Olympics daily: Sir Chris Hoy targets Glasgow 2014 as Usain Bolt returns to action

TODAY’S STORIES

• Sir Chris Hoy last night blazed his way into the history books to become the most successful Olympian in the history of British sport after claiming an unprecedented sixth gold medal. The 36-year-old eclipsed the five golds won by Sir Steve Redgrave with a resounding performance at the Olympic Velodrome in London on yet another astounding evening for Team GB and its track cycling competitors.

• Competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in two years’ time “would be my perfect way to end my career”, Sir Chris said. He told BBC Breakfast: “I’ve never actually raced an international race in Scotland before because we’ve never had an indoor facility so we’ve never had a major championship.”

• And more than 10 million people watched Sir Chris become Britain’s most successful Olympian when he won gold in the keirin.

• Mo Farah, gold medallist in the 10,000m, is through to the 5,000m final after finshing third in today’s heat.

• Great Britain’s Tim Brabants has lost his Olympic gold in the men’s kayak (K1) 1000m to Norway’s Eirik Veras Larsen at Eton Dorney.

• The success of the Olympics has boosted interest in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, organisers said today. David Grevemberg, chief executive of Glasgow 2014, told a press briefing in London: “Since the start of London 2012 there’s been a huge upsurge of interest.”

• Seven Cameroonian athletes have disappeared while in Britain for the Olympics. Five boxers, a swimmer and a female football player had been missing since the weekend. The reason for their disappearance is not known, amid some reports that they wanted to stay in the UK for economic reasons.

• A postbox that was painted gold in Jessica Ennis’s home city to celebrate her Olympic triumph has been vandalised. Graffiti was daubed on the box in Barkers Pool in Sheffield city centre, which has already become a tourist attraction, within 24 hours of it being painted.

• Team GB’s Olympic dream continued yesterday, with a haul of gold medals surpassing the nation’s total from Beijing four years ago and making the event Britain’s best Games for more than 100 years.

• Great Britain’s Laura Trott won her second gold of the London 2012 Olympic Games with victory in the women’s omnium yesterday. The 20-year-old from Cheshunt won team pursuit gold on Saturday, but has now won an individual title to join an elite club of British females to have won double gold at a single Games, including Dame Kelly Holmes and swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

• Olympic athletes and spectators are set to enjoy a spell of warm and mainly dry weather over the coming days - but things could become more unsettled ahead of Sunday’s closing ceremony.

MEDAL WATCH

1 China: Gold 34 / Silver 21 / Bronze 18 / Total 73

2 United States: Gold 30 / Silver 19 / Bronze 21 / Total 70

3 Team GB: Gold 22 / Silver 13 / Bronze 13 / Total 48

MUST-SEE EVENTS

LYNSEY SHARP - 800m

11:35, OLYMPIC STADIUM

TEAM GB coach Charles van Commenee took two hours to select just one name for the women’s 800 metres at London 2012 during a day of squad deliberations – and now Lynsey Sharp, the daughter of 1980 Scottish Olympian Cameron, wants to repay that faith. Van Commenee picked the Scottish athlete ahead of four English alternatives despite the UK Champion failing to have the A qualifying standard. Sharp won the UK Trials in Birmingham ten days ago and took silver in the European Championships in Helsinki. “I feel it was a really brave decision,” said Sharp at the time and will today look to justify the Belgian’s confidence as the 800m heats get under way at the Olympic Stadium.

SCOTT BRASH - SHOWJUMPING

NOON, GREENWICH PARK

TWO days after his heroics in helping GB win team gold in the showjumping, the Peebles rider will be back at Greenwich Park for the individual event. He will be joined by team-mates Nick Skelton and Ben Maher, with Skelton the bookmakers’ clear favourite. The veteran is the only showjumper competing in the Games who has yet to have a fence down over four rounds of jumping. Skelton, 54, and his brilliant nine-year-old stallion Big Star will now bid to become the first rider since German Ulrich Kirchhoff 16 years ago to win team and individual golds at the same Olympics. “The man to beat is Nick,” said British showjumping legend David Broome.

NICOLA ADAMS - BOXING

13:30, EXCEL

GREAT Britain head coach Rob McCracken has backed Nicola Adams to continue her history-making progress all the way to Olympic gold as she gears up for today’s flyweight semi-final against Mary Kom. Adams guaranteed Britain’s first Olympic women’s boxing medal with a superb 16-7 win over Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria but the Leeds fighter now faces a major battle against the five-time world champion from India. McCracken said: “It is a big, big fight. Mary Kom is a tremendous boxer and it is going to be a difficult bout. But Nicola is bigger than her and if she performs like she did in her last bout, then she will do it.” Adams holds a 13-11 win over Kom from last year’s World Championships.

SHANAZE READE - BMX

15:00, BMX TRACK

SHANAZE Reade is ready to embrace the expectation when the London 2012 Olympic Games BMX competition begins today. After watching her British Cycling team-mates deliver under the weight of a nation on road and track and Britons claim medals across a range of sports, the 23-year-old from Crewe is ready to do the same in the rough and tumble world of BMX. “I have got nothing to lose,” she said. “I have kept my eye on everything that has been going on.” Reade is a three-time world champion in the Olympic discipline, known as super-cross, where eight riders hurtle down a steep start ramp, vie for space on the track and negotiate jumps and turns in a bid to finish first, all in around 30 seconds.

USAIN BOLT - 200m

20:10, OLYMPIC STADIUM

WHEN Usain Bolt takes the track it’s always worth watching. Tonight he runs in the 200m semi-finals as his bid for sporting immortality continues. It will be interesting to see if he is pushed beyong the leisurely jog he enjoyed in the heats yesterday morning. Compatriot Yohan Blake and France’s Christophe Lemaitre look to be the main threats. Christian Malcolm, who just missed a medal in Sydney 12 years ago, will be striving for another final but had to work hard to qualify as runner-up in his heat in 20.59sec. Other highlights on the track are new national hero Mo Farah in the 5,000m heats this morning and Andy Turner will hope to make the final of the 110m hurdles.

EMILY MAGUIRE - HOCKEY

20:00, HOCKEY CENTRE

EMILY Maguire and fellow Scot Laura Bartlett will hope to be involved in tonight’s big semi-final as Great Britain’s women face rivals Argentina for a shot at gold. The Brits defeated the Argentines on home soil in the final of the Champions Trophy earlier and in the final of May’s test event against Argentina at the Riverbank Arena on the Olympic Park, Britain lost striker Alex Danson to a dislocated shoulder and defender Crista Cullen to a twisted ankle. Tonight’s encounter is only Great Britain’s fourth Olympic semi-final and the first since finishing fourth in Atlanta in 1996

Four years earlier they won bronze with their highest finish in Barcelona.

SCOTS IN ACTION

LYNSEY SHARP: Women’s 800m

SCOTT BRASH: Individual showjumping

LAURA BARTLETT and EMILY MAGUIRE: Women’s hockey semi-finals as GB take on old rivals Argentina