Olympics 2012: Live Report

1125 GMT: SWIMMING: AFP's Tom Williams was watching as the women's 10km open-water swimming got started.

?Hats and sun block were the order of the day as the women?s 10km swimming marathon got under way beneath scorching sunshine in the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park," he tells us.

"Supporters lined the lake on both sides, reserving the loudest reception for Britain?s Kerri-Anne Payne, who finished second when the event made its Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008.

"Payne is bidding to win a first swimming gold medal of the London Games for the host nation."

1121 GMT: Barnaby adds this from the arena: "There are a lot of Afghan flags in the crowd and even more suporters cheering on Rohullah Nikpah in the taekwondo.

"In fact his opponent Michael Loniewski's Polish followers are heavily out-numbered!"

1115 GMT: TAEKWONDO: Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpai is fighting next, our correspondent Barnaby Chesterman reports.

And the excitement is mounting in Afghanistan. AFP's Usman Sharifi in Kabul writes on Twitter: "Pressure on Nikpai, social media buzz with Afghans praying for the victory... a failure would be a great disappointment."

1110 GMT: ATHLETICS: More on that heartbreaking 4x400m relay failure for South Africa.

It seems that South Africa's Mogwane fell on the final bend of the second leg as Pistorius waited to take the baton.

On rounding the bend into the final stretch, Mogwane made contact with Kenya's Vincent Killu and both came to grief.

"Somebody spiked me," said Killu, who unlike Mogwane was able to get up and continue.

Pistorius put his hands to his head, walked to the side of the track and sank to his knees staring down the straight when he saw what had happened.

Mogwane received medical attention and left clutching his shoulder.

1105 GMT: Let's have a quick recap of the morning's events so far.

+ The South African 4x400m relay team did not complete their 4x400m relay heat after one of their runners fell -- meaning double amputee Oscar Pistorius is out of the Olympic Games.

+ There were gold medals for Australia, Germany and Hungary in canoe-kayak events at Eton Dorney;

+ The decathlon is continuing ahead of tonight's climax, with the US's world record holder Ashton Eaton still in the lead but countryman Trey Hardee closing in on him.

1047 GMT: ATHLETICS: South Africa have failed to complete their 4x400m relay heat, meaning they and Oscar Pistorius are out.

Ofentse Mogwane fell on the final bend of the second leg as Pistorius, the first double amputee to compete in Olympic athletics, waited to take the baton.

1045 GMT: SOUTH AFRICA AND OSCAR PISTORIUS OUT OF 4X400M RELAY

1026 GMT: Talk about a golden couple -- British cyclist Laura Trott has just confirmed on Twitter that she is dating fellow British rider Jason Kenny.

"Been a little while now just didnt want the distraction before the games x" she adds.

Trott, 20, took golds in the omnium and team pursuit while Kenny, 24, won sprint and team sprint golds.

1004 GMT: CANOE-KAYAK: The full result now of that kayak K2 500m final which saw gold for the German duo Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze.

Hungary's Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Douchev-Janics, the double Olympic champions, took silver with Poland's Beata Mikolajczyk and Karolina Naja winning bronze.

0958 GMT: With all their events over, Olympic swimmers now have the chance for some rest and recuperation.

The US's Missy Franklin, who took four golds at the Games, has gone to explore one of England's finest castles, Leeds Castle, which dates back to 1119.

She tweeted a picture of it this morning, saying: "My view from breakfast! Not bad huh?:)"

Let's hope she doesn't feel an urge to go swimming in the moat.

0948 GMT: GERMANY'S WEBER AND DIETZE WIN GOLD IN WOMEN'S KAYAK K2 500M

0944 GMT: Hard to believe that the Olympics ends on Sunday -- but details have started leaking out of the closing ceremony.

Its musical director David Arnold, best known for composing scores for Bond films, has told the Daily Telegraph it will be a "beautiful, cheeky, cheesy, camp, silly and thrilling" journey through British pop history.

George Michael has already confirmed he is performing, while Arnold said predictions Paul McCartney and Adele would take part were "scarily accurate."

There are also unconfirmed rumours of an extremely rare live performance by Kate Bush.

0938 GMT: ATHLETICS: It's another electric atmosphere today down at the Olympic Stadium, says AFP's Luke Phillips.

"The Olympic Stadium was packed at nine o'clock this morning for a session traditionally considered the least 'interesting' in an athletics programme," he tells us.

"An amazing atmosphere, the likes of which I've never experienced when covering athletics before."

0933 GMT: So that is gold for Hungary's Danuta Kozak in the kayak K1 500m sprint, silver for Ukraine's Inna Osypenko-Radomska and bronze for Bridgitte Hartley of South Africa.

0918 GMT: HUNGARY'S KOZAK WINS GOLD IN WOMEN'S K1 500M KAYAK

0911 GMT: CANOE-KAYAK: Some further details on those two medal races just now, won by Germany and Australia.

Germans Peter Kretschmer and Kurt Kuschela won the canoe C2 sprint title, while Andrei and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich of Belarus took silver and Alexey Korovashkov and Ilya Pervukhin of Russia bronze.

Australia's Tate Smith, Dave Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear took gold in the kayak K4 sprint, with Hungary taking silver and the Czech Republic bronze.

0906 GMT: ATHLETICS: Back at the decathlon, which wraps up tonight, they are into the discus.

But the US's Bryan Clay, the 2008 gold medallist who did not qualify this time round, is unimpressed so far.

"I don't think there has been a throw over 43m yet!?!? C'mon guys!" he writes on Twitter.

0902 GMT: That is a sixth gold medal for Australia at this Olympics, taking their overall total to 27.

Australia's relatively poor performance at the London Olympics has this week prompted its most senior member of the International Olympic Committee, Kevan Gosper, to point the finger at cuts in government funding.

0856 GMT: AUSTRALIA WIN GOLD IN MEN'S KAYAK K4 1000M

0848 GMT: GERMANY WIN CANOE C2 1000M GOLD

0844 GMT: TAEKWONDO: Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpai, a huge sporting hero in the war-torn nation, is up in the men's 68kg later today.

Nikpai won bronze at Beijing in 2008, the country's first-ever Olympic medal.

He became a national hero, with President Hamid Karzai giving him a house and the government paying for him and other Afghan Olympians to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

There will be huge celebrations in Kabul if he manages to match or improve on that this time around.

0835 GMT: Today's pleasant weather could help Bolt's chances of setting a new world record in tonight's 200m final, says AFP's Guy Jackson.

"Warm, sunny and windless... If stays warm tonight I smell a new world record 200. First man under 19 seconds???" Guy writes on Twitter.

Bolt himself said after cruising through the semis that a new world record is possible on a fast London track.

0827 GMT: ATHLETICS: It's a beautiful sunny day in London and the decathlon action has already resumed in the Olympic stadium.

First event today is the 110m hurdles.

Overnight leader and world record holder Ashton Eaton of the US is narrowly beaten in the final heat by his second-placed teammate Trey Hardee, who posted 13.54.

Hardee looks pumped by that win, screaming with delight afterwards.

0818 GMT: Pistorius, the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics, was on Twitter last night looking forward to today's race.

"Thank you all for the support ahead of tomorrow, it made my day!" he wrote. "The boys are Ready to light it up! I'm off to sleep, God Bless".

But it is the US who are likely to start as favourites.

0813 GMT: Here are some of the main events coming up today at the Games, with timings:

+ Jamaica's Bolt bids to become the first man to win 100m and 200m gold in successive Olympics in the 200m final at 1955 GMT;

+ Kenya's world champion David Rudisha goes for gold in the men's 800m final at 1900 GMT;

+ After making history and reaching the semi-finals of the individual event, Pistorius joins the rest of the South African team in the 4x400m heats at 1035 GMT;

+ The US women's football team bids to make it three Olympic titles in a row when they take on Japan in the final at 1845 GMT.

WELCOME TO AFP'S OLYMPICS LIVE REPORT for August 9.

The action will be coming thick and fast today with highlights including Usain Bolt in the men's 200m final, South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius in the 4x400m relay heats and the women's football final between the US and Japan.

Stay with us to follow all the action as it happens.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/olympics-2012-live-report-075545221--oly.html

kombucha tea separation of church and state dale earnhardt oscar predictions oscars nba all star game 2012 academy awards 2012 nominations