Olympics 2012: Live Report

1405 GMT JUDO: There has been a heart-stopping moment in the women's judo today -- a Hungarian fighter was actually strangled unconscious.

"Belgium's Charline van Snick strangled Hungary's Eva Csernoviski unconscious there," tweeted our reporter, judo black belt Barnaby Chesterman.
Csernoviski was trying to resist a strangle when she passed out and collapsed to the mat.
The referee immediately stopped the bout, awarding it to van Snick, and a medic was called but the Hungarian quickly recovered.
1400 GMT: ROWING: New Zealand's Hamish Bond and Eric Murray have set a new men's pairs rowing world record in the Olympic heats, smashing the mark held by Britain's Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.
The multiple world champions timed 6min 8.50sec on the first day of competition, almost six seconds quicker than the 10-year-old record set at the 2002 world championships.
"Six seconds, wow," said Bond, after the event held at Eton Dorney to the west of London.
"It's a great confidence boost to the whole team, I mean if they can beat it by six seconds, then everything has the potential to be much closer than we thought."
The duo, who are unbeaten since teaming up in 2009, are now safely into the semi-finals.
1355 GMT: Last lap now for the cyclists! Belgians may be tempted to get excited as Philippe Gilbert opens up a significant gap on the rest of the field.
They have all just passed the top of Box Hill for the final time. Some 45km now back to the Mall in central London.
1350 GMT: CYCLING: Only an hour or so to go in the men's cycling road race, and excitement is building among the huge crowds along the route -- Britain has been struck with cycling fever since Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France triumph less than a week ago.
1345 GMT: FOOTBALL: Japan's women's footballers -- who are bidding to add Olympic gold to their last year's World cup title -- have been held to a goalless draw by Sweden in their second group match.
Both sides came into the Group F clash on the back of wins, with Japan having defeated Canada 2-1 in their opener and Sweden thrashing South Africa 4-1.
Reigning Olympic champions the United States face Colombia later today having had to come from two goals down to beat France 4-2 in their opener.
1340 GMT: Saudi commentators have hailed the inclusion of women in their Olympic team for the first time, after two female Saudi athletes appeared at last night's opening ceremony, reports our Riyadh bureau.
"The kingdom is shining with its sons and daughters in London," tweeted columnist Jamal Khashogg, while female journalist Haifa al-Zahrani said: "Finally, the Saudi team has men and women."
But others lamented the fact that the women had to walk behind the men from the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom during the opening ceremony.
"Saudi Arabia will remain in the back seat as long as its women are in the back seat," wrote activist Manal al-Sharif.
1330 GMT: CYCLING: Tour de France champion Brad Wiggins continues to play a pivotal role for British teammate Mark Cavendish in the road race as they chased down a breakaway that threatens Cavendish's bid for gold, reports AFP's Justin Davis.
With 80 km and two climbs of Box Hill remaining, Cavendish's British team have a deficit of 1:24 to a leading group of 11 riders, with another counter-attacking group stuck in between.
At the finish line on The Mall, meanwhile, fans from several countries -- some wearing masks of world champion Cavendish and brandishing flags from his native Isle of Man -- were being treated to music played by the military band from the Coldstream Guards.
1327 GMT: Australian world record-holder Stephanie Rice tweets: "So excited to be representing Australia tonight in the 400IM final. Fast swims this morning!! Thanks for the amazing support xxxx much love."
1320 GMT: SWIMMING: German world record-holder Paul Biedermann is downcast after failing to make the 400m freestyle final -- just as his nation's women's relay team was eliminated.
He mustered just the 12th-fastest time in the heats led by China's Sun Yang.
"I'm obviously disappointed and now need some time to collect myself," he said.
"It was not so good. I wanted to lead from the front, which had worked well, but I just could not hold back on to it."
1257 GMT: GYMNASTICS: Hosts Britain may be facing a challenge in the cycling today but they've unexpectedly eclipsed China in gymnastics.
As the artistic gymnastics qualifying began, China's men were below par and finished with a score of 269.985 points to Britain's 272.420.
Guo Weiyang and Zhang Chenglong both fell from the pommel horse and Guo's floor display proved unconvincing, while Britain were solid throughout, with Kristian Thomas and Daniel Purvis topping the individual all-around standings.
Great Britain aren't known for their prowess in this area -- it's the first time their men have qualified for an Olympic final since 1924.
1250 GMT: CYCLING: AFP's Justin Davis reports that a number of determined rivals are testing Britain's determination to deliver Mark Cavendish to a gold medal-winning sprint finish in the men's road race.
Britain earlier had to seek help from rivals Germany as they continued to chase down an early breakaway that built a dangerous lead of six minutes.
But on the fourth of nine climbs of Box Hill the hosts faced more problems as a 10-man counter-attacking group escaped the peloton -- so the Brits have had to redouble their efforts.
With four of the nine laps to race in the 249.5 km race the 12-man morning breakaway had a lead of two minutes on the peloton and 1min 30sec on the counter-attack group.
Here's a rundown of the counter-attackers: they are Philippe Gilbert (Belgium), Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine), Lars Boom (Netherlands), Luca Paolini (Italy), Sylvain Chavanel (France), Jack Bauer (New Zealand), Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) and Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic).
1240 GMT: Queen Elizabeth II visits athletes from Team GB at the Olympic Park. They applaud and whistle in appreciation -- she has her normal dignified demeanour but has clearly scored a hit with her James Bond cameo in the opening ceremony.
1215 GMT: A bit of a lunchtime lull now -- though not for the cyclists, of course, with hours of the road race yet to go...
Surrey Police have tweeted a request for the wildly enthusiastic crowds to be careful to keep clear of the riders.
"You don't want to be responsible for Mark Cavendish falling off!" they point out.
1148 GMT: The swimming heats are now over, paving the way for finals this evening.
Meanwhile US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has been spotted among spectators at the Olympic Park -- let's hope he makes more friends than earlier in the week, when Britons were offended by his seeming scepticism about whether they could pull off a successful Olympics. He has since backtracked.
1143 GMT: South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, an amputee who will be running in this Olympics (as well as the Paralympics) on high-tech blades, tells British 400m runner Martyn Rooney on Twitter that the opening ceremony "was amazing bud! You Brits know how to (throw) a ceremony!"
1141 GMT: SWIMMING: Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, going for a third straight Olympic breaststroke double, is pipped by one-hundredth of a second in his opening heat of the 100 metres event.
Australian Christian Sprenger edges Kitajima with a time of 59.62 seconds, becoming the fastest qualifier heading into the semi-finals of the event later on today.
1139 GMT: There's no race radio in this cycling competition, so a heavily biased crowd is shouting to Team GB their time difference from the breakaway group at the front, in a bid to help out.
1135 GMT: Our cycling-watcher Justin Davis reports that Mark Cavendish's bid for Olympic road race gold is still on course, despite pressure on the Tour de France star's British team early in the race as the 12-man breakaway built a lead of nearly six minutes on the peloton, including Cavendish.
Thousands of fans are lining the roads of the hilly Box Hill circuit that will be raced a total of nine times before the peloton brings the 249.5 km race to a climax on flat finish of The Mall within sight of Buckingham Palace.
With 130 km remaining Cavendish's British team, helped by Germany, have a deficit of just over five minutes on the 12 leaders.
1125 GMT: Australia's Michael Rogers sets off in pursuit of the breakaway group in the cycling road race.
Countries that have riders in that group may have an advantage later on as they can help compatriots get ahead.
1120 GMT: "The Queen came to visit us just now at the village. Nice surprise:) mass hysteria in the lunch room!" tweets Indian tennis doubles contender Mahesh Bhupathi.
1115 GMT: CYCLING: A mixed-nationality group of 12 cyclists, not including any from favourites Britain, have broken away from the peloton.
The Britons, trying to help Mark Cavendish claim a home gold, now face a deficit of more than five minutes.
1100 GMT: Here's a recap of the day's main events so far:
+ Swimming legend Michael Phelps suffered a nervy start to the Games, scraping into Saturday's 400m individual medley final in eighth and last spot in his heat in a leisurely 4min 13.33sec.
+ Chinese world number one shooter Yi Siling claimed the first of the Games' 302 golds at the Royal Artillery Barracks in the women's 10m air rifle.
+ The men's 250km road race got underway, with Britain's Mark Cavendish the favourite. Stay tuned for the sprint finish around 1430 GMT.
+ Reigning Olympic champion Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea was disqualified in the 400m swimming freestyle for a false start after finishing first in his heat.
+ Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku became the Games' first doping casualty, testing positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. He has been suspended from the contest.
1059 GMT: More news from poolside, this time on the women's swimming. AFP's Rob Smith reports that American world champion Elizabeth Beisel topped the qualifiers into the women's 400m individual medley final with a best time of 4min 31.68 secs. Australia's defending Olympic champion Stephanie Rice was seventh best.
1050 GMT: SWIMMING: South Korea's Olympic and world champion Park Tae-Hwan speaks briefly to reporters from his home country after his disqualification.
Sounding stunned, he says: " I don't know what happened -- I need to speak to my coach to find out."
Hannah Miley meanwhile sends the British home crowd wild when she downs Australian defending Olympic champion Stephanie Rice in her heat of the womens 400m individual medley.
Miley clocked 4min 34.98 secs and finished a comfortable 0.78secs ahead of the Aussie.
1035 GMT: WEIGHTLIFTING: Albanian lifter Hysen Pulaku has been excluded from the Games for doping, says the International Olympic Committee.
"Hysen Pulaku, 20, tested positive on 23 July for stanozolol," their statement said.
That's a synthetic anabolic steroid that has cropped up in numerous doping cases.
1034 GMT: Yi's triumph will warm Chinese hearts, although the team has played down suggestions they may top the gold medal tally again this year.
Still in the women's 10m air rifle shooting, Malaysian mum-to-be Nur Suryani Mohamad Taibi earlier failed to make the final.
She's due to give birth in September, but said her baby's kicks hadn't distracted her.
"It's a dream come true taking part in the Olympics," said the Malaysian.
1029 GMT: A nice moment for the Chinese! Yi Siling takes gold in the women's 10m air rifle, coming in ahead of Poland's Sylwia Bogacka, who takes silver.
Another Chinese shooter, Yu Dan, takes the bronze.
1025 GMT: SHOOTING: CHINA'S YU SILING WINS FIRST GOLD OF OLYMPICS IN WOMEN'S 10M AIR RIFLE
1019 GMT: Park's disqualification leaves China's Sun Yang leading the way into the final.
Dismay from South Korean fans on Twitter (they had a much better day yesterday with their archer's world record).
"I am really depressed," tweets one fan, using the name sunskyivee.
1014 GMT: A shocking start to the opening day of swimming at the Olympics as Park Tae-Hwan is disqualified from the 400 metres freestyle.
A spokesman for swimming's governing body FINA says he was disqualified for a false start, reports Rob Smith, our man at the aquatic stadium.
1011 GMT: South Korea's Olympic and world champion Park Tae-Hwan has been sensationally disqualified after winning his heat of the 400 metres freestyle, says our reporter Rob Smith.
More on that shortly...
1010 GMT: After narrowly making it into the 400m medley final, SWIMMING superstar Michael Phelps tells reporters: "I was slower here this morning than I was four years ago, but you can't win the medal from the heats."
0955 GMT: Over at the JUDO, world champion Rishod Sobirov is in impressive form, beginning his Olympic quest in the men's under-60kg, reports our own Barnaby Chesterman -- himself a judo black belt!
The Uzbek, a bronze medallist in Beijing, dominated ex-European champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria in his opening bout, says Barnaby.
Sobirov felled the former world and Olympic finallist with a dropping shoulder throw, scoring a waza-ari half point, before finishing him off by pinning him to the mat.
His main rival, the world number two from Japan Hiroaki Hiraoka, was also in fine form as he beat Britain's Ashley McKenzie with a similar dropping shoulder throw (seoi-nage).
0950 GMT: American world champion Dana Vollmer clocked an Olympic record of 56.25 seconds in finishing the fastest heat qualifier in the women's 100 metres butterfly.
0948 GMT: British swimming medal hope Francesca Halsall got a huge roar from her home crowd when she finished second to Australian Alicia Coutts in her heat of the 100 metres butterfly, our correspondent Rob Smith reports.
0945 GMT: SWIMMING: More details now on that men's 400m individual medley heat, in which reigning Olympic champion Michael Phelps reached the final by the skin of his teeth -- nabbing the eighth and last spot.
Phelps won his heat in 4min 13.33sec, but the leisurely pace of that race saw second-place finisher Laszlo Cseh of Hungary -- a medallist at the last two Games, shut out of the final.
Japan's Kosuke Hagino led the way into the final with a time of 4:10.01, followed by South African Chad le Clos and American Ryan Lochte, who was runner-up to le Clos in the final heat.
0939 GMT: Queen Elizabeth II has arrived at the Olympic Park, while her son Prince Charles -- the heir to the throne -- was at the start of the men's cycling road race to greet the peloton with his wife Camilla earlier.
The queen is being greeted by London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe and a cheering crowd.
Her appearance in the opening ceremony last night -- acting in a spoof James Bond sequence -- was a huge hit with locals.
The 86-year-old monarch stopped short of performing her own stunts -- it's believed a double performed her parachute sequence into the Olympic stadium.
Today she's arrived, more sedately, by car. Dressed in bright blue, she's now visiting the Orbit tower on the Olympic site.
0930 GMT: Team USA's other big swimming hope, Ryan Lochte, is also into the final although he didn't win his heat, the team says on Twitter.
"Lochte and Phelps both make it into finals -- Lochte is the third seed in 4:12.35; Phelps 8th in 4:13.33," USA Swimming says.
Lochte also came in ahead of Phelps -- who has 16 career medals including 14 golds -- in the US trials.
0925 GMT: "Phelps does just enough to get his hand on the wall first in his heat," says the US swimming team's official Twitter feed.
0920 GMT: And Phelps is in the water!
Michael Phelps touched out Hungarian rival Laszlo Cseh by seven-hundredths of a second in his first swim at the London Olympics in the heats of the 400 metres individual medley, reports Rob Smith.
The 14-time Olympic gold medallist reeled in Cseh in the final freestyle lap in a leisurely time of 4 minutes 13.33 seconds.
0906 GMT: Over to the SWIMMING for a moment, and our reporter Rebecca Bryan reports a "festival of camera-phone photography" from excited spectators flooding into the Olympic venues.
"Lively crowd on the way into the Aquatics Centre this morning for the first day of swimming competition," she says.
"Countdown on for Michael Phelps!"
In the opening heat of the men's 400 metres individual medley at the Aquatic Centre, reports our sports correspondent Robert Smith, Qatari Ahmed Atari got the biggest cheer from the crowd when he trailed in a full minute behind the winner.
0902 GMT: Honks and cheers from the crowds as the men's cycling road race gets going at a steady pace.
The home favourite, Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish, is supported by David Millar, Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Ian Stannard, the national champion.
But a host of other cyclists are plotting to stop Britain getting its dream Olympic start.
Australia's Matt Goss and Peter Sagan of Slovakia are among them, along with German sprinter Andre Greipel.
But teams like Spain and Italy will be looking to avoid a bunch sprint, while the US team is said to be looking to break the race up on Box Hill.
"Britain have an incredibly strong team, with one of the strongest (riders) in the race," said American sprint specialist Tyler Farrar ahead of today's race.
"(But) I don't think the medals have been decided just yet."
0900 GMT: And after a loud ten-second countdown by the crowd, we're off! Cyclists are speeding past Buckingham Palace, cheered on by crowds of thousands.
0856 GMT: CYCLING: The riders are massed on the Mall in central London for the start of the men's road race. A nervous moment.
0850 GMT: The BBC is reporting that almost 27 million people watched last night's opening ceremony. That's almost half the population of Britain.
But several bookmakers, who had been taking bets for the past seven years on who would light the Olympic cauldron, are now refunding them all after it was lit by seven little-known young athletes, teamed up with some of the country's top Olympians.
There had been a flurry of earlier bets on the likes of David Beckham, Steve Redgrave and Roger Bannister.
"What happened, no-one could have predicted," said Graham Sharpe, of bookmakers William Hill.
0840 GMT: If he's successful today, Mark Cavendish will succeed Spain's Samuel Sanchez to become Britain's first Olympic men's road race champion.
Among his big challengers will be Slovakian Peter Sagan, Australian Matt Goss, Belgians Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen, Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez, Swiss Fabian Cancellara and German Andre Greipel.
The nine stages of the circuit include a climb up Box Hill. There are glimmers of sunshine emerging through the cloud that blanketed London this morning, but the cyclists are probably hoping cooler temperatures continue.
0820 GMT: Crowds are massing outside Buckingham Palace in central London ahead of the start of the 250km men's cycling road race.
An audience of a million is expected for the race between 150 riders, culminating in a sprint finish around 1430 GMT.
"En route to the Mall... In less than 2 hours we'll be riding the Olympic Road Race," tweeted home favourite Mark Cavendish earlier, complete with a photo of anxious-looking athletes in a minibus.
0815 GMT: Some upcoming highlights for today:
+ Michael Phelps chases a 17th career medal in the 400m individual medley (swimming heats start 0900 GMT, finals 1830 GMT)
+ Mark Cavendish aims to give hosts first gold of the Games in the men's road race (starts 0900 GMT)
+ China could secure first gold of the Games when shooter Yi Siling starts as favourite in the women's 10m Air Rifle (starts 0715 GMT)
+ Roger Federer and Serena Williams start their tennis campaigns at the All England Club (starts 1030 GMT)
+ Legally blind archer Im Dong-Hyun, who set the first world record of the Olympics on Friday, targets gold (starts 0800 GMT)
0805 GMT: The first 12 gold medals of the Games are available today, with Britain's Mark Cavendish the favourite in the men's cycling road race starting at 0900 GMT.
Home fans are hoping he'll bring Britain more cycling glory after Bradley Wiggins' unprecedented Tour de France victory.
Stand by for a run-down of today's main events...
0800 GMT: Last night's opening ceremony, put together by the "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle, seems to be getting rave reviews -- even if some parts of it met with incomprehension outside Britain.
The New York Times calls it "a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful" while French sports daily L'Equipe thought it was "unusually bold, poetic and funny".
Britain's press reacted ecstatically. "Brilliant, breathtaking, bonkers and utterly British," said the Daily Telegraph this morning.
The acting debut of the 86-year-old queen, who greeted James Bond in her palace with the words "Good evening, Mr Bond," has met with special acclaim.
WELCOME TO AFP's LIVE REPORT on the first full day of action at the London 2012 Olympics, after an eccentric opening ceremony that displayed Britain's rich history, music and sense of fun, starring James Bond, David Beckham and Queen Elizabeth II.
Today's events have already begun, with shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks from 0715 GMT. The highlight of the day is set to be the men's cycling road race, while tennis begins in Wimbledon and there's also a full programme of swimming and volleyball. We'll give you a run-down of upcoming events to look out for shortly.

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