Shame the Ozzies beat us to the gold in the cycling.

Yeah, I still reckon vicky shouldn't have been relegated in that first race.

Oh well we still got 70% of all the track cycling gold medals

I have to be honest, after watching that documentary about her on the BBC a few weeks back I had a feeling she wouldn't beat Mears in a straight sprint. Yes, she probably shouldn't have been DQed in the first one, but that was a dead heat and Mears beat her comprehensively in the second heat so...

Now, don't get me wrong, I do love VP. She's plainly very nice and she's simply the best female cyclist this country has ever produced but that doc suggested she already had her mind on what she was going to do after the games and, TBH, her comments after the race pretty much confirm it. She just seemed.. burned out on it all. Good luck to her in whatever she chooses to do next - I'm sure she'll be good at it whatever it is. She's done more than anyone could ever ask and she deserves whatever breaks she gets.

Jon

It certainly would have been even more interesting if she hadn't been DQ'd. Maybe with a win under her belt she'd have tried to lead the second race out from the top of the banking, and not breaking and then hesitating as she did, if she wasn't in a must-win situation. She didn't look as determined as she did in Melbourne, mind.

This is the key thing - to use football commentator parlance, Mears looked like she 'wanted it more'. It's basic psychology - if you're already thinking 'past' something, how can you have complete focus on it? To some part of your mind, it's already done with and not worth any effort. That may only make 1 or 2% difference but the cyclists have always been very big on saying that small gains multiply when put together, maybe it works the other way too...

What VP would have done in later races if she hadn't been DQed is something we'll never know, sadly. Given the results on the two races 'on the track' though I don't think it's fair to assume she'd have won.

Anyway, she did pretty damn well overall. A gold and silver is not a bad return off three races.

Daily Express put wrong dressage team on the front page
As did the BBC

You'd think the orange would be a bit of a giveaway really wouldn't you...

DOH

I was there yesterday when we won - all very uplifting

Keri-Anne gets 4th place.

Keri-Anne Payne 4th in the 10Km outdoor swim. Looks like the medals have dried up a bit for GB and swimming in particular is at real risk of losing a large chunk of its funding - their target was I believe 5 to 7 medals and they've got I think two?

We got a silver and two bronze in swimming - a lot less than those in the know were predicting.

We should still see a couple of medals in boxing, and I think someone was saying we have a chance in the BMX event (or has that gone?), plus a possibility in Hockey.

Don't think the BMX final has happened yet, ranking round was yesterday and Shanaze Reade ranked fifth. We may get three or four more but IIRC only Reade in the BMX is left who was 'expected' to get a medal of some sort before the games started.

Still, not done badly overall

Watching the dressage when I can. Amazing.

Can someone explain to me why dancing horses is considered suitable for an olympic sport? Ditto rhythmic gymnastics and the synchronised swimming. Cannot see what the 'sport' aspect of things scored on an 'artistic' basis is.

So controlled movement in a sporting environment isn't sporty? I'm sure my mother the ex sychronised swimmer would have something to say about that! And no I'm not going to ask her lol. She's scarier than me

I dressage is cruel, and shouldn't be included on those grounds, but as there is definitely an athletic element to synchronised swimming and rhythm gymnastics, I don't see the problem.