Australia rockets up the medal tally thanks to Pearson and Meares
If you’ve been feeling the Olympic doom and gloom and indulging in the Blame Games of late, then it’s time to wake up and smell the shiny gold coloured coffee. Because while you were sleeping, two Aussie women sent us rocketing back up the medal tally, overtaking the New Zealanders (phew!) and chasing a top 10 spot.
Sally Pearson
Sally Pearson did us proud, living up to a ridiculously large semi-trailer’s worth of pressure and winning gold in the 100m hurdles.
Pearson has to wait a whole minute or so before the final result was posted on the big screens because she won by the smallest of margins, beating Dawn Harper of the US by just 0.02 seconds.
Earlier in the day, cyclist Anna Meares won gold beating British favourite and long term rival Victoria Pendleton in the sprint. Meares said after the race that “this is the sweetest and most incredible victory of my career.”
And in a show of some good sportswomanship – especially given the long rivalry between the pair, Pendleton paid tribute to Meares’ win.
Meares and Pendleton
Pendleton held Meares’ arm aloft as the arch-rivals rode around the velodrome, but then completely dissolved in tears.
“I’m glad that it got to that stage. I think she’s the best rider in the field and it’s the way that it should have been,” Pendleton said.
“Everything turned out right with Anna and myself in the final.”
“She’s a fantastic competitor. We’ve met many a time, and I wish her all the best, but I’m very glad to be saying that’s the last time I have to go through that.”
In other Olympic news, gymnast Lauren Mitchell narrowly missed out on a medal due to a tiny landing error in the women’s floor final.
Australia is on track to medal in the men’s regatta, with Malcolm Page and Mat Belcher building a strong points margin overnight.
Lauren Jackson’s phenomenal point scoring run continues in the basketball, as Australia’s women’s team advances into the semi-finals.
And our men’s hockey team thrashed Pakistan 7-0 and our women’s waterpolo team will be in the play-off for a bronze medal now, after losing their semi-final to the USA in extra time.
US beach volleyball athletes on how they prepare ‘down there’
Have you noticed some of the women’s outfits at this year’s Olympics? For some of the beach volleyball players and gymnasts, they’ve very tight. And high cut.
Kerri Walsh-Jennings
One US beach volleyball athlete has revealed how she gets ready for competition. Kerri Walsh Jennings told a US magazine: “I hate getting waxed. Waxing makes me want to punch someone in the face. But I don’t want to be self-conscious and worry about my bikini line when I’m playing, so [I use] lasers ”
This year was the first year female beach volleyball players were allowed to wear long shorts and tops with sleeves, but Walsh said: “I love our uniforms. You don’t want to be wearing big, baggy sports. They get in the way.”
And finally, just for fun.
On Twitter this week the hashtag #bookolympics was trending. Basically people were getting creative combining their favourite books with their favourite sports. And what they come up with was pretty funny!
Have you got any to add?
#bookolympics
For more on the London Olympics you can head on over to visit our friends at ivillage.com.au
Comments
16 Comments so far
“Time Trial-lers Wife”
“The Brownlee boys and the case of the second spaniard”
“Lord of the Olympic Rings: Fellowship of the Gym”
“Gold Medal for Sal”
“Tom Slingsby and the Huckleberry Win”
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No regrets at setting the alarm for 5:55am today. That was awesome!
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Lovely to see the Australian girls win. Even better to see some truly gracious competitors being valiant in defeat rather than behaving like petulant children!
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Firstly, I cried for her. It’s always very emotional to see years of hard work and the support of coaches and family come to fruition. I also think Sally and her gold medal are a great inspiration for our young girls, teaching perseverance, determination, healthy living etc etc etc.
But … she has just faced the press and told them that she does it for herself, no-one else.
Is it just me? Am I the only one who thinks she wasted an opportunity to extend thanks for the support of the taxpayers, her sponsors and acknowledge the good wishes of the Nation that has given her the opportunity to jump hurdles instead of landmines. Would it have hurt to smile at the camera and reach out to Aussie kids with a word of encouragement to chase their dreams?
Maybe it’s just me but something isn’t sitting right as far as this Olympic team goes. Self absorbed, narcissistic, ungracious? … I don’t know.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but she did thank her sponsors, and “every parent who has ever made a sacrifice for sport” or something along those lines.
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Are you kidding? Sally was asked how she withstood the pressure of having the whole nation relying on her for gold. I think she has the right attitude. If she went into that race with the weight of the nation on her shoulders she may not have won. As she said it is about reaching your own personal goal, whether it be Gold or a PB. She also said she pushed herself to near self destruction and the public don’t understand what she has gone through. In my eyes she is a real champion and maybe other athletes should adopt this attitude. It seems these athletes can’t seem to please anyone.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but she did thank her sponsors. She also thanked “every family member in the country who has sacrificed something for sports” or something along those lines.
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You know the issue of “taxpayers dollars” has annoyed me for a long time. I really don’t understand how we can be so happy to have our athletes bring home gold, but as soon as they miss that extremely high mark, the taxpayers lament starts up.
I don’t want a personal thanks from these athletes. What did I personally do for them? I didn’t physically drive them to the pool at 4am, take them to the track, or the stadium or whatever. I don’t have a special line on my tax invoice that says “Olympic Athletes”, does anyone else?
So I pay tax and the government distributes some of it towards our sporting institutes. Great! It gives these kids a chance to be the best they can be. To live a dream, excel. If they have a great potential, wouldn’t you want to help them achieve it? I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of taxpayers who jump in and help out at that sausage sizzle, sell raffle tickets, maybe even buy a whole book of tickets just so that kid next door, “who is a great little runner, can go interstate and have a go at the big race because he’s got potential that kid, and there’s going to be some talent scouts there and gee it’d be terrific if he was noticed”. We happily pay to help someone out then.
I think that by working their arses off to reach Olympic level is payment enough. Sure, some of them didn’t reach their goal of a place (God forbid it wasn’t Gold) because they thought they had it in the bag before the race had begun. They believed their own hype, were legends in their own minds. Our swim team are not shrinking violets by any stretch. But maybe they were also outclassed on the day simply because there are other world class athletes out there, you know in the world. Is that so bad?
No, Sally doesn’t have to thank me. She should thank her Mum and Dad, and her coach, but not me and not any sponsors. Because it’s people like you and me and sponsors who are the fickle ones. The ones who say you failed and want to take their money back as soon as there is a set back. Sally and those other athletes know that, and that’s why they run the race for themselves.
Four years hard slog between meets is reason enough to make it about yourself and less about tax.
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I got up to watch Pearson’s race, but just missed it. The first thing I saw on the TV was the silver & bronze medalists with their flags, hugging and looking so happy.
I honestly thought Pearson had lost. I am so used to seeing unhappy runners-up.
Such a great win – she deserved it. She is a proven champion in the sport – 34 wins from her last 35 starts so this deserved to be hers.
As for Anna Meares – what an inspiration.
These women, and their sailing counterparts have made us proud. Without Tweeting.
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Anna and Sally are such inspirational, determined women. These are the women we should be encouraging our daughters and nieces to aspire to. Incredible !! Im so proud to be an Australian woman today. Well done girls !
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Here is the aforementioned photo of Sally Pearson.
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So glad to see Victoria Pendleton give Anna a hug… so sick of the media trying to create bitchiness. They are competitors of course, but this is a show of true sportsmanship!
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I don’t even care for sport at all (except the men’s tennis in the Aus. Open) but even I was excited by these wins. How could you not be? And look at her face in this shot compared to her competitors – how focussed is she? I need to get more dedicated and single mined about my goals! No wonder she won. There really wasn’t any other possibility was there?
The ABC breakfast program today cracked me up, re-enacting the race with Lego because they aren’t allowed to play the footage (broadcasting restrictions) and can only show stills: VIDEO – http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-08/lego-sally-wins-gold/4184626.
I kind of like that these Olympics have provided an opportunity for the attention to be focussed on sports other than swimming for a change.
* Congratulations to Anna Meares and to Sally Pearson *
PS – I have also enjoyed the high jump, long jump, sprints and dives this Olympics
PPS – on a separate note, how fantastic would it be if you could actually get shiny gold coloured coffee, as mentioned in the opening paragraph??! There’s a concept.
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Re: the beach volleyball outfits… so skimpy aren’t they?! I saw the two German teams play each other a few days ago and said ‘wow, you’d need to keep regular appointments with your waxer to wear that outfit!’.
Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
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Watched Sally’s race and it was fantastic! It was soooooo close but my goodness she was fast. Her reaction when they finally confirmed the win made me go all teary but what was even more special was the reaction of the USA girls (Silver & Bronze) and the awesome sportsmanship they showed towards Sally. One of them, (I think Harper who got the silver) looked like she was going to burst with happiness for her. Nice start to the day
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You said everything I was going to say! Including my teary moment for Sally and Harper’s unbelievable reaction toward the results.Class act from both girls.
I think my teary eyes for Sally’s win would not have occurred if the pressure that had been mounting on here hadn’t been soooooo great. And I think that is why Harper reacted the way she did. She would have been acutely aware of the pressure on Sally.
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