Bronze medal wins for divers Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow as well as trap shooter Ed Ling doubled Team GB’s medal haul on Day 3 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
- Daley and Goodfellow leave it late to snatch synchro 10m platform bronze
- Ling holds his nerve to win trap bronze medal
- Fourth place finishes for women’s rugby sevens, men’s artistic gymnastics team and swimmer James Guy
- British record for Siobhan-Marie O’Connor in the 200m IM semis
- Slalom canoeists cruise into semi-finals
- Nick Dempsey on song in first day of sailing action
- Three rowing crews into finals on a bumper day on the Lagoa
Team GB Medal Tally: 4 (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
Diving
Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow scooped synchronised 10m platform bronze in dramatic circumstances to land Team GB’s first diving medal of the Games.
The British pair left it until their last dive to secure their spot on the podium, ultimately scoring 444.45 to finish six points clear of fourth-placed Germany.
Daley and Goodfellow – a 19-year old making his Olympic debut in Rio – have only been training together since October last year, but had won World Cup bronze and European silver already this season.
And the Brits looked a seasoned partnership as they held their nerve in testing conditions, recovering from fifth place with two rounds to go.
“Back in the European Championships it was a similar situation going into the last round dive and the Germans pipped us by two points,” said Daley, who became the first British diver to win multiple Olympic medals with the result.
“We didn’t want to let that happen again. I said to Dan afterwards, don’t worry we’ll get them at the Olympics. And we did.”
Goodfellow added: “Our fourth dive wasn’t amazing but towards the back end of our list we have a really high degree of difficulty.
“I knew our last two are our two real big ones and we’d have to nail them and that’s what we did.”
Shooting
Sharp shooter Ed Ling produced a superb display to win a bronze medal in the men’s trap as he held his nerve to claim Team GB’s first medal of day three at Rio 2016.
After qualifying for the bronze medal match via a tense shoot-off against Ahmed Kamar of Eygpt, Ling dominated throughout against Czech David Kostelecky.
With HRH Princess Royal cheering on in the crowd, the 33-year-old from Taunton took an early lead which he held throughout as he hit an exceptional 13 of his 15 shots, with Kostelecky, the Olympic Champion from Beijing 2008, only hitting nine.
Ling is already a two-time Olympian after competing at Athens 2004 and London 2012 but his podium finish today at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro is by far his greatest achievement to date.
“I’m really pleased with the outcome,” said Ling
“It’s been a long time coming. It was nice to go straight from the shoot-off to the bronze medal match because you stay in the zone and stay focused on what is in front of you.”
Rugby Sevens
Team GB missed out on the chance to claim the first ever Olympic medal in rugby sevens after a 33-10 defeat to Canada in the bronze medal match.
Up against the same opponents they had beaten 22-0 in their final group game, Team GB went in as the favourites but suffered an early setback as Canada opened the scoring and converted.
Danielle Waterman struck back with a slick try to cut the deficit to two points but three blisteringly quick scores from Canada, coincided with captain Emily Scarratt getting sin-binned, put Team GB at a huge 26-5 deficit at half-time.
Team GB fought back early in the second half and pressure told as Jasmine Joyce crossed in the corner but after a quick turnover. However, Canada killed off the game with a converted try three minutes from time.
“We came into this tournament wanting to win a medal and unfortunately we have come up a little bit short,” said Scarratt following her side’s disappointment.
“It is disappointment at the moment but this has been a phenomenal experience and bringing rugby to the Olympic stage is amazing.
“If we have inspired a couple of people back home then we are doing a decent job.”
Artistic Gymnastics
Nile Wilson was proud of the team’s performance despite falling just short of repeating the London 2012 bronze medal success as the men’s artistic gymnastics team finished in fourth.
A score of 269.752 from the quintet of Wilson, Brinn Bevan, Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas and Max Whitlock wasn’t enough for a podium place as Japan took gold with 274.094. Russia (271.453) and China (271.122) took silver and bronze respectively.
The team sat third at the halfway mark but headed into their final apparatus, the pommel, in fourth, knowing they needed to score highly to leapfrog either China or Russia to win a third ever Olympic team gymnastics medal.
“It was an incredible final and there was some incredible gymnastics but it wasn’t our day today,” said Wilson.
“We went out there and gave it our all and I think we can be proud of that. We’ve got individual finals now and we’re positive.
“The Japanese at the minute are the complete next level and we’re always striving to be up there. We’ve certainly improved our difficulty since last year’s World Championships and with the last piece on pommel we had to go full out and go for the full difficulty but it just didn’t come off today.”
Swimming
James Guy was a fingertip away from a medal on his Olympic debut as he was edged into fourth in the 200m freestyle final.
The 20-year old from Bury had only squeezed into the final as eighth fastest qualifier, looking a shadow of his usual self, short of pace and confidence.
But the youngster, who won World Championship gold in this event 12 months ago, returned closer to his best in the final, clocking 1:45.49 from an outside lane to touch just 0.26 seconds behind USA’s Conor Dwyer in third.
“It’s devastating really,” said Guy. “Fourth is the worst place you can get.
“I’ve worked all my life for this but I’m on a journey and hopefully I’ve got two more Olympics left in me. I’m still only 20 years old and I’m posting those times.
“I would have won a medal for my time at Trials but I’m still learning. I’m enjoying racing the best guys in the world and I’m happy to be here.”
Siobhan Marie O’Connor will go for Team GB’s third medal in the pool tonight after qualifying fastest from the 200m individual medley semi-finals.
The 20-year old world bronze medallist sliced 0.64 seconds off her old British record to win her heat in 2:07.57, becoming just the fifth female in history to break 2:08 minutes for the event.
Hannah Miley was also in the 200m IM semis, finishing 12th overall on her 27th birthday.
Canoe Slalom
Team GB had an impressive day in the canoe slalom as they cruised into the semi-finals of both the Men’s C2 and Women’s K1.
Competing on the rapids at the Deodoro Olympic Whitewater Stadium, Richard Hounslow and David Florence were the first Team GB athletes to take to the water and the duo put in a solid performance to finish their heat with total of 103.27.
Fiona Pennie was next to follow in the Women’s K1 and produced an equally assured display to finish her heat with a total 100.52.
Both qualifying performances came in the first heat meaning Team GB had the luxury of declining the opportunity to compete in the second heats in the afternoon.
“It is always great to get the first run under your belt to wash away the nerves,” said Hounslow
“David can now focus full on the C1 event tomorrow and we can prepare on the C2 on Thursday.”
Pennie added: “I’m really pleased with how that went. It was a pretty average run really but at this stage of the game, qualifying was the most important thing.
“It means I don’t have to do a second run and even though some others might knock me off top spot, I don’t have to go which is good.”
Sailing
The first day of the sailing regatta saw five-time Olympian Nick Dempsey surge into the lead in the RS:X classification, winning two of his three races and finishing third in the other.
The London 2012 silver medallist called it the “perfect start” after finishing second behind Dutchman Dorian van Russelberghe in the last race of the day.
“I was really nervous this morning,” he said. “Training’s been going really well and I’ve been sailing really fast, but I was nervous about something just not happening, something not quite going right, but today was absolutely perfect – it couldn’t have been any better.”
Fellow windsurfer Bryony Shaw sits 10th overall after finishing seventh, 20th and ninth in her three races.
The men’s laser and women’s laser radial competitions also got underway. Nick Thompson sits 11th after two races, while reigning world champion Alison Young is 13th.
Rowing
An extended schedule due to Sunday’s cancellations saw eight British boats take to the water at the Lagoa Stadium.
The strong British support in the stands had something to cheer about in the first race as the men’s quadruple sculls reached the final by finishing second to Germany in the repechage.
Shortly after, GB’s women’s eight booked their place in the final with a come-from-behind win in their heat. Their main rival for gold now is the formidable USA crew, who are unbeaten in major championships since 2006.
“We have to just stick to our plan and do what we always do,” said Karen Bennett ‘We just need to believe and we’ll come through. It’s definitely achieveable and we all believe that we can do it, and that’s what you really need in a race like this. What better place to beat them than the Olympics to really make a statement.”
Reigning Olympic champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning eased into the women’s pair semi-final by winning their heat, while Richard Chambers and Will Fletcher made it through in the lightweight double sculls.
The men’s four took the first step to defending their London 2012 gold, winning their heat comfortably to progress to the semi-final. Also reaching the semi-final stage were double scullers Jonathan Walton and John Collins.
But London 2012 champion Katherine Copeland and her partner Charlotte Taylor will hope to qualify from the repechage in the lightweight double sculls, having finished fifth in their heat.
Table Tennis
Paul Drinkhall’s singles campaign came to an end in round four with a 4-2 loss against six-time Olympian Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.
The Chertsey player went three sets down on the seventh seed before staging a comeback to get within one set of the 40-year-old.
But the Belarusian’s experience paid off in the sixth set as he took it 11-8, but Drinkhall admits he couldn’t have done any more to beat him.
“I left everything out there and I don’t really have any regrets,” he said. “I tried to do everything the best I could and it wasn’t good enough today.
“He’s obviously a great player, he’s been here many times before. It’s a shame because I feel I was really getting into the match, but he’s got a lot of experience and he’s been a great player for a long time.”
Hockey
Team GB’s women’s hockey team claimed their second win in two games as they strolled to a comfortable 3-0 win against Group B rivals India.
Following a confidence building 2-1 win in their first game against Australia, Team GB looked in complete control thanks to goals from Giselle Ansley, Nicola White and Alex Danson.
The result continues their perfect record at Rio 2016 and puts them well on track to reach the semi-finals where they will look to reach the podium again after taking bronze at London 2012.
Giselle Ansley, who scored the opening goal, said: “We always knew India was going to be a tough game. They like being in close contact so we just stayed out of range and didn’t get drawn into their sort of game.
“Six points out of six is the perfect start because every game is a tough one so grinding out the results at this stage is important.”
Tennis
Johanna Konta suffered mixed fortunes on a largely disappointing day for Team GB’s tennis players with three defeats against one victory.
Konta won her singles contest against Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-3 to progress to the third round but lost on her return in Rio in the doubles with Heather Watson.
They went down 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei to leave just the men’s and women’s singles and mixed doubles left for Team GB.
“Good players never give in to you easy and she [Garcia] has definitely proven her worth as a competitor and as a player for years now,” said Konta, following her singles victory.
“I knew going into it that it was going to be tough and it fell nothing short of that. I am just very happy to have stayed tough in those games.
“We had a lot of close and long games and to be able to come out on top in quite a few of those was quite good for me.”
Watson also bowed out of the singles draw after a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 defeat to Elina Svitolina while Kyle Edmund’s campaign came to a close with a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Taro Daniel of Japan.
Equestrian
Team GB’s William Fox-Pitt slipped out of the medal places after the cross-country phase of the Olympic eventing competition.
Fox-Pitt incurred time penalties to score 30.4 aboard Chilli Morning, having led after Sunday’s dressage.
The 47-year-old will go into Tuesday’s final show-jumping phase in 21st place, with Team GB lying seventh in the team standings.
Fellow Team GB riders also picked up penalties during their rounds to leave Britain struggling to challenge for a team medal with Pippa Funnell 28th, Kitty King 34th and Gemma Tattersall 44th.
“I had a very good run; it’s just annoying that I went past that third element. It was really unfortunate,” said Fox-Pitt.
“It was my fault entirely. I went too quickly for him and there was no way I could turn him so he didn’t do anything wrong.
“He is great. He is a lovely horse and to be riding him around the course is a luxury so I’m sad I have wasted it a bit.”
Judo
Nekoda Smythe-Davis’ Olympic debut came to an end in the last 16 stage with a narrow defeat to France’s Automne Pavia in the women’s -57kg category.
The 23-year old Walsall judoka came through her opening match with relative ease, defeating Sabrina Filzmoser of Austria 11-0 after one yuko and one waza-ari.
World and Olympic bronze medallist Pavia, who is engaged to Smythe-Davis’ Team GB teammate Ashley McKenzie, proved a tougher nut to crack in the second round.
The Frenchwoman landed a harai-goshi throw for one point half way through the four-minute contest, then warded off Smythe-Davis’ attempts to register a score.
But Smythe-Davis insisted she could have no regrets with her performances in Rio, having recovered from a torn MCL in her knee in May this year.
“I gave it everything in that match,” said Smythe-Davis. “My win against Filzmoser was the best I’ve ever beaten her. But Pavia just caught me today and it was hard to come back from that.
“I know I’ve given it my all and believed in myself today and with the preparation I’ve had, I’ve done everything I could have to be here in the best shape.
“It was hard when I tore my MCL in my knee 10 weeks ago and it was quite a serious injury. I’ve only been back on the mat for three or four weeks so it’s been a tough journey.
“But I believe 100 per cent that my day will come and I will be world champion and European champion and hopefully Olympic champion in Tokyo.”
World and European bronze medallist Alice Schlesinger continues the British campaign in the dojo tomorrow, competing in the -63kg category.
Boxing
Josh Kelly flew the flag for Team GB in the ring on a day where three of his teammates met their match in the form of formidable opponents inside Pavilion 6 at Riocentro.
Welterweight Kelly defeated Walid Mohamed by unanimous decision however Galal Yafai, Antony Fowler and Lawrence Okolie could not follow suit on a tough day for Team GB’s boxers
Light flyweight Yafai lost a split decision to Cuban world champion Joahnys Argilagos while Fowler was knocked down in the second round of his middleweight clash.
Fowler lost by unanimous decision to Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan as did Okolie against the experienced campaigner of Erislandy Savon of Cuba.
“It feels unreal to get that first fight over and done with but I have got to forget that now and push on. It’s the Olympic Games, you have got to enjoy it and take it as it comes,” said Kelly.
“It feels good [to win on his Olympic debut]. It wasn’t my best performance. I tried to knock holes in him to start off with instead of boxing him.”
Report courtesy of Team GB Press Office
