3 Olympians have big ambitions again

To East St. Louisan Dawn Harper, a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles at the Beijing Olympics meant a hometown street renamed in her honor, a relatively cavernous two-bedroom apartment compared to the one she and her husband had been scrunched into in Los Angeles, and a simple sense of "look what I can do."

For Mizzou's Christian Cantwell, a silver in the shot put in Beijing represented a seismic psychological breakthrough. Shrugging off the weight of fouling on five of six throws in failing to make the 2004 Athens Olympics despite a world No. 1 ranking, Cantwell rallied from fifth to second on his final throw in Beijing.

Vianney High's Scott Touzinsky says the gold medal he earned as part of a men's volleyball team contending with the stabbing murder in China of his coach's father-in-law "still hasn't sunk in."

While he believes it helped more than double his salary on the professional circuits, Touzinsky, 29, added Thursday, "Half the time I forget I'm an Olympic gold medalist, to tell you the truth."

While Nerinx Hall's Lori Chalupny, who won a gold medal with the women's soccer team in 2008, is not expected to return to the national team because of recurring concussions, the three others with local ties have ambitions of competing in the London Olympics - which begin a year from this Wednesday. Then again ...

"You can only go downhill after your first one," joked Touzinsky, who served in spot duty in Beijing and says he is competing with four others for a place on the national team as it approaches various Olympic qualifiers. "Hopefully, you get that call in the end."

If not, he said, he can live with it. Part of Touzinzky's perspective stems from an outlook that tells him volleyball has been plenty good to him, allowing him to travel all over the world: In the last few years, he has lived in Slovenia, Turkey and Germany and will play this season in Dubai at a salary "in the hundreds" of thousands to go with a fully furnished apartment and car provided by the team. Part of his perspective also comes from having a 10-month old son, Logan, who along with his wife, Angelique, will spend the nine-month season with him abroad.

Cantwell's world view also has evolved with fatherhood.

"My son, Jackson, changed my life 10 times more than winning the silver," Cantwell said a year after Beijing. "I am pretty much the same guy I was before I (won)."

Just the same, Beijing was the beginning of scaling new heights for Cantwell, who was unable to be reached last week as he traveled to Europe for a meet.

Soon after, he won his second world indoor title. A year later, the native of Eldon, Mo., won his first outdoor world championship. In 2010, he claimed his third world indoor gold and entered 2011 ranked No. 1 in the world.

Cantwell, 30, had surgery on his left, non-throwing shoulder in January and hasn't been as dominant this year, but he finished second in the U.S. championships last month and continues to prepare for the world championships next month in South Korea as part of his quest to turn that Beijing silver into London gold. He's competing in Monaco this week.

While Cantwell's success in Beijing was seen as promise at last fulfilled, Harper's gold was a sheer stunner. Injuries had kept her off the radar after her UCLA career, and she only made the Olympic team by 0.007 of a second after lunging across the finish line at trials.

But she kept advancing in China. Her blinders steered her to gold when favorite Lolo Jones smacked a hurdle down the stretch in the final.

Like Cantwell, Harper, 27, largely has prospered since Beijing. She won a national title and world silver in 2009, finished third at the U.S. championships last month and has qualified for South Korea. She, too is running in Monaco this week. As for London, it's probably her last chance for Olympic glory, as it figures to be for Cantwell and Touzinsky.

Make it or not, earn medals there or not, each has an Olympic legacy already.

"Heck, it's all gravy from here on out," Touzinsky said.

Phelps set for seven events at worlds

Michael Phelps is anguished no more. After a frustrating year marked by losses, lack of motivation and fitness, and indecision about his future in the pool, the 14-time Olympic champion is happy to be working hard again.

Fueled by time standards known only to him and coach Bob Bowman, Phelps is at the world championships, an eight-day meet that will serve as the next-to-last chapter in his storied career.

The ending will be written at next year's London Olympics.

“I kind of feel like my own self,” he said Saturday at a jammed news conference held the day before swimming begins at the Oriental Sports Center's indoor pool. “I've been excited and happy to be around the pool.”

Phelps plans to swim the 200 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterflys and the 200 individual medley.

He still owns the world records in both fly events. Trainer Bob Bowman confirmed that Phelps will swim all three relays, too.

He opens the championships in China today as part of the U.S. 400-meter free relay, the most anticipated event on the opening day of swimming.

Phelps will renew more rivalries in the 200 free final on Tuesday. Awaiting him are teammate Ryan Lochte and Paul Biedermann of Germany, who trounced Phelps with a world-record time in a stunning upset in Rome. Of course, that was before FINA banned the high-tech suits that led to 43 records at those worlds.

Lochte and Phelps will duel in the 200 IM, where Lochte is the defending world champion whose results last year made him the top American swimmer.

“What Michael did in 2008 is definitely going to go down in history, but that was three years ago,” Lochte said. “Anything can happen. I know I'm definitely a better swimmer than in '08. We're going to put on a show.”

Phelps' seven-event program in Shanghai is one less than he swam at the Beijing Olympics, where he burnished his legend as the greatest swimmer in history by winning eight gold medals.

Synchronized: Russia completed a gold-medal sweep of all seven events at the synchronized swimming world championships, winning the final event — the team free — to give Natalia Ishchenko her sixth gold.

Russia's eight-woman team including Ishchenko scored 98.620 points.

China was second with 96.580 and Spain took the bronze.

The 25-year-old Ishchenko has 16 world championship gold medals and a team gold with Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Olympics 2012 Cultural events starts in Wales

Wales' countdown to the Olympics is starting with events marking a year-long run-up to the London Games.

A cultural Olympiad by heritage body Cadw hosts projects across north Wales, including a celebration of medieval sports at Conwy Castle.

Big screens in Cardiff and Swansea are showing Olympic and Paralympic films, footage and interactive games.

Wednesday marks a year to the Games, and Welsh ministers hope the events will "inspire and engage" young people.

Across the UK, towns, cities and heritage sites are marking the "One Year to Go" countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games with the London 2012 Open Weekend.

In Wales, the weekend includes two 16-hour days of screenings on big screens at The Hayes in Cardiff and Castle Square in Swansea.

The films and footage, similar to those being shown being at Trafalgar Square in London, include live information, video, and news about the Olympics.

Flashmob

It also includes the chance for audiences to take part in the interactive game Swim Wenlock Swim, with motion sensor cameras comparing the results between cities taking part.

Meanwhile, Cadw's own Power of the Flame Cultural Olympiad initiative, Cauldrons and Furnaces, is formally launched at Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead at 14:30 BST.

The programme, in partnership with the Arts Council of Wales, includes a variety of events including storytelling, community art workshops, dance, music and creative craft activities.

Three north Wales castles - Flint, Harlech and Caernarfon - are staging events on Saturday.

At 15:00, Flint hosts a work by young dancers from the county. Harlech has a flashmob staged by 20 local primary and secondary school pupils.

Caernarfon has a kaleidoscope art exhibition, from 11:00 to 15:00, created by pupils at six local schools.

A flashmob is also being held in Flint High Street, at noon and 13:00.

'Inspire and engage'

Cadw's cauldrons and furnaces theme is picked up on Sunday at St David's Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire.

A tour between 11:00 and 14:00 tells visitors about the secrets of the building and of saints.

Heritage Minister Huw Lewis said: "As the excitement around next year's Olympic Games continues to build, we are delighted to welcome back the Open Weekend Cauldrons and Furnaces programme as part of Wales' cultural contribution to the Olympiad celebrations.

"The series of events and activities aim to inspire and engage with the children and young people of Wales, not only demonstrating what can be achieved creatively, but also deliver a lasting legacy of inspirational work of the people of Wales beyond the Olympics

One year to go London 2012

The last time the Olympics came to London, in 1948, Britain was building a welfare state. Sixty-three years later they are knocking it down. In this brazenly market-driven and self‑preserving phase of our history it could be that a vast national experience might revive the communal spirit that shaped society in the post-war years. For 17 days, at least.

Where do the British go now to feel a shared collective glow: Glastonbury? Or the TV screen to unite around a talent contest or The Apprentice? The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic hosts no longer coalesce around politics or religion but in pursuit of mass entertainment, which the Games have always claimed to be. The self‑declared "Greatest Show on Earth" offers an engulfing wave of pleasure and distraction as well as the perfect personal showcasing opportunity for David Beckham.

With the Olympic family now seeming as wholesome as The Waltons, compared to Fifa, London 2012 has been served a chance to strive for something higher than geopolitical ambition of the sort we endured in Beijing three years ago. A tall order, you may think, in a land where civil war erupts over the formation of a GB football team, but on all known precedent the British are exceptionally good at throwing themselves into international carnivals staged on these shores.

London is staging next year's Games by accident. The shock bidding race victory over Paris landed politicians and organisers with the formidable task of inflating a toytown budget to a more honest level and actually piecing together an infrastructure capable of accommodating 26 sports across 34 venues, 10,500 athletes and double that number of accredited media. If we all paired off, each runner, swimmer and wrestler could have two personal journalists to record every grunt and grimace.

When Paris acquired the lemon‑sucking countenance of the beaten red-hot favourite, supporters of London's bid formed two camps. One saw the Olympics as an opportunity to drive through the regeneration of London's East End and the Lower Lea Valley while reviving sport in state schools. The other, more hedonistic group, thought watching beach volleyball in Horse Guards Parade would be a giggle and confer on Britain some vague international glamour, yeah.

In the event the country finds itself constructing a sporting Disneyland at the time of draconian cuts to public spending. Many of us would rather have the Games of 1948 again with people cutting up old bed-sheets to make running shorts if it meant improvements to the NHS, schools and public services, but the universe we now inhabit is one of sob-inducingly high ticket prices and £400,000 Olympic logo design costs.

These will be my fifth Games as a reporter. A uniting theme is that Messianic pre-event sermons seldom result in long-term improvements for the population or their environment. Atlanta, in 1996, was the Games of corporate shock and awe, with Coca‑Cola the exclusive drink at all venues and bus drivers from Philadelphia who had never been to Georgia. But this was also the circus where Michael Johnson's 200 metres world record rampage of 19.32sec achieved the kind of instant televisual intensity that has become the emblem of modern sport.

Individual brilliance and drug busts: these are the two constants of Olympic competition. Atlanta was the Games where Ireland's Michelle Smith won three golds in the pool before being caught two years later trying to tamper with a urine sample to head off disgrace. Sydney 2000, where the fly-blown outback dunny was a theme of the opening ceremony, was the fortnight of Steve Redgrave's fifth rowing gold, Cathy Freeman's breakthrough for Aboriginal Australians and the cheating heart of Marion Jones, who was fuelled by tetrahydrogestrinone.

Athens 2004 sent the media army scurrying after Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, who cited a motorcycle accident nobody saw for their failure to attend a dope test. Then came Kelly Holmes's victories in the 800m and 1500m and Paula Radcliffe's operatic collapse in the women's marathon. Four years later it was reported that 21 of the 22 facilities built for the Games were abandoned or derelict: a "legacy" the creaking Greek economy is in no position to correct.

Beijing 2008 felt like an endless memo to the rest of the world, and America especially. This would be the Chinese century. The Games unfolded in secure compounds of spectacular architecture, high fences and choreographed gratification. Here we observed market capitalism coexist with authoritarian one-party rule and Michael Phelps weigh himself down with eight swimming golds while Usain Bolt extended the boundaries of human capabilities with his 100m-200m double.

So when the rhetoric is hacked away the abiding memories are of transcendent achievement, by Johnson, Redgrave, Phelps or Bolt. With its cult of "togetherness", the Olympics conceal their strongly individualistic origins. The happy-family spirit is a modern addition – and it works, often, by jerking the western mind out of its narrow obsession with fame and power. Away from our own funded culture, athletes are overcoming immense economic and cultural obstacles simply to be able to say they competed at the Games.

The Olympics' biggest single asset is that they are a convention of the whole sporting world, unlike the World Cup, where only the 32 best countries assemble. You never see hundreds of footballers flooding the host city once the tournament is over to rejoice and engage with the locals. Below the top tier of stardom, London will be another epic compendium of stories, of modest but earnestly pursued hopes.

For the grotesque cost to be in any way justified, London will have to be a much better city when it ends on 12 August for those who live and work there, and opportunities in sport will need to be more widely spread, beyond privilege and money. A government that emotes about the obesity-busting potential of next year's fiesta tried to withdraw £162m funding for the popular schools sport partnership until an outcry forced a backtrack. In 1948 they would have been the enemies of progress and fairness.

The London 2012 shops

You can buy London 2012 merchandise from our official London 2012 online shop.

London 2012 shops are also located in:

Terminal 5 (airside)

Heathrow Airport

Tel: 020 8283 7727

Opening hours: Mon-Sun, 5.30am-10pm.

St Pancras International

Address: Unit 2A, St Pancras International, Pancras Road, London NW1 2QP.

Tel: 020 7837 8558

Opening hours: Mon-Sat, 8am-9pm; Sun, 11am-7pm.

Paddington Station

Address: Unit 29, The Lawn, Paddington Station, London W2 1HA

Tel: 020 7402 5616

Opening hours Mon-Fri, 7.30am-7.30pm; Sat, 9am-6pm; Sun, 11am-6pm.

John Lewis Oxford Street (fifth floor)

Address: John Lewis, fifth floor, 300 Oxford Street, London W1A 1EX.

Tel: 020 7629 7711

Opening hours: Mon-Sat, 9.30am-8pm, with the exception of Thurs, 9.30am-9pm; Sun, 12-6pm.

Official London 2012 product ranges have also been developed by adidas (Official Sportswear Partner) and Next (Official Clothing and Homeware Supplier).

In addition to the shops listed above, the adidas range may be purchased from its flagship store on Oxford Street (415-419 Oxford Street, London W1C 2PG. Tel: 020 7493 1886).

The London 2012 range of Next merchandise may be purchased from selected Next stores (please call your local store for more information).

Open Weekend begins and Test Events continue

Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards (centre left) stands next to Olympic mascot Wenlock and Pineapple Dance Studios founder Debbie Moore OBE (centre right) during a class at the Pineapple Dance Studios in London. The class was held ahead of Open Weekend, celebrating one year to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Jonathan Edwards and Wenlock have certainly been busy, here they are admiring the artwork produced by local teenagers in art workshops at the National Portrait Gallery as part of Open Weekend 2011.

The London 2012 Beach Volleyball venue received a special delivery this week as the first trucks of sand were delivered to Horse Guards Parade in St James's Park. They arrived ahead of the London Prepares Series test event, the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International. The first lorry of sand, which is high quality Redhill 28 sand, was delivered today from a quarry in Godstone, Surrey. Following the event, which takes place on 9-14 August, the sand will be reused by Volleyball England, the national governing body, at their training venues around the UK.

London 2012 Film Sets New World Record

The Tate Movie Project’s 'The Itch of the Golden Nit' has entered the record books ahead of being screened across the UK to celebrate Open Weekend 2011

A part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the film project has achieved a Guinness World Record for the most individual contributions to an animated film, with a total of 1,897 people selected for involvement in the process.

The film, which premiered in Leicester Square in June, was made entirely by and for children. Thousands of drawings, sound effects and story ideas by young people from across the UK make up the innovative half-hour animation, with ideas generated in workshops and submitted to an online film studio. In total, more than 34,000 children submitted ideas to the project.

Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth Mackenzie said: 'The success of The Tate Movie Project is phenomenal; thousands of young people across the UK have been developing skills through animation workshops and digitally through the website. The announcement today of this wonderful cast and story is thrilling – congratulations to everyone.'

'The Itch of the Golden Nit' will be shown in Trafalgar Square and at Live Sites across the UK on Saturday 23 July 2011 as part of Open Weekend, while an exhibition about the project is running at Tate Modern until the end of August.

The film was funded by Legacy Trust UK and BP, with additional support and resources from the BBC, and brought together by Tate and Aardman Animations.

Twitter rules for London 2012

ATHLETES at the London 2012 Olympics will be allowed to use social networking site Twitter - but could be kicked out if they break strict rules.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today said all social media activity must respect the Olympic Charter, which bans political demonstrations.

Any x-rated comments will be severly dealt with, and postings deemed to be for commercial purposes will not be permitted either.

The IOC said it “actively encourages and supports athletes...to take part in ‘social media’ and to post, blog and tweet their experiences”.

But they must be restricted to “first-person, diary-type formats” and must ensure their posts do not contain “vulgar or obscene words or images”.

The broadcast of video and audio taken inside Olympic venues remains banned but athletes may post videos taken outside the stadiums.

The IOC generate huge revenue from the sale of television and online media rights and so remain highly protective of their intellectual property.

Anybody who is considered to have breached the guidelines could have their Olympic accreditation removed - effectively banning them from the Games.

London 2012: 15,000 fans Tickets By Mistake

MORE than 15,000 fans who thought they had bagged Olympics tickets were told yesterday it was a mistake.

A bookings website that failed to update fast enough kept on selling after events had sold out. On Friday the Ticketmaster system put more than 2.3 million tickets on sale.

It was first come, first served – and organisers relied on manual updating by a team of workers.

But demand overwhelmed them. A Games spokesman said: “Over 150,000 applications were ­processed for 850,000 tickets.

“Around 10% were not successful due to massive demand. Ten sports sold out in the first two hours.”

It also emerged 150,000 tickets meant for Britons in Friday’s second ballot were bought by foreigners.

London 2012, whose website crashed due to high demand, cannot stop EU nationals applying for UK-allocated seats because that would breach free trade rules.

MP Priti Patel, of Witham, Essex, said: “The system is a farce. British taxpayers fund the Games

Swim Star Go For London 2012 Olympics Gold

SWIM ace Rebecca Adlington has found love again – and reckons it will spur her on to new success in next year’s London Olympics.

The 22-year-old, who struck gold in the 400 and 800m freestyle at Beijing in 2008, has been single since she split from ex-boyfriend Andy Mayor three years ago.

Now she is dating fellow swimmer Harry Needs, 19, and says having an understanding partner has boosted her preparations.

She said: “I do have a boyfriend at the minute, we’ve been together about two or three months now. It just happened, you can’t really control those things.

“He’s a swimmer as well, so it’s worked out perfect - he understands the focus and sacrifices I have to make.

“He’s just like me, he’s really driven so we go to bed pretty early and rest at the weekends - we’re not going out or doing anything like that so it’s nice to have someone who understands.

“I was with my ex Andy at the last Olympics but that ended around 2009, so this is really my first proper relationship since then and it’s going really well.”

Harry also competes with the Nova Centurion swimming club in the Midlands where Rebecca honed her remarkable talent.

After her remarkable Olympic success, she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her achievements and even had a pub named after her in her native Mansfield, Notts.

Now, she is in training for next month’s World Championships in Shanghai, China, and is feeling confident.

She said: “I’m feeling prepared - I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a lot of hard work, but I feel ready.

“I’ve only been to China once before and it went pretty well, so I’m hopeful it’s a lucky charm for me.”

But she modestly admits her only goal for London 2012 just now is simply to qualify - and only then will she think about defending her titles.

“Of course I’m excited about London 2012 - but still nervous as well”, she adds.

“To qualify is such a difficult thing, you have to come top two in qualifiers and get a certain time.

“With the amount of depth in quality in British swimming, it’s extremely hard to come top two but I’m just excited - I think it’s a great opportunity for the country and for the sport regardless of whether I go.

“Right now, my dream is just to go to London 2012. If I qualify, obviously I will have a new goal - that will be a different story I’m sure.”

And as her training increases ahead of next year’s Games, Rebecca says she knows the importance of enjoying the odd sweet treat.

“I’m pretty controlled when it comes to my diet, but I’m not strict - I do treat myself. It’s more about making sure you get what you need”, she explains.

“But chocolate is my weakness - and cake too. And, of course, shoes.”

Despite the gruelling nature of competing at the highest level, Rebecca happily admits she always like to look her best when she gets in the pool.

“I always do my nails - I love doing my hands”, she laughs.

“At the Commonwealth Games, I did the white and red flag thing - it’s just something a bit girly and a bit different to do really.

“A lot of the times when you go abroad to compete, you’re just sat in your room and there’s no British TV so you get a bit bored, and so I like to do my nails or whatever.

“I don’t tend to do my make-up, but that’s because I’m just going to get in the water and it’ll come straight off - but I always like to have my nails done.”

Rebecca also believes that the Olympics will bring a positive boost to the country, which will be invaluable for athletes competing.

“British people do have a tendency to be quite negative - we love a loser - but I think the Olympics will be really different and there won’t be that much negativity”, she says.

“Everyone will get caught up in the atmosphere and I think it will be great to have that because it’s the positivity that we all need.

“It was so nice during the Royal wedding to see something so nice and so happy in the news, and I think the Olympics will give us something similar.”

Rebecca Adlington is a Speedo Ambassador.

Olympic Tourch History

The Olympic Flame, Torch and Relay draw on a history going back to the ancient Olympic Games in Greece.

The ancient Gamesd

The Torch and Relay were important elements of the cultural festivals surrounding the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece.

During the Games, a sacred flame burned continually on the altar of the goddess, Hera. In addition, heralds were summoned to travel throughout Greece to announce the Games, declaring a sacred truce for the duration.

Spreading the light from Greece: the modern Games

A very precise ritual for the lighting of the Flame is followed at every Games. It is lit from the sun's rays at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, in a traditional ceremony among the ruins of the home of the Ancient Games.

After a short relay around Greece, the Flame is handed over to the new Host City at another ceremony in the Panathenaiko stadium in Athens.

The Flame is then delivered to the Host Country, where it is transferred from one Torchbearer to another, spreading the message of peace, unity and friendship. It ends its journey as the last Torchbearer lights the cauldron at the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in the Olympic Stadium, marking the official start of the Games.

The Flame is extinguished on the final day of the Games, at the Closing Ceremony.

Previous Torches

Scroll through to see Olympic Torches dating back to Berlin 1936.

Oliver Holt Five Favourite Olympics Moment

1. Cathy Freeman only ran in one event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but she dominated those Games as completely as if she had been competing every day.

The first aboriginal athlete ever to compete for Australia, Freeman became the conscience of a nation during the Olympics, a symbol of the guilt many Australians still feel about the way they treated the continent’s original inhabitants.

Freeman lit the flame at the opening ceremony and when she lined up for the final of the 400m, the pressure on her to win was enormous.

The roar in the stadium that greeted the starting gun lasted the whole lap. Freeman, wearing a hooded body suit, led from start to finish. At the end, in one of the iconic pictures of those games, she sank to the track and sat down, her face a picture not of joy but of relief.

2. I am not sure that I believe in Usain Bolt but sitting in the Bird’s Nest in Beijing and seeing him obliterate the rest of the field in the 100m final still took my breath away.

I knew in those startling 9.69 seconds what it must have been like to have been in Seoul in 1988 to see Ben Johnson blow away rivals that included Carl Lewis and Linford Christie.

It was the nonchalance of Bolt that was the most shocking thing of all, the way that he eased up with about ten metres to go, looked around and spread his arms out wide in triumph.

This was the 100m men’s final and he was coasting. Despite the cursed lineage of the event, the positive tests attached to previous champions like Justin Gatlin, Johnson and Christie, there is still an incredible thrill about watching the fastest man in the world.

What Bolt did in Beijing, winning gold in the 200m too and breaking Michael Johnson’s world record, made him the star of the Games.

3. Seeing Steve Redgrave win his fifth Olympic gold medal in Sydney was special but I enjoyed seeing Britain’s men’s coxless four win in Athens more.

Maybe it was because it was such an amazingly close race between the British and Canadian boats, a contest so nerve-wracking that many did not know who had won when the boats crossed the line.

There was great drama, too, in men like Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell, incredible sportsmen in their own right, trying to win gold without Redgrave and knowing that silver would be regarded as a desperate failure.

It was Pinsent’s fourth gold and he wept like a child on the podium after the race. It was sporting drama at its very best.

4. I have not included Shirley Robertson’s victory in the Europe class of the sailing event in Sydney in my top 5 because it was one of the outstanding sporting achievements of the three Olympics I have covered although obviously it was a superb accomplishment by Robertson that was justly celebrated.

I included it because the moment of her victory seemed to me to encapsulate much of the magic that the Olympics can bring.

I spent the whole of that day in a small motor boat on Sydney Harbour, being buffeted by waves and soaked in spray, trying to follow Robertson’s exploits.

It was one of the most beautiful sporting scenes I have ever witnessed, a flotilla of boats in one of the most beautiful harbours in the world on a gloriously sunny day.

And a sport which is rarely given the oxygen of publicity was suddenly centre stage, more important for a few hours than the Premier League or an Ashes Test. It summed up much that is best about the Olympics.

5. No one ever thought that the record set by swimmer Mark Spitz of winning seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics of 1972 but American superstar Michael Phelps disagreed.

Even a few weeks before the Beijing games the great Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe poured scorn on Phelps’ ambition to win eight golds but Phelps would not be dissuaded.

Watching him swim at The Cube was just about the hottest ticket in Beijing and Phelps performed less like a superstar and more like a superhuman.

He won two gold medals in one day and won his seventh gold medal in the 100m butterfly by beating Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by one hundredth of a second in one of the greatest swimming races of all time.

He then clinched his eight gold in the men’s 4 x 100 medley relay, swimming the butterfly before handing over to Jason Lezak to complete the final leg and seal Phelps’s moment in history.

If there was a puzzling kind of joylessness about Phelps’s achievement, perhaps it was because of the relentlessness of the task he had set himself. But the magnitude of his feat will stand the test of time.

London 2012: Our pick of the Olympics

It’s the Greatest Show on Earth – and the Daily Mirror will be right behind Team GB every hop, skip and jump of the way.

With less than 500 days to go until the London 2012 Olympics, hopes are rising for a memorable Games for British athletes. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd on the world stage is providing a huge motivational boost as our top performers gear up in a marathon push for medals.

Over the next six weeks, we will be profiling some of our rising stars aiming for gold.

Here, we present the first four of our 2012 hopefuls.

And although this may be the first time you’ve heard of them, it certainly won’t be the last.

Tickets are on sale until April 26, 2011 - with 645 separate sessions in 26 sports at venues across the UK. Prices start at £20 for adults, with concessions for under 16s and over 60s at 220 events. For your chance to apply go to www.tickets.london2012.com

CORINNA LAWRENCE, 20 FENCING

Corinna Lawrence is Britain's No1 female fencer and will compete at east London's Excel Centre.

Based in London, she took up the sport when she was just seven - following in the footsteps of her two elder sisters.

She says: "When I was about nine, my coach told me I had something special and by the age of 13, I was up against girls of 17 or 18. I was in the British top four around the age of 14." Corinna, from Plymouth, trains about 20 hours a week and admits she is getting really excited about the Games.

She adds: "Fencing once had a bit of an aristocratic reputation, but has become increas-ingly popular.

"Like boxing, it is a pure one-to-one sport. It's very tactical and always seems to create a very tense close contest."

AMY OLIVER, 23 ARCHERY

Being in the top flight of Britain's archers is a talent that comes naturally to Amy Oliver.

She says: "I started shooting about eight years ago. My parents and grand-parents were always involved, so it runs in the family."

Amy, from Rotherham, York-shire, will be aiming for gold at Lord's cricket ground.

Last year the Dearne Valley sharp--shooter won silver with Team GB in the Commonwealth Games. "It was a brilliant experi-ence," she recalls. "And we were only a few points off gold, so were very proud of what we had achieved." But the Olympics will be a different challenge altogether, as Amy knows.

Since 1972, when the modern version of archery made its Olympic debut, Great Britain has only ever won four bronze medals

But Amy is relishing the chance to show her skills at next year's Games.

She says: "Every-thing is going to plan with my training so I'm really looking forward to performing for the team.

"It's a great venue and the competition will be intense."

BOBBY WHITE, 27 HANDBALL

Bobby White is the acrobatic goalkeeper for Team GB men's handball team.

The London 2012 Olympics is the first time that Great Britain has entered a team into the competition.

It is a sport that has yet to take off here like it has across Europe, but that is expected to change after next year.

Bobby, from Milton Keynes, Bucks, says: "Here in the UK, we have a tradition of foot-ball, rugby and cricket - so sports like hand-ball and basketball are not as big.

"But handball is massive all over Europe and next year we have the opportunity to create a legacy and get people interested in the sport."

Bobby adds: "I used to play semi-pro football for Newport Pagnell, but in 2007 I was picked up by UK Sports' Sporting Giants programme who helped me get into handball.

"I didn't know what the sport was about at first but after my first taste I was hooked." The team will play in a newly-built arena at the Olympic Park - and Bobby is hoping to perform in front of a capacity 7,000 crowd.

PETER BAKARE, 21 VOLLEYBALL

Peter Bakare is originally from Canning Town, East London.

He now lives in Holland where he plays volleyball professionally for Landstede Zwolle.

The British team will play their matches at the iconic Earls Court in West London during next year's Olympics.

Peter says: "I used to be a basketball player, then one day just two years ago my coach asked me to try volleyball. I was spotted playing at the London Youth Games, then got asked to try out for England Juniors.

"From there, I went to the GB development programme in Sheffield. It was a real crash course in volleyball for me."

He admits he's nervous about the Games, but adds: "I'm also really excited."

London 2012 Olympics Vs. London 1948

There was not enough money to build an athletes’ village, so competitors were housed mainly in private accommodation, and the BBC’s winning bid for the ­broadcasting rights was £1,000.

As the inventors of World War II, Germany and Japan were not invited to participate, while Russia declined to send a team because they were busy preparing refrigerators for the Cold War.

If Great Britain’s haul of three gold medals, and 23 in all, was a modest return for the hosts, the unrivalled star on Wembley Stadium’s cinder track was Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen, a 30-year-old mother nicknamed the Flying Housewife.

Twelve years earlier, Jesse Owens’ four gold medals in Berlin had sent Adolf Hitler goose-stepping from his box in an ideological huff. Like Owens, Blankers-Koen became the face of the Games after striking gold four times – in the 100m, 200m, sprint relay and 80m high hurdles.

As world record holder in the long jump and high jump, she would probably have gone on to win even more, but female athletes were limited to entering only three individual events.

There was a dramatic finish in the marathon, where Belgium’s Etienne Gailly entered the stadium first but he was so exhausted he could barely run. Argentina’s Delfo Cabrera and Britain’s Thomas Richards overhauled him, although Gailly heroically lasted the course to take bronze.

London 1948 was also the scene of the Olympic movement’s first political defection. Czech Marie Provaznikova, president of the international gymnastics ­federation, refused to return home, citing “lack of freedom” after the country’s inclusion in the post-war Soviet Bloc.

London 2012 Tickets Phase 2 Q&A

Q: WHO can apply?

A: Only people who applied in the original sale, between March 15 and April 26, and came away with nothing. This second round is exclusive to them on a first-come, first-served basis.

Q: HOW many can I buy?

A: You can apply for a maximum of three sessions and six tickets per session for most sports. Football, volleyball and the race walk will have larger limits.

Q: WHAT tickets are available?

A: There were 2.3 million tickets on sale at 6am yesterday, covering 310 sessions, including 44 medal events with 1.7 million tickets for football.

Q: HOW much do they cost?

A: There is a range of prices and availability. There are 1.5 million tickets at £50 or less and more than half of these will cost £20 or less, says London 2012.

Q: WHEN can I apply if I got tickets in round one?

A: Anyone who got tickets on the first go gets a second chance from 6am, July 8, to 6pm, July 17.

Q: WHEN can I apply if I have not already registered for tickets?

A: Your first chance to apply will be in December this year.

Holiday currency exchange rates

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