London 2012 Olympics: Grenada declare holiday to mark their first medal

GRENADA’S prime minister promptly declared a half-holiday and gave the entire island the afternoon off to celebrate runner Kirani James’ Olympic gold medal in the men’s 400 metres.

It was the first Olympic medal ever won by an athlete from the tiny south-east Caribbean island, which has just under 110,000 residents.

“This is a fantastic achievement,” said Richard Simon, press secretary for Prime Minister Tillman Thomas. “This has basically given Grenada a sense of presence in the international community.”

Over to you, Prime Minister. Surely the achievements of Sir Chris and the rest of Team GB are worth at least a fortnight . . .

OLYMPIC organisers are investigating how a bucket of Australian-tagged condoms found its way into the athletes’ village without official consent.

Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph from the athletes’ village of a container of condoms with a placard reading “Kangaroos condoms, for the gland downunder” with the picture of a boxing kangaroo.

Barcelona started the trend of supplying free condoms to athletes when the Spanish city held the Olympics in 1992, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) endorsing the move to help AIDS awareness and prevention.

The handouts came with health information. The London Olympic organisers, Locog, have provided 150,000 free condoms in dispensers for the 10,800 athletes at the Games. They are supplied by Durex, part of British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, which paid for the supply rights.

A Locog spokeswoman said they were trying to find out who distributed the so-called Kangaroo condoms, with the container shown to hold condoms from Durex rivals Ansell Ltd, an Australian company, and Pasante, a private British company. Organisers tightly control which brands can be promoted at the Games.

SEEING your sibling win an Olympic medal must be a thoroughly heart-warming experience, but Marcus and Anton Euren took the idea of brotherly love to a new extreme.

Having watched their brother Johan win bronze in the Greco-Roman super-heavyweight division, the wrestler’s brothers, both clad in full wrestling gear, vaulted two barriers and ran on to the floor of the ExCeL before they were escorted out of the arena by stewards.

The proud Swedes, who both had their national flag painted on their face, told newspaper Expressen they got carried away in the moment.

“We knew we weren’t allowed to run on, but I was overcome by euphoria,” Anton Euren said. “I was so happy for my big brother getting a medal. I still can’t believe it.”

But the bronze-medal winning wrestler had another explanation for their security breach. “Maybe they had too much beer,” he said.