Olympics day 11 recap: Australia's golden girls.

Australia rockets up the medal tally thanks to Pearson and Meares

If you’ve been feeling the Olympic doom and gloom and indulging in the Blame Games of late, then it’s time to wake up and smell the shiny gold coloured coffee. Because while you were sleeping, two Aussie women sent us rocketing back up the medal tally, overtaking the New Zealanders (phew!) and chasing a top 10 spot.

Sally Pearson did us proud, living up to a ridiculously large semi-trailer’s worth of pressure and winning gold in the 100m hurdles.

Pearson has to wait a whole minute or so before the final result was posted on the big screens because she won by the smallest of margins, beating Dawn Harper of the US by just 0.02 seconds.

Earlier in the day, cyclist Anna Meares won gold beating British favourite and long term rival Victoria Pendleton in the sprint. Meares said after the race that “this is the sweetest and most incredible victory of my career.”

And in a show of some good sportswomanship – especially given the long rivalry between the pair, Pendleton paid tribute to Meares’ win.

News.com.au reports:

 

Pendleton held Meares’ arm aloft as the arch-rivals rode around the velodrome, but then completely dissolved in tears.

“I’m glad that it got to that stage. I think she’s the best rider in the field and it’s the way that it should have been,” Pendleton said.

“Everything turned out right with Anna and myself in the final.”

“She’s a fantastic competitor. We’ve met many a time, and I wish her all the best, but I’m very glad to be saying that’s the last time I have to go through that.”

And in other Olympic news

In other Olympic news, gymnast Lauren Mitchell narrowly missed out on a medal due to a tiny landing error in the women’s floor final.

Australia is on track to medal in the men’s regatta, with Malcolm Page and Mat Belcher building a strong points margin overnight.

Lauren Jackson’s phenomenal point scoring run continues in the basketball, as Australia’s women’s team advances into the semi-finals.

And our men’s hockey team thrashed Pakistan 7-0 and our women’s waterpolo team will be in the play-off for a bronze medal now, after losing their semi-final to the USA in extra time.

US beach volleyball athletes on how they prepare ‘down there’

Have you noticed some of the women’s outfits at this year’s Olympics? For some of the beach volleyball players  and gymnasts, they’ve very tight. And high cut.

One US beach volleyball athlete has revealed how she gets ready for competition. Kerri Walsh Jennings told a US magazine: “I hate getting waxed. Waxing makes me want to punch someone in the face. But I don’t want to be self-conscious and worry about my bikini line when I’m playing, so [I use] lasers ”

This year was the first year female beach volleyball players were allowed to wear long shorts and tops with sleeves, but Walsh said: “I love our uniforms. You don’t want to be wearing big, baggy sports. They get in the way.”

And finally, just for fun.

On Twitter this week the hashtag #bookolympics was trending. Basically people were getting creative combining their favourite books with their favourite sports. And what they come up with was pretty funny!

Have you got any to add?

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