Olympics photos: Day 6

Kristin Armstrong of the USA successfully defends her Olympic Time Trial title at Hampton Court Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. Her final time of 37:34 was 15 seconds ahead of the field. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Kristen Armstrong of Team USA finished the 29km route in 37:34 to finish 15 seconds clear of the field.

World champion Judith Arndt of Germany finished in 37:50 to place second, with Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya third in 37:57 for her second bronze medal of the Games.

Great Britain’s Emma Pooley, the 2010 world champion and silver medallist in Beijing four years’ ago, finished in 38:37, placing sixth.

Lizzie Armitstead, Britain’s first medallist of London 2012 after winning silver in Sunday’s road race, clocked 39:26 to place 10th.

Kristin Armstrong of the USA successfully defends her Olympic Time Trial title at Hampton Court Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. Her final time of 37:34 was 15 seconds ahead of the field. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Spectators crowd the railing to see Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark compete in the Olympic men’s cycling time trials at Hampton Court on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London.

Great Britain’s Emma Pooley races past spectators during the Olympic women’s cycling time trials at Hampton Court on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Elizabeth Armitstead of Great Britain recieves the cheers of her compatriots as she races in the Olympic women’s cycling time trials at Hampton Court on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. Armitstead placed 10th with a time of 39:26.24. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Marianne Vos, the Olympic gold medalist in women’s road cycling, races in the time trials at Hampton Court on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. Vos placed 16th in the 29k time trial. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Shara Gillow of Australia races in the Olympic Cycling time trials at Hampton Court Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in London. (Anthony L. Solis/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Results are in: U.S. women fifth, seventh in air rifle

From a press release:

Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.) placed fifth and Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) finished seventh in women’s 10m air rifle competition to open the London 2012 Olympic Games at Royal Artillery Barracks.

The gold medal went to Yi Siling of China, who staged a comeback to win with a score of 502.9. Sylwia Bogacka of Poland took the silver with a 502.2, while Yu Dan of China won the bronze with a 501.5. Reigning Olympic champion Katie Emmons of the Czech Republic found herself in a hole, edging into the final by a mere 0.2 points, then rallied but fell short, finishing fourth with a 500.3. (Emmons is the wife of U.S. shooter and Olympic gold medalist Matt Emmons.)

Gray posted a score of 499.7, while Scherer had a 499.0. It marked only the second time the U.S. has advanced two shooters to the final in the event, the other coming in at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

U.S. women’s gymnastics line-up for qualification round is set

You watched them at the trials in San Jose. Now, they’re ready for an even bigger stage. Here are the events in which the individual USA women’s gymnasts will be competing, straight from a press release. The most interesting point is that McKayla Maroney will only compete in vault.

LONDON, July 28, 2012 — The line-up for the U.S. women for the qualification round at the 2012 Olympic Games has been submitted. The women compete in the third of five subdivisions on Sunday, July 29, at 2:45 p.m., held at the North Greenwich Arena. The teams and individual gymnasts who will advance to the final rounds will be determined at the conclusion of the final subdivision.

The U.S. Women’s Team features: Gabby Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute, McKayla Maroney of Long Beach, Calif./All Olympia Gymnastics Center, Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max Gymnastics, and Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts’ Twistars USA.

The U.S. women’s line-up is:

Vault: Raisman, Douglas, Wieber, Maroney

Uneven bars: Raisman, Wieber, Ross, Douglas

Balance beam: Ross, Douglas, Wieber, Raisman

Floor exercise: Ross, Douglas, Wieber, Raisman

Gymnastics begins today with the men’s qualification round, and the U.S. men take the floor in the second of three subdivisions at 3:30 p.m. The members of the U.S. Men’s Team are: Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Horton of Houston/Team Hilton HHonors (Cypress Gymnastics); Danell Leyva of Miami/Team Hilton HHonors (Universal Gymnastics); Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./University of Michigan; and John Orozco of the Bronx/Team Hilton HHonors (U.S. Olympic Training Center).

Seeding for the London 2012 Tennis competition has been announced

PRESS RELEASE

Roger Federer has been named as the top seed in the men’s Singles Tennis tournament which begins at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Wimbledon finalist Andy Murray is seeded third behind Federer and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

David Ferrer of Spain is fourth, with France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fifth, while CzechTomas Berdych, Serb Janko Tipsarevic and Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro make up the top eight.

Unlike at the grand slams, where there are 32 seeds in a 128-strong field, the Olympic Singles tournament is a 64-man field featuring 16 seeds. It’s the first time since tennis was reintroduced to the Games as a medal sport (at Seoul 1988) that it will be played on grass.

World number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus heads the seedings for the women’s Singles with Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska second, followed by Russian Maria Sharapova and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams of the USA.

The men’s Doubles field is headed by American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, with defending champions Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka seeded sixth.

Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond of the USA top the standings in the women’s Doubles whilst their countrywomen Venus and Serena Williams, the Beijing gold medallists and Wimbledon champions, are unseeded.

The draw for the Singles and Doubles takes place on Thursday. The entries for the mixed Doubles will be decided over the weekend with the draw taking place next Tuesday.

Scotts Valley football player will go to Olympic thanks to Make-A-Wish

A Scotts Valley High football player diagnosed with leukemia two years ago had a wish: To go to the Olympics.

And now, his wish is coming true.

On July 31, 18-year-old Erick Murai will head to London as part of an unprecedented effort by the the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make sick children’s wishes come true.

“I’ve really been looking forward to my wish,” Erick said, adding that he typically watches the games with his family from the couch every four years. He’s especially excited to see the basketball games in person. “I’m really excited,” he said.

Erick, who is remission from his cancer, is one of 40 children from 19 states to be a guest at the Olympics Games, thanks to the foundation.

“As far as these Olympic Games go, collectively, this is the biggest wish event that Make-A-Wish nationally has ever done,” said Jennifer Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area chapter of the foundation. “Being granted a wish is a very important part of helping them get through their treatment.”

For the rest of the story, visit NBC Bay Area.

Live Olympic team sendoff happening now!

Today until 2 p.m., to congratulate and wish the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team good luck, the USOC is engaging in the age-old tradition of sending-off Team USA. In order for Americans across the country to participate, this year’s farewell will be formatted as a Digital Send-off, featuring live athlete chats on Facebook, live athlete Q&A sessions on Twitter and editorial content posted to TeamUSA.org . To find out which athletes will be participating, click here.

New Archery digs at Chula Vista training center

From a USOC press release:

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – The United States Olympic Committee and the Easton Foundations today signed an agreement to build a new 40,000 square foot state-of-the-art archery field house at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

The resident program at the OTC has already produced the world’s top-ranked men’s archery team and individual male archer (Brady Ellison) heading into the 2012 Olympic Games. The new venue will provide athletes a space to fine-tune their equipment and give them access to a premier training facility tailored specifically to the needs of their sport. The agreement will also bring additional on-site housing to the training center.

The indoor facility will provide athletes with element-free training at the official Olympic distance of 70 meters. Construction is slated to begin this fall.

“We are so excited about the construction of this state-of-the-art archery training facility. Having this type of site available for our national and development training sets Team USA up for future success,” said USA Archery CEO Denise Parker. “We feel very fortunate to have such strong archery supporters within both the United States Olympic Committee and Easton Foundations. I know I speak for all the athletes and members of USA Archery when I thank the two organizations for their tireless work to bring this facility to fruition.”

Three Sheepdogs and two mosh pits

Three Old English Sheepdogs, like these two, will be among the menagerie used in the Opening Ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics.

I just heard a report in BBC radio that noted that’s what we are to expect to see during the Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London. Apparently the presentation, directed by Danny Boyle, is to cost $27 million pounds and created clouds to provide rain in case Mother Nature is a no-show.

Here is the BBC’s complete report.

Maggie Vessey steamrolling toward Prefontaine Classic

The 38th annual Prefontaine Classic will be held June 2-3 in Eugene, Ore. Soquel’s own Maggie Vessey, an Olympic hopeful, is among the entrants to race in the women’s 800 meters on Friday, June 2. Here’s part of an IAAF.org press release on the event:

The women’s 800 metres brings together an elite field led by two world-class Americans who are the fastest since the turn of the century in Alysia Montano and Maggie Vessey.

Both Montano and Vessey were finalists at last year’s World Championships in Daegu. Montano was just out of the medals in fourth and Vessey a stride back in sixth. Montano, a three-time U.S. champion who earned bronze at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, has a best of 1:57.34, making her the fifth-fastest in U.S. history. Vessey, with a best of 1:57.84, is not far behind as the eighth-fastest American.

Several others with Olympic dreams are entered, including one attempting to repeat past success. Last year’s 3rd-ranked American Alice Schmidt is a veteran of the 2008 Olympics as well as three World Championships. Among those in the field are American Erica Moore, bronze medalist at this year’s World Indoor Championships, and Ethiopian Fantu Magiso Manedo, a 19-year-old who finished fourth at this year’s World Indoor Championships. Two other key entrants are Molly Beckwith, winner of the Penn Relays mile last week, and past NCAA champions Phoebe Wright and Geena Gall.

PRESS RELEASE: USA closing ceremony uniforms

Colorado Springs, CO-The United States Olympic Committee debuted Ralph Lauren’s signature U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Closing Ceremony Parade Uniforms and casual village wear for the London 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Games during a fashion segment on this morning’s Today Show.

“Ralph Lauren takes great pride in understanding our U.S. athletes and creating a sense of patriotism through clothing,” said Peter Zeytoonjian, managing director of consumer products and licensing for the USOC. “The Closing Ceremony garments embody our national sentiment of what it means to be an American.”

Drawing on the heritage and sophistication of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and a tradition of refined American style, Ralph Lauren’s 2012 Team USA Closing Ceremony Uniforms feature exceptionally elegant silhouettes in a timeless palette of all white with touches of red and navy.

Olympic taekwondo medalists Diana and Steven Lopez revealed the men’s and women’s Closing Ceremony parade uniforms. Diana was dressed in a crisp white blouse emblazoned with the official U.S. Olympic Team logo and Big Pony logo at the chest, paired with a breezy knee-length white skirt. The look was finished with a sporty repp-stripe silk belt in red, white and navy and matching silk scarf that tied at the neck.  For men, the parade uniform is highlighted by a luxe white cotton sport shirt detailed with the official U.S. Olympic Team logo and a slightly smaller navy Big Pony logo. White trousers feature a subtle pleated front and cuff, echoing an old world athletic tradition. The men’s look is also finished with a red, white and navy repp-striped silk belt.

Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay, Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Soni, 2012 Olympic gymnastics hopeful Aly Raisman and three-time Olympic water polo medalist Tony Azevedo modeled iconic pieces from the Ralph Lauren village wear collection including the mesh polo, Create Your Own USA polo, Olympic tank and tunic.

The USOC is proud to have Ralph Lauren as an official outfitter of Team USA, providing iconic parade uniforms and an authentic sportswear collection of commemorative pieces for men, women and children. The Ralph Lauren 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Opening Ceremony Parade Uniforms will be revealed this summer.

The Ralph Lauren 2012 Team USA Olympic Collection for men, women and children will be available starting April 18 online at RalphLauren.com. Beginning in May, the collection will be available in select Ralph Lauren retail stores, Team USA shops, select U.S. department stores and TeamUSAShop.com. In recognition of Visa’s support of the Olympic Games, the USOC is proud to accept only Visa at TeamUSAShop.com.