The British men’s four, seeking to extend a golden dynasty in the event that stretches back through three Olympic Games, dominated their heat to qualify for the semi-finals.
Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Tom James and Alex Gregory opened clear water by the halfway mark and they were roared home to victory by supporters in the packed grandstands at Eton Dorney.
Britain won by just over a length from Romania and it was a strong response to their chief rivals Australia, who won their heat in an Olympic-best time.
The semi-finals are still to come on Thursday but it is already shaping up to be a thrilling Ashes-style showdown for gold between Britain and Australia on Saturday.
Earlier, the Great Britain men’s eight also qualified for the final with a victory over Canada and Holland in Monday’s repechage.
The new-look Great Britain crew made a fast start and quickly opened a three-quarter-length lead over reigning Olympic champions Canada to take control of the race.
The Canadians, Holland and Australia all put the pressure on in the final stages and succeeded in closing the gap.
But Britain remained calm, rowing within themselves at 36 strokes per minute to seal the win and a place in Wednesday’s final.
The British crew only came together six weeks ago when stroke man Constantine Louloudis proved he had recovered from a back injury which kept him out of all three World Cup regattas.
After a confidence-boosting performance in the heat, finishing second behind Germany, Britain will be better again for today’s outing having won without having to hit top gear in a final sprint.
London 2012 Olympics News: Grainger and Watkins set Olympic best as Team GB rowers book final spot
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins underlined their status as gold medal favourites by setting a new Olympic best time as they qualified for the final of the women’s double scull.
The double world champions destroyed the previous mark, set by Germany in Barcelona 20 years ago, by nearly five seconds as they won their heat in six minutes 44.33 seconds.
It was a commanding performance from Grainger and Watkins, who left world bronze medallists New Zealand trailing home in second place around two lengths behind.
The British double are now unbeaten in 22 consecutive races and their victory will have laid down a marker to their nearest rivals Australia, who pushed them close in the final of last month’s Munich World Cup regatta.
The Australians Kim Crowe and Brooke Pratley responded by winning their heat in a time that would have also broken the previous Olympic best.
But Britain remain the crew to beat and Grainger is now one race away from finally landing the Olympic gold medal that has eluded her so painfully for 12 years.
London 2012 Olympics News: Turkey holds off Czech Republic 61-57 in Olympic women’s basketball with balanced attack
Emine Tugba Palazoglu and Bahar Caglar each scored 11 points to help Turkey beat the Czech Republic 61-57 on Monday. Nevriye Yilmaz also added 11 for the Turks (2-0), who have made the most of their first trip to the Olympics in women’s basketball.
After routing Angola in its first game, Turkey was tested by the Czech Republic (0-2). Turkey had a 13-point lead early in the third quarter which the Czechs whittled down to 49-45.
But Caglar’s jumper and consecutive 3-pointers by Saziye Ivegin restored a double-digit advantage with just over 4 minutes left. The Czechs tried to rally again, but could only get within four the rest of the way.
Jana Vesela scored 19 to lead the Czech Republic, which won the silver medal at the 2010 world championship.
Palazoglu helped Turkey build a 12-point halftime advantage.
London 2012 Olympics News : Short News
ATHLETICS
Great Britain’s athletics captain Dai Greene has called on his team-mates to take inspiration from an athlete who was ruled out of the Olympics through injury.
A foot injury ruled Steph Twell, 22, who was world junior champion over 1500m in 2008, out of the Games.
Greene, the world 400m hurdles champion, told athletes at their training camp in Portugal: “Use Steph’s story to appreciate what you have and think about how she would give anything to be in your shoes when you get to the start line and use that to inspire you.
“Set the bar high, don’t be content with making the team. Don’t look back in 10, 20 years and think you wish you’d done things differently. Aim for your own gold medal whatever that may be.”
SHOOTING
Italy have had plenty of success in the fencing so far at these Games but they have missed out on a shooting gold after Romania’s Alin George Moldoveanu edged out world number one Niccolo Campriani in the men’s 10m air rifle.
Moldoveanu held his nerve with a final shot of 10.3 to hold off his rival, who finished just 0.6 points behind.
Gagan Narang won bronze, to cheer up hundreds of Indian supporters who had packed into the the Royal Artillery Barracks hoping to see Abhinav Bindra defend his title. Bindra, however, could only finish 16th in qualifying.
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