Life in China Beijing Olympics: Day Three | Beijing Olympics: Day Three |
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| China | |
| Monday, 11 August 2008 | |
 It was another enthralling day at the Olympics today, especially in the pool. Rebecca Aldington came from a way behind to make British Olympic history by pipping strong favourite Katie Hoff to gold. She became the first female athlete to get a swimming gold for Britain for 48 years. Jo Jackson also did really well in the same 400m freestyle race to bring home another bronze for the UK. In the men's 4 x 100m relay the world record was smashed by 4 seconds as the French pushed Phelps' USA team all the way to the wire in a fantastic final. Unfortunately the Brits finished last in the same race but the team did exceedingly well just to qualify for the final.
It was also disappointment for 14 year old Tom Daley and his partner Blake Aldridge in the 10m synchronised diving as they finished last after a botched 3rd dive. The gold in that same event went to where was expected, the Chinese pair Yue Lin and Liang Huo. Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-Hsun shocked Britain's Andy Murray as he knocked the world number 6 out in the first round. The consistency of Lu beat Murray's catalogue of forced errors and the relative unknown now progresses to the 2nd round. Elsewhere both Federer and Nadal progressed through to the second round. There was another China-UK head to head in the bronze match for the men's archery. Once again it was the home side that came out on top as they took the medal with a score of 214-210. Chen Yangqing collected China's 8th gold medal of the games as she won the 58kg weightlifting class setting an Olympic record in the process. In the 57kg Judo class China's Zu Yan won a respectable bronze adding to Xian Dongmei's gold yesterday. China's 10m air rifle shooting Olympic champion from 2004 Zhu Qinan could only manage silver this time round as he was beaten by India's Abhinav Bindra. Britain continued their strong showing in the men's eight as they finished first in their heat ahead of the Olympic champions the USA. Finally in Hong Kong the British made a strong showing on the third day to move into third position behind Germany and Australia. The medals table is still topped by China now with 9 gold medals and Britain move up again into 7th thanks to the women's efforts in the pool. |
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