The Olympic Diary : Day 1

Favourites Stumble

Opening day marked major stumbles by defending champions and hot favourites , none bigger than Michael Phelps turning out a poor 4^th place in the 4 x 100 m Individual medley , an event in which he was the 2 time defending champion. This was the first time Phelps finished out of the medal positions in 17 previous events on the pool. His insipid performance raised further doubts on his likelihood of adding further golds to the glittering tally of 14. He might be part of the gold winning team in the relays but , individual race wins seem highly unlikely , especially with the crown prince of the pool , Ryan Lochte , so comprehensively announcing his intentions and form in the pool yesterday.

  Cavendish and Phelps : Opening day Shocks

If Phelps was the big pool name that failed, perhaps the biggest shock of the day came in the Mens Cycling road race. The so called British Dream Team, boasting names like Bradley Wiggins , Chris Froome , Dan Martin and of course hot race favourite Mark Cavendish failed to pull back a 30 man breakaway. The breakaway held fast to a time gap of a minute over the final 20 kms and with big names like Cancellara , Nibali , Gilbert , Sagan , Van Garderen in the mix , it was team GB that faded and the hopes for a bunch spring finish for the likes of Cavendish , Andre Griepel and Matt Goss faded fast. In the end , it was an emotional gold medal winning performance by Alexander Vinokourov , in his final season as a professional bike rider. Plagued by injuries and drug suspensions, Vino seemed to have indicate something of a final push at this year’s Tour de France with a number of  breakaway attempts , only to be reeled in by the peloton. In the classic finish in front of Buckingham Palace , the Kazakh rider upturned all british expectations but wrote a memorable page in Olympic cycling history. (The ramifications from the road race might well be felt later in the time trial where Wiggins and Froome start as big favourites )

Other big names (and defending champions) who stumbled included Stephanie Rice , the Korean mens archery team (bronze) and the dutch womens 4 x 100 m freestyle relay team (silver). Even Roger Federer managed to drop a set on centre court (perhaps the great man isn’t used all those bright colours at the All-England Club)

Star(s) of the Day : Chinese swim duo of Sun Yang (400 m freestyle gold) and 16 yr old Ye Shiven ( womens 4 x 100 m individual medley gold)

Clutch Performance of the day : Italian Mens archery team - Needing a 10 with the final arrow to claim the outright win against the US, the big burly Italian with the ‘kissing’ stance duly obliged with the bulls eye.

The Indian Meter – Flop : Losses in the badminton mixed and women’s doubles as well as the tennis women’s doubles. Add to it disappointing performances at Lords (archery) , in weightlifting and losses in the ring. Vijender remains on course – watch this space.