Trinidad and Tobago's Njisane Phillip made a major breakthrough at the Velodrome, here in London, England, yesterday, beating Russia's Denis Dmitriev in two straight rides to reach the Olympic Games men's sprint semi-final.

The 21-year-old cyclist produced two superb rides, much to the delight of President George Maxwell Richards, who sat in the stands with his wife, Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards, and T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Larry Romany.

In the first ride in their quarter-final showdown, Dmitriev came up over the top and closed on Phillip. The T&T wheelman, however, held off his Russian opponent.

And in the second ride, Phillip was again victorious, Romany leaping from his seat as the reigning Pan American champion wrote his name into the history books. Phillip is now the most successful T&T cyclist in Olympic history in the sprint event. Maxwell Cheeseman, eighth at the Seoul Games in 1988, previously held that distinction.

At 11 o'clock this morning (T&T time), Phillip will do battle with Great Britain's Jason Kenny in the semis. The second ride is scheduled for 11.35, while the third, if necessary, will be contested at 11.57.

"Kenny definitely has a lot of speed," Phillip told the Express. "Tactically, I don't really think he's all that hot. He's just got the gas. It will be interesting to see how I can match up with him."

The sprint finals will be contested from 12.43 p.m.

Like Phillip, the Gordons—Jehue and Lalonde—will be in the hunt for precious metal today.

At 3.45 p.m., at the Olympic Stadium, Jehue will run in the men's 400m hurdles final. And at 4.30, Lalonde faces the starter in the men's 400m championship race.

Lalonde produced a shocker in the semi-final round, yesterday, winning heat one in a personal best 44.58 seconds to progress to the final as the fastest qualifier. Grenada's reigning world champion Kirani James won heat two in 44.59, while the winner of heat three was Dominican Republic's world junior champion Luguelin Santos (44.78).

"I didn't see that time coming," Lalonde told the Express. "I'm really shocked. I just went out there, ran the first 70 hard like the coach told me to do, finished strong, and I came out with a surprising 44.58 personal best.

"Since the outdoor season started," he continued, "I kept seeing myself in the final. My dream actually came true."

T&T's Janeil Bellille was eliminated in the opening round of the women's 400m hurdles. She faded on the home straight to finish seventh in heat four in 57.27 seconds.

"I probably went out too hard, and it kind of threw off my race strategy. I am disappointed, because I know I'm way better than that. I should have been able to make it to the semis.

At 2.28 this afternoon, Semoy Hackett will run in heat two, in the opening round of the women's 200m. And at 2.44, her T&T teammate, Kai Selvon, competes in heat four.

The women's shot put qualifying event, featuring T&T's Cleopatra Borel, starts at 5.45 a.m. The final is scheduled for 2.15 p.m.

Roger Daniel closed off his third Olympic campaign with a 35th-place finish in the men's 50m pistol event, at the Royal Artillery Barracks, yesterday. The T&T shooter earned 539 points.

South Korea's Jin Jong-oh completed an impressive pistol double, adding 50m gold to the 10m air pistol title he had earned, two Saturdays ago. Daniel was 36th in the 10m event with 568 points.

Yesterday, Jing-oh scored 662–562 in qualifying and 100 in the final–to repeat as Olympic 50m champion, forcing his teammate Choi Young Rae (661.5) to settle for silver. China's Wang Zhiwei (658.6) picked up bronze.

For Daniel, falling 26 points short of his 50m personal best (565) was disappointing. He, however, had a positive outlook, setting his sights on the 2016 Games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"What I realise," he told the Express, "is I need to do a lot more work. I'm thinking of way beyond Rio, and everything else before Rio, but I'm taking it one step at a time. Right now, I need to go back and put in the work that I'm supposed to.

"If you're going to work at something," Daniel continued, "you need to try it out, test it out, consistently, and over and over. So, I'm targetting the World Championships and the World Cups next year. It's all for Rio 2016."

By Kwame Laurence in London

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

The greatest Olympian in history brought down the curtain on his uniquely glittering career, and the London 2012 swimming competition, by doing what has come naturally for over a decade – winning.

Swimming the third leg for the United States in the 4x100 metres medley relay – an event they have never lost at any Olympic Games – Michael Phelps (pictured top) devoured the lead established by another all-time great swimmer, Kosuke Katajima of Japan, in the breaststroke phase and powered to the head of the field with his instantly recognisable, pterodactyl-like butterfly.

Freestyler Nathan Adrian was quick to exploit the edge that the great man had given him and saw the team home the best part of two seconds clear, in a time of 3min 29.35sec.

The win put the seal on what has been as fantastic a Games in the pool for Phelps' country as it has been disappointing for their old arch-rivals, Australia.

With only the open-water events in Hyde Park to come, the Americans have racked up a total of 30 medals, more than half of them gold, to the Australians' 10, which includes just one solitary gold.

Underlining the US' dominance is the multi-medal hauls of their top swimmers.

If Phelps led the way with four golds and two silver medals – some way short of his epochal eight gold-medal haul four years ago in Beijing – his team-mates were not far behind him.

Team-mate and rival Ryan Lochte managed five medals at London 2012, as – following the US women's team's scorching win tonight in their 4x100m medley relay in a world record 3:52.05 – did Allison Schmitt and Missy Franklin.

Franklin, a 17-year-old 6ft 1in backstroke specialist, actually matched Phelps' total of four gold medals and, should she be granted the great man's competitive longevity, might conceivably one day challenge his towering overall total of 22 medals – 18 of them gold.

"I'm definitely just taking them one at a time," she said after the night's events, betraying the sort of level-headedness likely to stand her in good stead in her years as a sporting celebrity.

There was a world record, too, in the men's 1,500m – the longest event in the Olympic pool – with Sun Yang of China smashing his own mark by more than three seconds in recording a time of 14:31.02.

It was this remarkably versatile swimmer's fourth medal of the Games, following gold in the 400m, silver in the 200m freestyle and bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

He afterwards drew applause from journalists by offering an aggressive response when questioned over allegations of doping that have swirled around the Chinese swimmers, following their strong performance in London, including five golds.

"I think many people think China's gold medals are because of doping or other substances," Yang said.

"I can tell you it's thanks to hard work – training and hard work.

"Chinese are not weaker than the US or other countries."

In the other event in an extraordinary night's swimming, Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands completed a sprint double in the women's 50m freestyle.

Tonight, though, was all about Phelps, this phenomenon who first took to an Olympic pool in Sydney 12 years ago, managing fifth place in the 200m butterfly.

Now 27, he has amassed a haul of Olympic gold worthy of a central bank and was this evening presented with a striking silver trophy proclaiming him "The Greatest Olympic Athlete of All Time".

It is just a pity that he had to collect the trophy in a pair of those ghastly lime-green trainers that appears to be part of the US swim team's gear.
Not that the great man seemed to mind, as he flashed his trademark toothy grin to all corners of the London Aquatics Centre.

Phelps, whose London 2012 campaign had begun in low-key manner with fourth place in a 400m individual medley won in emphatic style by Lochte, used the post-race media formalities to confirm that he would be retiring.

"I told myself I never want to swim when I'm 30," he explained.

"That would be in three years."

Furthermore: "I have been able to do everything I wanted.

I have been able to do something no-one else has ever done."

Looking at his new trophy, he reflected that it was "kind of weird looking at this thing and seeing 'The Greatest Olympic Athlete of All Time'".

He had "looked up to Michael Jordan all my life" because, he said, he was the greatest basketball player of all time.

Now "I have been able to become the best swimmer of all time".

Phelps, though, has always been more eloquent in the pool than with a microphone and it was the precocious Franklin who produced the best epitaph for his extraordinary career.

"Just watching Michael swim is beautiful," she said.

Those of us privileged enough to have seen him will never forget the experience.

By David Owen at the Aquatics Centre on the Olympic Park in London

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

On a windy yesterday afternoon at the London Velodrome, a young man from T&T sent shivers down the spine of a few of his country’s citizens, including the President of the Republic George Maxwell Richards, with an awesome display of cycling class. That young man was Njisane Phillip, and after a stunning performance in the first round of the Match Sprint at the cycling velodrome on Saturday morning, he surprised everyone by returning in the afternoon in the second round to out pedal world ranked German Robert Forstemann in a battle of power which brought the house down. In the morning, Phillip, the youngest rider in the competition, had started slowly with the 10th fastest time. While he was disappointed, he managed to stage a daring come from behind victory over New Zealander Edward Dawkins in the first round of 16. Later in the afternoon though, he left the best for last in the second round of 12 when he was forced into the lead by Forstemann and then had to hold off the determined German for a lap and a half.
A clearly overjoyed Phillip told the Trinidad Guardian "I am good... one step at a time... it was a crazy race, he definitely threw me off my game plan and with a lap and a half to go, I had to push it "But I had the confidence to believe in myself and I stepped up today...I am going to get a rest and I will be ready for tomorrow, whatever it brings," he added  Phillip, who was greeted in the media zone by T&T Olympic Committee Honary General Secretary Brian Lewis, also thanked his supporters. "I am enjoying all the support from home and especially today it is great to have the our President come here to support me, that really encourages me even more." "I want that gold medal. That is what I am chasing and that is keeping me focused. “I want to make the people of our country happy... I want to make T&T a household name... every year. “I am getting more and more respect out there from the other cyclists and today was good, but there's still a lot more to do." "I am already beginning to steal the crowd, with our Trini flavour... I am going to give everything all the time, that is just the way I am," he noted. The reward for Phillip’s victory is a place in the fourth quarterfinal against Denis Dmitrev of Russia at 11:34 am T&T time today.
By Andre Baptiste
Source: www.guardian.co.tt

Olympic champion Usain Bolt could lower his 100 metres world record to 9.4 seconds if in shape and the rain clouds stay away from London, International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) president Lamine Diack said.

"Anything is possible. I think if Usain Bolt is in shape possibly we will see 9.40-something (seconds) in the 100m," Diack told reporters on Tuesday.

Bolt's record-breaking 100m win in 9.69 stunned the world four years ago at the Beijing Olympic Games only for the 27-year-old Jamaican to better his time to 9.58 in Berlin at the world championships a year later. Bolt also holds the world record in the 200m set at 19.19 set in 2009 in Berlin as well.

In London, though, he has a new challenge from a familiar face in training partner and compatriot Yohan Blake, who beat Bolt in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican trials and is the fastest man over the first distance this year.

"I am convinced that we are going to have extraordinary events and spectacles," Diack said. "For me the Games begin on the 3rd (when track and field starts)."

American great Michael Johnson said earlier this month that he too believed Bolt is capable of running 9.40 seconds if he can improve his starting position in races.

Diack also confirmed that the Federation would stick with its one false start rule, having recently clarified that athletes can twitch or flinch in the starting blocks without being disqualified as long as their hands do not leave the ground or their feet leave the blocks.

Bolt famously false started in the final of last year's world championship 100 metres, ending his chances of defending his title in South Korea.

The IAAF added that the dates for the world championships in London, 2017, had been approved as August 5-13.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

Reigning Olympic 200 metres queen Veronica Campbell-Brown conceded Wednesday it will be difficult to successfully defend her crown at the London Olympics.

The 30-year-old has not been enjoying the best of seasons, suffering a string of defeats this year which have hinted at chinks in her armour.

She told journalists here that she had worked hard on her preparation for the Olympics, however, and would be giving the title defence her best shot.

"I put in all the work and I know it will be absolutely difficult for me to claim victory here in the 200m but anything can happen," she said.

"I prepared well and so I just have to keep my mental focus right and make sure that I get my race together. It will come down to execution and mental focus and I will go out there and I will give it my all and we will see what happens."

Campbell-Brown has run a season-best 10.82 seconds in the 100 metres for second behind Olympic champion and fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.70) at the Jamaica trials.

She was again beaten in the 200m at the trials, running 22.42 behind Fraser-Pryce and Sherone Simpson.

But the most notable of her defeats came in Lucerne on July 17, when she ran 22.70 for second behind American Charonda Williams (22.52).

Campbell-Brown, who will run both 100m and 200m races at the Olympics, agreed it had not been her best year but said she was remaining optimistic.

"I will not dwell on those (bad races) and look on those as something negative… I learned from those races and I am going into my competition here very confident," she said.

"I am going to go out there and give it my best and only God knows what the result will be. I have trained hard this season and not because I had a few races that did not went too well, I am not going to let that deter my confidence or allow it to let me feel weak or anything."

Campbell-Brown won back-to-back 200m titles in Athens and Beijing, on both occasions beating American Allyson Felix, a three-time world champion over the distance.

However, she won her first 200m world title last year in Deagu.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from Turkmenistan has been expelled from the London Olympics, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) said yesterday.

A second referee, Frank Scharmach of Germany, was suspended for five days by AIBA and a technical official from Azerbaijan sent home following two controversial decisions at the Olympic competition on Wednesday.

"I deeply regret that we had to take these decisions," AIBA president Wu Ching-Kuo said in a statement.

"However, our main concern has been and will always be the protection of the integrity and fair-play of our competitions. I will take all possible steps to reinforce this."

He later told Reuters: "There is only one truth and we always get to the truth."

Meretnyyazov failed to stop a men's bantamweight bout despite fighter Magomed Abdulhamidov being knocked down six times in the final round. The referee was expelled with immediate effect and AIBA said he was on his way home.

Japan's Satoshi Shimizu, who went into the last round of the bout against the Azerbaijani trailing by seven points, lost the contest by five when all three rounds were scored.

AIBA later overturned the verdict saying Meretnyyazov should have given the Azerbaijani "at least" three standing counts which would have resulted in the contest being stopped.

Iran's Ali Mazaheri accused officials of "a fix" after being disqualified by referee Scharmach in the second round of his opening heavyweight bout against Cuban Jose Larduet Gomez following three warnings for persistent holding.

Mazaheri was leading by two points going into the second round but the Iran team did not appeal and under AIBA rules it is now too late to do so.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored ties with AIBA in 2006 after freezing some funds to the association over controversial scoring decisions at the 2004 Athens Games.

At the time, the IOC expressed concerns over the scoring process and the selection of judges and froze more than US$1 million in payments to AIBA.

The boxing tournament in Athens was marred by several controversial scores that angered spectators and fans.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com