m event at the US Olympic trials in July after suffering a hamstring injury. Earlier in the Olympics, he failed to qualify for the finals in the men’s 100m event and now the baton incident.Great Britain, the defending Olympic …read more

The Olympic track and field meet continued at the Bird’s Nest on Wednesday. In addition to Usain Bolt’s spectacular finish in the men’s 200m event, here is what happened:

Jamaica’s Melaine Walker won the Gold Medal in the women’s 400m hurdles event. Sheena Johnson of the United States took the Silver Medal and Tasha Danvers of Great Britain earned the Bronze.

In the women’s 20 km walk, Russia’s Olga Kaniskina prevailed in the rainy Beijing weather to win the Gold Medal, setting a new Olympic record of 1:26:31. Kjersti Tysse Platzer of Norway won the Silver Medal and Elisa Rigaudo of …read more

Russia’s Larisa Ilchenko won the women’s 10km swimming marathon in the event’s Olympic debut. She finished the race in 1hr 59:27.7. Great Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne took the Silver Medal and her countryman, Cassandra Patten took the Bronze Medal.
Natalie du Toit of South Africa, the only woman to qualify for both the Olympics and the Paralympics, finished 16th. du Toit, who lost her left leg in a motor scooter accident swam without her prosthetic leg.

The action continues over at the National Stadium. Here’s what happened on Tuesday:

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Dawn Harper of the United States won the Gold Medal, followed by Sally McLellan of Australia for the Silver Medal and Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep for the Bronze. Favorite and two-time indoor champion, Lolo Jones of the United States led the race before stumbling on the 9th hurdle. She ended up finishing seventh.

There was similar drama in the women’s 400m event. Great Britain’s Christine Ohurogu won the Gold Medal, followed by Shericka Williams of Jamaica for the Silver. Sanya Richards of the United States, …read more