Heather Stanning and Helen Glover win Great Britain’s first gold medal of London 2012 in the women’s pair rowing.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are at the start line of the women’s pair final. Their main rivals are likely to be Australia, New Zealand and defending champions Romania. In seven minutes or so, Britain could have a first gold medal of these Olympic Games so don’t go anywhere.
The win by clear water in front of 25,000 screaming fans was also the first Olympic gold medal to be won by a British women’s crew.
The British duo had started as strong favourites for the title after dominating the international season and following their heat in which they set a new Olympic best time.
They jumped out to a length lead in the first 500 metres of the 2,000 metre course before extending that to win by clear water amid the deafening roar from the grandstands on the lake to the west of London.
Australia took silver and New Zealand the bronze.
Glover and Stanning have gone out quickly, as have the German crew.The gap is up to four lengths for Helen Glover and Heather Stanning with 250m to go. They are going to win gold for Great Britain in style.Britain are off the mark for 2012, and we have seen a bit more history too because Heather Stanning and Helen Glover are Britain’s first women rowers to win gold.
London 2012 Olympics News: Michael Phelps wins record 19th Olympic medal with gold in 4×200 relay.
It was a coronation, but also a dethroning. Michael Phelps secured the two medals he needed to become the most decorated Olympian of all time as he took his career tally to 19 Games medals, beating the 48-year-old record of 18 held by former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.
The colour of one of those medals on Tuesday night — silver in Phelps’s signature 200 metres butterfly event — was also proof that his pre-eminence in the pool is now well and truly over as he gets ready for retirement immediately after events in London.
Phelps did not do silver in Beijing four years ago. Gold was the only metal he was interested in and it was hung around his neck a record eight times, adding to the six golds he won in Athens in 2004.
He added another on Tuesday when he anchored his United States team-mates to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay in the final race of the evening programme, though his contribution was purely a lap of honour after his compatriots had already established an unassailable lead by the time he dived in.
The American victory brought the 17,000 crowd to its feet to salute Phelps’s moment of history, though the celebrations were tinged with slight disappointment that he was unable to make it a double triumph.
A victory in the event he has owned for 11 years would have made him the first man in history to win three consecutive 200m butterfly titles.
He finished fifth in the 200m butterfly at those Games but within a year he had already begun his journey to greatness when he shattered the world record. He was still three months short of his 16th birthday and he remains the youngest male swimmer ever to break a world mark. He has lowered the 200m butterfly world record seven times since.
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