London Welsh sign Evans and Runciman - Yahoo! Eurosport
Evans, a 30-year-old has spent the last six seasons with Plymouth Albion, but only made the full-time switch to hooker for the last two campaigns, having previously operated in the back row and as a prop.
Evans has also represented the Navy in the annual match against the Army at Twickenham, and scored the winning try during the 2010 encounter.
He will combine his role as a Royal Marine sergeant with playing for the Exiles in their maiden Aviva Premiership campaign.
"It's a massive opportunity and I'm really looking forward to next season," Evans said.
"The Aviva Premiership is a massive challenge but we'll see how we get on. Unlike in the Championship we'll really have to hit the ground running, but hopefully with (coach) Lyn (Jones) in charge he'll guide us through."
The 26-year-old Runciman spent last season with Gloucester, having left Welsh after a three year stint at Old Deer Park.
Runciman, who also previously played for Worcester and was capped by England at age-grade level, made 15 appearances for the Cherry and Whites but will be hoping for more first-team opportunities with the Exiles.
"I'm very pleased to be back - it feels like I've never been away," said Runciman.
"It's a great place to play rugby, a great bunch of lads and I'm looking forward to playing under (head coach) Lyn (Jones).
"I watched all of London Welsh's televised games last season and kept my eye on their results. It was great to see the boys win the Championship the way they did. It was testament to the professionalism of the lads and the coaching staff at the club.
"Gloucester definitely benefited my game. I feel fitter than I've ever been and my game management's improved, and hopefully I can add that to the London Welsh squad."
Semenya ready to put controversial past behind her at last at 'special' London Games - Daily Mail
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Caster Semenya is looking forward to running in the London Olympics with the controversy that dogged her 2009 World Championships win behind her.
The South African, then aged just 18, stormed to victory in the 800 metres in Berlin but was then forced to undergo gender tests after exhibiting high levels of testosterone.
Semenya was left in limbo and has been unable to kick on from her time of one minute 55.45 seconds in that final, but is now back at the forefront of the event and looking ahead to this summer's Games with optimism.
Test: Caster Semenya (left) was scrutinised after winning the 800m in Berlin
'That is in the past,' she told national newspapers. 'You need to concentrate on the future. I don't have to entertain those things now. I can concentrate on my running, that's all.
'With each year I experience I become a more relaxed athlete. I also know what is important to listen to and what to ignore.
Relaxed: Semenya has founf form again
'I try to run my best always but sometimes I do not and I have to deal with negatives. People ask questions that can make you sad, but I must always stay positive.
'That's what I have to learn. I have to act professionally. But this is my first Olympics so London will be special for me.'
Nelson Mandela has been a major influence on Semenya's career and her fight for equal treatment and she paid tribute to the former South Africa president, who turns 94 today.
'The first time I met Mandela he was just looking at me as a little tiny girl,' she said. 'I was a little bit small but he said: "I believe in you, so you go out there and make me proud". So I kept the spirit and the legacy.
'Everything I do, I do it for him. He made me believe in the dark days after my victory. He inspired me a lot and he continues to do so.'
London bus workers win Olympic bonus - Daily Telegraph
However in the case of tube drivers this reflected the change in shift patterns which will come into force during the Games with services running later into the night.
The decision to offer bonuses to all bus drivers, irrespective of whether the Games will have any impact on their working day was condemned by Priti Patel, Tory MP for Witham.
“It is quite extraordinary,” said “It sends out the wrong signal in an age of austerity to be handing out cash payments to people who are doing nothing other than their day job.”
The union had justified its claim saying that bus drivers faced a bigger workload because of the additional passengers who will use the network during the Olympics.
"After almost a year long campaign, bus workers finally have a fair deal which recognises their contribution to keeping London moving over the Olympics,” said Peter Kavanagh, Unite’s general secretary for London.
"Major disruption to London's transport network and international embarrassment in the run-up to the Olympics could have been avoided if TfL and the employers did the right thing when Unite first approached them almost a year ago.
“Instead bus workers had to fight tooth and nail to get recognition.”
London Olympics link as unemployment falls again - Recruiter
The drop in unemployment occurred despite the UK officially being in recession, as well as the continuing turmoil in the Eurozone.
The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), however, rose by 6,100.
Commenting on the figures, minister for employment Chris Grayling says: “This is an encouraging set of figures in what is still an incredibly difficult economic climate. Not only is unemployment falling but in overall terms there are now almost 100,000 less people on benefits since the 2010 election. We still have a long way to go but this is a step in the right direction.”
Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) director of policy and professional services Tom Hadley says: “Today’s figures are good news and are further evidence that it is possible for the private sector to compensate for public sector job losses. However, we still need to be cautious. Tens of thousands of university, school and college leavers will be entering the job market over the summer and our latest data from recruiters shows hiring activity is slowing.”
Neil Carberry, CBI director for employment and skills, says: “Despite the challenging economic times, the British labour market is showing some resilience, with jobs being created and fewer people unemployed. The persistent rise in the number of people claiming JSA remains troubling, however.
“The rising number of JSA claimants, and the fact that we have 441,000 people who’ve been unemployed for over two years, emphasises how important the government’s Work Programme is.”
Tom Lovell, group managing director of recruitment consultancy Reed, says the figures support those from Reed’s Job Index, which showed that that the number of permanent jobs taken was up 7% month-on-month, with education (+26%) purchasing (+18%) and retail (+18%) doing particularly well.
John Salt, director of the jobs site totaljobs.com adds: “While the picture has been improving of late, my concern is that the latest cohort of graduates are going to be entering the labour market, if they haven’t already, followed soon by school leavers. Today’s figures, whilst welcome, do not point to the significant rise in vacancies that we’d need to off-set this increase in the number of jobseekers.”
London 2012 podium planners fight the fear of the upside-down flag - The Guardian
It was a deeply uncomfortable moment for all concerned. As South Africa's hockey team stood to attention ahead of their London Cup match against Britain last month, blaring over the loudspeakers came not the country's national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, but the apartheid-era version, Die Stem.
Niccy Halifax, who is organising the victory ceremonies at the London Olympics, insists the prospect of such horrors, and the grovelling apologies which follow, does not keep her awake at night. "It just isn't going to happen. It's not. It's not," she says, with conviction.
Halifax's confidence comes from the Olympic Games organisers' ultra-safe, hopefully foolproof approach to avoiding embarrassment at medal ceremonies. As well as protocol officers, those on the watch for mistaken anthems or upside-down flags will include the hugely experienced audio and video production staff overseeing the ceremonies and teams of highly drilled flagbearers from the army, navy and RAF.
Even the Games Makers volunteers at the ceremonies have been issued with booklets showing more than 200 national flags and instructions to memorise them – work that will doubtless make them invaluable at pub quizzes for years to come.
The work began by sitting down for a very long time to analyse how mistakes happened in the past, Halifax says. "Like with everything, this can happen as soon as you get humans involved."
To avoid this, London 2012's ceremonies will involve as many humans as possible cross-checking everything, all using the most simple of systems. Anthems are selected using a "drag and drop" computer system, used for nothing else. The anthem files show both the three-letter country code and the national flag, which is compared with the physical flag being prepared at the same time. These flags also have the country code and name written on them in small type, as well as an arrow pointing to the top.
Several different sets of people check everything is correct before the flag and medal bearers walk out, and the process is overseen by producers who have undergone extensive training, including regular flag-naming contests. Halifax says: "All the people involved understand this process and the importance of the flag and the anthem. They've done either backstage management in very big theatres or TV studios, or they're sound engineers or producers from sports presentation. They're really professional."
The anthems are stored on hard drives at every venue, as well as a central database which can be used if the first crashes. If all else fails, each venue has a stack of CDs, one for each anthem. "There are backups to the backups to the backups," Halifax says.
Similar rigour has been applied to the national flags, under the watchful eye of Warrant Officer Paul Barker, state ceremonial training officer for the Royal Navy and fresh from organising the ceremonial guards at the Queen's diamond jubilee.
He has spent weeks drilling 25 seven-strong teams of military personnel – eight each from the navy and RAF, and nine from the army – firstly at a military base and then, as of this week, at the venues themselves.
Barker is confident that come the Games the correct flags will be raised on the correct poles every time. "Mistakes do happen during training and that's why we do the training," he says. "But when the guys get to the various venues they will have a protocol officer for each team to double-check things. It's actually been a lot simpler than we were originally predicting.
"We just do the ceremonial role, which is what we do best – a bit of pomp and ceremony."
But even this has to be done just right. All flag-bearers learn how to fold their flags to make sure they don't touch the ground – a big no-no – when carried out. Perhaps unexpectedly, there is no set folding method, Barker explains: "It's folded as neatly as possible so that when it's laid across the arm it doesn't touch the ground as you march off. I've got people that are 6ft-plus and I've got people that are under 5ft, so how you do it is an individual challenge. But as long as it looks smart and correct they're allowed to do their own thing."
In each team, two people take each flag, one carrying it out and the other attaching it to the pole using quick-to-use Inglefield clips, named after the 19th-century naval officer who invented them.
After the seventh member, the captain, hears the shouts of "Gold ready!", "Silver ready!" and "Bronze ready!" he awaits the word that the winning anthem is due before the hoisting begins.
The winning flag gets two tugs on the halyard first – it has the highest pole and must never be below either of the others – and the whole process must be completed within 35 seconds, the length of the shortest national anthems, for example that of Uganda, comprising a mere eight bars of music.
"We've been told that it doesn't matter if the longer anthems are still playing when the flags reach the top, just as long as we're not still raising them when the music stops," Barker says.
Getting this timing right takes endless practice: "It's literally standing there with a stopwatch and you time them. You repeat it and repeat it until they get into that natural rhythm."
This week's rehearsals at the venues should iron out any remaining hitches, he predicts: "Nerves are always an issue. At the moment they've done the flag raising in front of their mates. At the rehearsals they'll do it in front of strangers. On the day it could be in front of 80,000-plus. Sometimes the nerves work for us, makes you concentrate. I don't foresee any major problems at this stage."
Possibly the worst anthem mistake ever
Even if disaster strikes at a 2012 victory ceremony, the blunder is unlikely to match that in March this year, when officials in Kuwait treated Kazakhstan's shooting team to not their own anthem but a profane spoof from the film Borat.
As shooter Maria Dmitrienko received her gold medal, out from the PA system came a song beginning: "Kazakhstan greatest country in the world / All other countries are run by little girls / Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium / Other countries have inferior potassium."
Another section ran: "Kazakhstan's prostitutes cleanest in the region / Except of course Turkmenistan's."
A video of the ceremony shows Dmitrienko on the podium, her hand on her heart, looking perplexed as the song begins to play. She appears to see the funny side and is smiling by the end.
Kazakh officials nonetheless demanded an apology. Kuwaiti officials – who had downloaded the Borat version from the internet – restaged the ceremony with the correct anthem.
London 2012: Shiny, happy Olympic village people - The Independent
With little more than a week to go until the opening ceremony, around 1,300 of the 18,000 athletes and officials that will stay in London's Olympic and Paralympic Athletes' village over the coming month have already arrived and, thanks to Twitter, we have already seen more of it than at any previous Games.
Diver Tom Daley and swimmer Rebecca Adlington are among many who have posted pictures of their rooms – in Adlington's case to apologise for its already unkempt state: "Only been here a few hours and my room is a mess!!!"
Daley, on the other hand, spent some time putting up Olympic bunting and posters. "My room in the Olympic village all decorated :) heading back to Southend now for our pre-camp...back on the 25th :D" he wrote to his 250,000 followers.
In a year's time, when the Qatari government puts East Village – as it will be known under its ownership – on the market, it will look like just another apartment complex. Two, three and four bedroom homes, in tasteful little concrete cuboids, set around little green lawns. But it will forever be infused with the chapter in London's history now rapidly writing itself.
The Australians were the first to mark out their territory. The word A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A is now spelt out nine storeys high in green and gold flags, amid southern crosses and boxing kangaroos. Across two sides of one thoroughfare one set of towels proclaims "Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!" and another answers "Oi! Oi! Oi!"
The Czechs, South Koreans, Cubans, Mexicans and Slovenians have all followed suit, as have the Swiss and the Danish, next door to one another, a little inconveniently, given the similarity of their national banners. At some point Roger Federer is expected to check in to one of these rooms. Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and the rest of the TeamGB football squad stayed the night on Monday, but yesterday headed off to Middlesbrough for a friendly against Brazil.
The Swiss delegation is probably the easiest to assign a space for. In all, 203 countries have teams staying in the village, many of whom's animosity towards one another extends far beyond the synchronised swimming pool.
Israel and Iran are housed at opposite ends of the village; TeamGB are suitably far away from their Argentine counterparts; and the German contingent have been placed a good distance from the Greeks.
But they needn't worry. Olympic athletes tend to make love not war. The Sydney village ran out of its 70,000 condoms and had to call in 20,000 more. Athens went for 180,000 – too many – but things were very different then. Beijing provided 100,000 but, typically, have never divulged if there were any left over. Durex are providing "tens of thousands" this time round but, as they are not an official sponsor, they will be in unbranded packets.
Among those treated to a sneak peak of the casa del Daley was one of his followers, US diving counterpart Kassidy Cook, the subject of suggestions that something might be in the air up there on the 10 metre platform. Even TeamGB Deputy Chef de Mission Sir Clive Woodward admitted to The Independent while walking through the entrance gates: "I've just been checking the beach volleyballers in. Someone's got to do it."
Daley's friend, 10 metre synchronised diver Tonia Couch, was among the first to use the free athletes hair and beauty salon. It is the most popular facility in the village and is one of the few areas of the park staffed not by volunteers but by highly trained staff.
Every set of Olympic rings you see shaved into the back of someone's hair this summer, every set of nails painted in national colours, every strategically shaved eyebrow will have been done in this one little room.
"The Globe" bar and social area has already become a hub. Among its amenities are a music studio complete with baseball bats, squash rackets and ping pong paddles, to be used as percussive instruments in the recording of one's own track.
There are pool tables, computer games and movie nights but – with the small matter of gold medals to be won – the bar serves only the produce of its leading soft drinks manufacturer sponsor. Some have their own rooms, but others will have to share. Some have panoramic views of the sporting theatres, others look over "Victory Park" and its contemporary artwork.
All have the same duvet covers, with a tiled pattern of the 26 Olympic sports. These are for the athletes to keep, and cannot be bought.
The most sought-after rooms are the ones nearest to the 5,000-seater dining room, a neon strip-lit Serengeti with bench after bench of plastic primary school seats.
"Room for 880 double-decker buses," according to Janet Matthews, who is in charge of catering for the entire Olympics, not just the athletes, which involves 27,000 staff and many many millions of meals, 1.2 million of which will be served in her sprawling canteen.
Asian, Best of British, Halal and Caribbean all have their own stands, next to cavernous fridges of the official soft beverage.
"Eating at the Olympic Village. Love the variety of food choices," hurdler Clemont tweeted, perhaps by way of tacit apology for his bus complaint that led evening news bulletins across the world.
Fellow US 400m runner Tony McQuay tweeted repeatedly about the "beautiful village", adding: "OMG this place just got even better with the food...I'm in heaven. I wish I could bring this village back to the US."
The Best of Britain section looms large in the dining room, which Olympic law dictates must have below it its official translation – "Specialites de Grande-Bretagne," printed on a huge canvas banner.
Matthews's previous job was feeding British soldiers in Germany, quite a few of whom have now followed her here due to the G4S security debacle. "An army matches on its stomach," she explained. "And that's true for athletes as well."
She added: "When I arrived, I was all, oooh, what can we do here, fancy this and that. I found out that athletes just care about carbohydrate and protein. It's chicken, pasta, rice, toast, porridge."
Above every seemingly inoffensive carton of cucumber at the buffet is a very precise indication of fat, carbohydrate and calorific content. They're fussy eaters, the Olympians, but that's probably fair enough.
At one end, inevitably, is a sizeable McDonalds, at which queues are expected to grow as the Games progress. Karen Pickering, the former Olympic swimmer, was involved in deciding who would get the catering contract. "I just spent three days eating," she said. "Like a big wedding."
A lot like a university in its exam-filled summer term, Ms Pickering says the mood in the athletes' village slowly changes as more and more competitors finish.
"The social areas get busier, the queues in the shops get longer. And people stampede towards the McDonalds." God help us. Everyone's far too excited already.
Olympic villages: A Brief history
At the Paris Chariots of Fire Games in 1924, a number of cabins were built near the stadium to house visiting athletes, but as with so much Olympic symbolism, it was Hitler at the Berlin Games of 1936 that ratcheted up the significance of the Athletes' Village.
The Nazis constructed 145 one and two-storey apartment buildings, with a theatre, hospital and other amenities. Only ruins remain now, although Jesse Owens' house has been restored.
Warring nations regularly share Olympic villages, and it is now customary for each country to sign a "truce wall", on taking residency – one has been built in London this year.
The massacre of nine Israeli athletes in the Munich village in 1972 at the hands of Palestinian terrorists is the Olympic movement's darkest moment.
But the words of the Czech gold medal-winning middle distance runner Emil Zatopek, who came to London in 1948, are also worth remembering:
"After all those dark days of the war, the bombing, the killing, the starvation, the revival of the Olympics was as if the sun had come out... I went into the Olympic Village and suddenly there were no more frontiers, no more barriers. Just the people meeting together. It was wonderfully warm. Men and women who had just lost five years of life were back again."
Olympic shorts...
No horsing around for Romney
It is news that is unlikely to burnish his "man of the people" qualifications: Mitt Romney's Olympic 'ballet-dancing" horse has arrived in Britain in time to prepare for its role representing the US in the Dressage competition in the Games.
Rafalca is a 15-year-old German-born horse purchased by the Romney family and friends in 2006 for around $100,000 (£64,000).
The horse has now been flown into London on a FedEx chartered jet from Gladstone, New Jersey, home of the US Equestrian Team.
Mr Romney will arrive in London on Thursday and is holding Republican fundraisers and meeting David Cameron before leaving Saturday after the Opening Ceremonies.
Britons to follow Games at work
Many workers plan to watch or listen to the Olympics during office hours, according to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.
Ofcom found that at least 38 million British adults plan to tune in, with 25 per cent planning to do so at work.
More than 2,500 hours of live Olympic coverage will be shown over the 17 days of the Games, starting on 27 July.
A soundtrack for cycling
The Chemical Brothers are releasing a cycling-inspired song for the Games.
They have composed "Theme For Velodrome", which will be the soundtrack to the track-cycling events. They were inspired by Kraftwerks' 1983 hit "Tour de France".
London 2012: As good as gold - the Olympic dead certs - BBC News
While some events at London 2012 are wide open, and others too close to call, several feature athletes so dominant that the gold medal may as well form part of their welcome pack at the Olympic village.
BBC Sport picks out nine sure bets - we think - for Olympic glory and one hot favourite who is faltering at just the wrong time.
Hamish Bond and Eric Murray (NZ) - Rowing
The three-time men's pair world champions are unbeaten since 2009 and have defeated their closest rivals - Great Britain's Andy Hodge and Pete Reed - in 14 consecutive races. Such is their dominance that GB rowing coach Jurgen Grobler has opted to move Hodge and Reed to the men's four, effectively conceding gold to the formidable Kiwi pair.
Garry Herbert (BBC rowing analyst): "To use a tennis analogy, the New Zealand pair are Roger Federer, while Hodge and Reed are Andy Murray. Both are excellent, but while the Kiwis are so naturally gifted that they make it all look effortless, you can see how hard Hodge and Reed are fighting to power the boat to the line. Bond and Murray have seen off all their rivals and, barring them falling into the water 100 yards from the line, no one can touch them."
US women's basketball team
Gold medallists at the last four Olympic Games, it would take a brave and possibly foolish soul to bet against the US women's basketball team making it five in a row in London. With an unrivalled domestic set-up, and seasoned world-beaters like Candace Parker and Sue Bird in the squad, they should win with plenty to spare.
John Amaechi (former NBA basketball player): "The US men's team are by no means a shoe-in for gold because they will be coming off the back of a long NBA season, whereas other countries have been training together for a long time. The women, on the other hand, are quicker, faster, stronger and more athletic than all of the other countries. The college basketball network in the US is superb and very few other countries invest so much in women's sport."
Michael Phelps (USA) - 200m butterfly
Phelps, the 14-time Olympic gold medallist, is competing in seven races at London 2012, but nowhere will he be more fancied than in his signature event, the 200m butterfly. He has held the world record over the distance since he first broke it in 2001 at the age of 15.
Sharron Davies (Olympic swimming silver medallist): "Phelps is racing the 200m butterfly for the fourth time in his fourth Olympics and this is the one he will want to win the most. This is an event where he won't be up against his arch-rival Ryan Lochte, so he won't be distracted by playing cat and mouse games with his fellow American and can focus solely on producing the kind of powerhouse performance he is famous for."
Saori Yoshida (Japan) - Wrestling
Yoshida has enjoyed total command over the women's 55kg division for more than a decade and is unbeaten at the Olympics, World and Asian Championships. A shock defeat in May - ending a 58-bout winning streak - may only strengthen her resolve to equal the record of legendary Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Aleksandr Karelin with a 12th global title this summer.
Non Evans (former Commonwealth Games wrestler): "Yoshida took up wrestling at the age of three and is technically as well as tactically very good. You have to be strong, flexible and anaerobically fit as well as aerobically fit - all of these elements make up a brilliant freestyle wrestler like Yoshida. Her incredible record gives her a psychological advantage over her opponents before they even step into the ring."
Katie Taylor (Republic of Ireland) - Boxing
Taylor won her fourth successive world lightweight title in May to go with her five consecutive European Championship gold medals. She has also captained Ireland's female football team and played a big part in the bid to get women's boxing included in the Olympics for the first time in 2012.
Lucy O'Connor (BBC boxing analyst): "When you talk about women's boxing on the world stage the first name that comes to mind is Katie. She has an uncanny strength and power, is so fluid in her technique and is also very strong and very quick. Her speed of punch sets her aside from rest of the girls."
Teddy Riner (France) - Judo
Standing at 6ft 8in and weighing in at 128kg, Riner is the undisputed giant of his sport. Born on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe but raised in Paris, he won a record fifth World Championship title last year and is determined to make up for the disappointment of only claiming bronze in Beijing four years ago.
Nicola Fairbrother (Olympic judo silver medallist): "Teddy Riner is just about as sure a bet as you can get for Olympic gold in a sport which is characterised by its unpredictability. He's a natural, tall heavyweight and is faster, more athletic and stronger than the rest of the division. He has developed some brilliant technical combinations and has tremendous mental strength - probably the most important quality for any Olympic champion."
Evgenia Kanaeva (Russia) - Rhythmic Gymnastics
Widely acknowledged as the best rhythmic gymnast in history, world and Olympic champion Kanaeva is one of the most dominant competitors in any sport. At the last two World Championships, she won all six gold medals on offer in rope, hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and all-round disciplines.
Christine Still (BBC gymnastics analyst): "Kanaeva's routines are a great deal more difficult than her nearest rival, meaning that even when she makes an unexpected error others cannot catch her. She is very supple but has great control like a ballet dancer. She is about as certain a gold medallist as you are going to get."
Natalia Ischenko/Svetlana Romashina (Russia) - Synchronised Swimming
Current World and European champions, Ischenko and Romashina have ruled the sport in the last few years with their unrivalled technical and artistic ability and were in a class of their own in winning the London test event in April.
Andrea Holland (BBC synchronised swimming analyst): "The precision and timing throughout their duet ensures perfect synchronisation. The explosive height they achieve and fast, yet controlled, spins set them apart from other competitors - their routine is incredibly difficult, yet appears effortless. This, combined with amazing flexibility, strength and power, along with artistic grace and unique choreography, makes them the absolute favourites to take gold at London 2012."
Behdad Salimikordasiabi (Iran) - Weightlifting
The super-heavyweight has emerged as an unstoppable force in weightlifting. He won the world title at his first attempt in 2010 - easily overcoming Olympic champion Matthias Steiner by lifting a total of 453kg - then retained his title with an even more impressive performance at the 2011 championships, lifting 464kg.
Non Evans (Former Commonwealth Games weightlifter): "Weightlifters tend to improve with age, growing into their weight division and getting stronger, so the fact Behadad is world heavyweight champion at the age of 22 is quite remarkable. He is very, very impressive and has already broken world records so I can't see anyone beating him."
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) - men's 100m
Bolt's quest to break his own 100m world record has been billed as one of the highlights of London 2012, but a repeat of his show-stopping performance in Beijing suddenly appears in doubt. Yohan Blake's victory over Bolt at the Jamaican trials, and strong performances from Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, have thrown the Olympics' marquee race wide open.
Colin Jackson (Former 110m hurdles world champion): "Usain is an athletics aficionado so he will take what has happened very seriously and will be consistently working on how he can improve that start of his. But he's still gone under 9.8 secs this year, and he's still got the capabilities of going under 9.7 secs, which no one else in the field except for Tyson Gay has achieved, so I think in his mind he will be pretty happy with where he is. It just makes the competition more interesting for everybody, but for me Usain will still be the man to beat."
With reporting by Becky Ashton
Hahahaha Dmc, Belfast great comment
- danny watson, manchester lancs, 18/7/2012 18:52
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