Olympics: Another day, another medal

NZ Herald

4 Aug, 2012 05:30 PM3 mins to read

New Zealand rowers Storm Uru and Peter Taylor during the Medal ceremony after winning a Bronze. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

The rowing venue at Eton Dorney was expected to provide a large proportion of New Zealand's medals at these Olympics and they added a fifth overnight (NZT) with bronze to lightweight double scullers Storm Uru and Peter Taylor.

It meant the rowers ended the regatta with three golds and two bronzes and it has taken New Zealand's overall tally to six.

Andrea Hewitt, one of the favourites in the women's triathlon, couldn't add to that total when she finished a disappointing sixth but she couldn't cope with the pace on the 10km run and finished out of the medals. Kate McIlroy was 10th and Nicky Samuels, who had a difficult swim and missed the leaders riders on the 40km bike leg, was 35th.

"I just didn't have the energy to keep going and I dropped off near the end,'' Hewitt said.

"It was a rough swim and a good bike. It was going to be a perfect day but, while I was up there for the first half of the run, I just didn't have the legs today.''

Uru and Taylor had plenty in their tank but not enough to beat the Danish crew who stunned gold medal favourites and world champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter who broke down afterwards. In many respects, the Britons were lucky to be there considering they suffered a gear malfunction early in the race and officials allowed a restart.

"A bronze medal is a bronze Olympic medal, so you can't complain,'' Taylor said.
Emma Twigg finished fifth in the women's single sculls in a race dominated by defending Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic in the final race of the rowing regatta.

Timaru cyclist Shane Archbold and his mullet made a strong start to the men's omnium after setting the second-fastest time in the 250m flying start last night (NZT) but was too passive in the 30km points race, an event that's not his strength, and finished 14th.

He followed it up with sixth in the elimination race to sit seventh at the halfway stage of an six-discipline event that is often referred to as the decathlon of cycling.
The women's team pursuit finished fifth and Eddie Dawkins was eliminated early in the individual sprint.

Sailors Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie have confirmed their billing as one of the gold medal contenders with a strong start to the women's 470 competition. They added a second, when they overtook both Great Britain and Australia late on the final downwind leg, and a fifth to lead the fleet overall after four races.

The men's 470 crew of Jason Saunders and Paul Snow-Hansen lost some ground on the leaders after a 16th in the first race of the day but made it up with a third in the second race to be third overall.

Andrew Murdoch registered two third placed-finishes in the Laser and moved up to fifth overall but with only the medal race to go can't finish on the podium. JP Tobin is also fifth overall after a 12th and sixth in his races.