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Olympics: Team GB Seek More Gold Medals

08 Aug 2012

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UK Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson


BBC

Team GB are looking to add to their best Olympics gold medal haul since 1908, with the focus now on showjumping, boxing and canoeing, reports the BBC.

So far, Britain's athletes have racked up 22 golds out of total medal tally of 48, the minimum target set by UK Sport which funds the country's Olympians.

Canoeist Tim Brabants failed to defend his K1 1,000m title in the final.

Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson has said maintaining funding levels for elite sport is his priority.

But that could not be guaranteed and hard decisions must be taken, he added.

Team GB had "done better across all sports, it's not just the usual suspects, so it is fantastic news", he said.

"I am pretty confident that we can maintain the funding at the current level and that is what I am going to do my utmost to achieve.

"We will prioritise elite and high performance sport.

"Is it an absolute guarantee? No it isn't, but we are going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that will be the case."

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe, meanwhile, told the BBC the success of the Games was down to the "athlete-led atmosphere" saying they had "really risen to the audience here".

"And if you get that right, then pretty much everything else falls into place," he added.

On the last day of velodrome action, Sir Chris Hoy won a second gold of the Games in the keirin and his sixth in total to overtake Sir Steve Redgrave, with his five golds, and become Britain's most prolific gold medalist.

Other achievements on Tuesday included:

*Laura Trott became the first female track cyclist to claim two golds at a single Games for Britain with her omnium win
Victoria Pendleton won a silver in the sprint final to add to her gold in the keirin, although her father said the cyclist's final race before retiring had been "tainted"

*Alistair Brownlee and brother Jonny became the first British Olympic triathlon medallists, winning gold and bronze respectively

*Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin took gold ahead of Germany in team dressage

*Robbie Grabarz cleared 2.29m to win bronze in the high jump

*Welterweight boxer Fred Evans won his quarter final against Canada's Custio Clayton to ensure that he will win at least a bronze

*Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi, reinstated to the Games having been disqualified for not trying in his 800m heat, won the first global title of his career by winning the 1,500m

*South Yorkshire police said vandals had defaced winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis's gold postbox in Barkers Pool, Sheffield, on Monday night, by spraying it with graffiti. Royal Mail repainted it on Tuesday

*In showjumping on Wednesday, British trio Scott Brash, Ben Maher and Nick Skelton - fresh from their team title - will all compete for individual gold medals.

*Team GB face Argentina in the women's hockey semi-final while Nicole Adams, with a bronze medal guaranteed, will fight India's Mary Ko for a place in the gold medal match.

As it stands, Team GB have five guaranteed boxing medals.
Light-welterweight Tom Stalker, meanwhile, will take on Mongolia's Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg, with at least a bronze guaranteed for the winner.
Mo Farah, looking to add to his 10,000m gold, will compete in heats for the 5,000m.

And BMX rider Shanaze Reade begins her campaign with the seeding phase.

However, Brabants finished eighth in his K1 1,000m final.

The first beach volleyball final of the Games, at Horse Guards Parade, will be an all-American affair as 2004 and 2008 Olympic champions Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor take on April Ross and Jennifer Kessy.

Elsewhere, gold medal-winning Paralympians will not feature on individual stamps unlike their Olympic counterparts, the British Paralympic Association (BPA) has said.

The BPA said that, because it was expecting a similar gold medal haul to the 42 won in Beijing four years ago, it would be "logistically and practically impossible" to create individual stamps.

Instead, a series of six stamps featuring all gold medal winners would be released after the Games finished on September 9, it said.

Credit card company Visa, meanwhile, said international visitors to the UK spent more than £450m on its cards in the first week of the Olympics - up 8% on the same time last year.

Tags: Sports, World, UK, OLYMPICS, Hugh Robertson

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