First medal for NZ on day four of the London 2012 Olympics

Bronze for equestrian team

Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd have led the New Zealand three-day eventing team to a bronze medal at Greenwich Park. It is New Zealand's first medal of the 2012 Olympics.

The two veterans, both competing at their seventh Olympic Games, have now won eight Olympic medals between them.

Todd’s medal was his fifth at the Olympics, which breaks Ian Ferguson’s New Zealand record. Nicholson has won three team medals.

The other members of the New Zealand team were Jock Paget, Caroline Powell and Jonelle Richards.

Click here to read more.

Andrew Nicholson, who turns 51 today, narrowly failed to add to New Zealand’s Olympic medal haul when he finished fourth in the individual section of the three-day eventing at Greenwich Park.

Competing in his seventh Olympics, Nicholson was the team’s best performer. Riding Nereo, he knocked down one rail and finished with 49 points. This left him in fourth place, hearth-breakingly close to an individual medal.

The other New Zealanders in the final showjumping round also finished in the top 12.

Click here to read more.

Second win for hockey women

The New Zealand women’s hockey team’s dream start to their Olympic campaign has continued with a comprehensive 4-1 win over South Africa.

Coming on top of their opening 1-0 win over Australia, the result means New Zealand now sit top of their pool.

Delighted New Zealand coach Mark Hager said he would have been happy with four points – a win and a draw – from his team’s first two matches, so to score successive victories is a huge boost to his team’s hopes.

Click here to read more.

Sailing: Day three wrap up

Day three of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing competition was as tricky as could be, with the full works of weather conditions experienced.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, sailing the 49er high performance skiff, opened the day with a race win, clocking boat speeds of up to 20knots downwind.
Amongst the chaos of wind, waves and tide, Peter and Blair followed up with a seventh place finish in the next race, and sit second overall after the first four races.
JP Tobin opened his first Olympic regatta with a fifteenth and a fourth place finish in his two races, so currently sits ninth overall with eight races remaining before the medal round for the top ten competitors.
After their fifth race, the Finn and Star classes were able to discard their worst score to date. Dan Slater’s fifth race was the one to be dropped, but he followed this up with an eleventh, and is still seventh overall with four races remaining before the top ten progress to the double point medal race.
Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner improved their overall standing as they produced two good races (fifth and sixth) and are now positioned eighth overall and only three points behind the fourth placed boat.
In the women’s match racing, Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt continued with their consistent form, winning their first race and losing their second race against the only yet undefeated Australian team. At the half way mark of the round robin, they are ranked sixth equal.
Click here to read more.

Vital win for Football Ferns
The New Zealand women’s soccer team have scored a convincing 3-1 win over Cameroon at Coventry to earn themselves a spot in the Olympic quarter-finals.The Football Ferns took the field after hearing that the United States had beaten North Korea, and therefore knew a victory over Cameroon would be enough to get them through as third place-getters in their pool.

The Football Ferns now meet the United States in the quarter-finals, with the winner most likely expected to play Great Britain.

Click here to read more.

Snyders seventh in semi
Glenn Snyders has finished seventh in his Olympic men’s 200m breaststroke semi-final.The North Shore athlete broke his New Zealand record when he swam 2min 10.55s in his heat, but was unable to match that form in his semi-final.

He was timed at 2min 11.14s, which placed him 14th among the 16 semi-finalists.

Click here to read more.

The New Zealand 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Matthew Stanley, Steven Kent, Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Andy McMillan didn’t have such a good day.

They finished eighth and last in their heat in a time of 7min 17.18s, more than three seconds outside their national record.

Stanley had a good first leg, touching 0.3s outside his national record. New Zealand were third at that point, but struggled soon after.

Click here to read more.

Perfect Day At Rowing
Mahe Drysdale has spearheaded a top New Zealand effort at the Olympic rowing at Eton Dorney.

Drysdale, five times a world champion, moved effortlessly into the single sculls semi-finals when he won his heat by nearly two seconds.

There was plenty of other good news for the New Zealand rowers today.

In the men’s four repechage, Tyson Williams, Jade Uru, Sean O’Neill and Chris Harris progressed to the final by claiming second in their heat.

Louise Ayling and Julia Edward rowed strongly in the lightweight women’s double sculls. Again with three to go through to the semis, they finished second behind The Netherlands.

Emma Twigg continued the New Zealanders’ good work in the women’s single sculls.

With the first three from each heat to go through to the semis, Twigg qualified comfortably in second place.

Double scullers Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan rounded out a perfect day for New Zealand at the rowing by qualifying for their final, but it was a tough race for them.

Click here to read more.

Photo credits - Getty Images

CONNECTIONS

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

FRIEND US ON FACEBOOK

FORWARD TO FRIENDS

ENDS

© Scoop Media