As predicted Cuban-sensation Dayron Robles claimed gold in the men’s 110 metre hurdles at the Bird’s Nest last night.
The 21-year-old surged ahead after rising from the blocks and never relinquished his position to come home a metre clear of the field in 12.93 seconds.
His win is the second fastest time in Olympic history but .06 seconds slower than his own world record.
One of the most anticipated events at this year’s Olympics, the tickets for the hurdles final were toughest to come by.
But the tables turned on Monday when defending Olympic champion Liu Xiang withdrew due to injury, centering the spotlight purely on the Cuban rocket.
Underdogs steal gold
In a surprise twist the US retained its Olympic title after an action-packed Women’s soccer final at the Worker’s Stadium.
Missing three key players to injury the US team managed to hold down a potent Brazilian attack in the last moments of the match.
Carli Lloyd scored the US goal making it 1-0 in extra time.
In the remaining minutes the Brazilians desperately pressed the attack firing as many shots as they could, but all in vein.
After being dismantled by Brazil 4-0 in last year's World Cup, the US team was considered the underdogs in last night’s final.
Dash to victory
A swimmer once on the brink of death has taken gold in the men’s 10km marathon swimming event.
Dutchman Maarten van der Meijden, diagnosed with leukemia in 2001, made a dash in the last 100 metres claiming the gold medal from Briton David Davies.
Van der Meijden won in one hour 51 minutes and 51.6 seconds, 1.5 seconds ahead of Davies. German swimmer Thomas Lurz won the bronze.
The Dutchmen made a comeback to swimming after taking a radical stem cell transplant in 2002. In 2008 he won gold in the 25-km event at the World Championships.
（英语点津 Helen 编辑）
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. He returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. He returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
