London 2012 Olympics in brief

GERMANY won their second successive men’s hockey gold last night by beating the Netherlands 2-1 with Jan Philipp Rabente scoring twice at the Riverbank Arena.

Rabente opened the scoring at the end of the first half when he rode two challenges inside the Dutch circle and, in diving, flicked the ball past the outstretched keeper into the net for his first goal of the tournament. Mink van der Weerden got the Dutch back into the match in the second half with a penalty corner drag flick for his eighth goal of the tournament. But Rabente scored again with five minutes to go. When his first attempt was saved, he danced around the back of the goal, appealing for a corner, but re-emerged at the far post to tap in a pass back into the D.

TRIATHLON

Swedes’ bid for gold turns sour

Sweden have failed with a last-ditch attempt to have Lisa Norden upgraded from silver to a share of gold in the Olympic women’s triathlon. Norden crossed the line in the same time as Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig in last Saturday’s race, but the International Triathlon Union (ITU) said the photo-finish put her in second position. Appeals to the ITU from Sweden’s national Olympic committee and triathlon federation both failed, prompting a move from both bodies to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Swedes contended that the ITU did not adhere to their rules and had not considered the position of the athletes’ torsos when crossing the line.

VOLLEYBALL

Brazilians sweep USA aside

Brazil’s women retained their Olympic title courtesy of a simply brilliant final performance against the United States at Earls Court last night. In a repeat of the 2008 Beijing showpiece, the South Americans once again got the better of their arch-rivals, seeing them off by the very same three sets to one score (11-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17 ) that was good enough four years ago. As a result, America’s wait for volleyball gold goes on – this was their tenth failed attempt. Earlier, Japan won the bronze by beating South Korea 3-0.

ATHLETICS

Syrian in doping shame

Syrian 400 metres hurdler Ghfran Almouhamad has been disqualified from the Olympic Games after failing a drugs test. The 23-year-old provided a urine sample on 3 August which indicated the presence of banned substance methylhexaneamine. The B sample confirmed the findings. Almouhamad competed in the women’s 400m hurdles and finished eighth in a heat.

TAEKWONDO

Mandic gets her kicks

Milica Mandic of Serbia got the better of Anne-Caroline Graffe on France 9-7 to win gold in the women’s taekwondo over-67kg category at the ExCeL arena last night.