London all set to host its third Summer Games

Will host Great Britain overtake Russia to the third place in the medals tally, or — more importantly — can the US wrest back its No.1 status from China?

As another edition of the Olympics unfolds, these will be the serious questions, even though the world may be more than keen to follow the battles between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake and Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Naturally, most of the attention is on whether Phelps will add to his collection of 14 gold and two bronze medals, to be No.1 in the all time list of Olympic medal winners. He may not be as intimidating as he was when he swept the eight gold medals — with world records to boot — in Beijing, but he will have seven races in London to further swell his collection.

Bolt’s defeat in the selection trials in Jamaica may actually be just the wake up call he needed. He may not be as complacent as he apparently was in the 100m final in Beijing, where he indulged in some show-boating over last 40 metres as he took gold with a world record time. Usain Bolt is all over London around now, staring at you out of the huge banners, as the slogan ‘inspiring a generation’ greets you at every turn.

Nervous hosts

There is a fear among the host that its athletes may not live up to the expectations, owing to the tremendous pressure of competing at home as it hosts the Games for the third time.

Great Britain may struggle to match its feat of winning 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals in Beijing.

It was four short of Russia then, in terms of gold medals it will also be a great challenge for the host to stay ahead of Germany, Australia and Korea who had won 43 gold medals between them in the last edition.

Great Britain may have some stars like Jessica Ennis, Mark Cavendish, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Rebecca Adlington, Kelly Ann-Payne, Dai Greene and Tom Daley to power its pursuit of gold, but will it get enough numbers on the board?

The Chinese seem to have gone for quality in fielding a squad of 396.

Having hauled in 100 medals in all in Beijing — including 51 gold — they may continue to dominate badminton, table tennis, diving, shooting, weightlifting, gymnastics and boxing. Four years back, China spared no expense in showcasing to the world its economic strength — the Beijing Games cost the host a whopping $44 billion.

London has spent roughly one third of the amount — the focus seems to have been purely on sports, with no pre-occupations with making a statement to the rest of the world.

A lot of attention seems to have been paid on projecting Great Britain’s sporting legacy.

As athletes from 204 countries assemble to celebrate sport, London looks all set to floor the world with the opening ceremony, scheduled to start at 9 p.m. (local time).

Spain overpower Italy to win UEFA EURO 2012 Spain 4-0 Italy

Spain

Italy

                

	4 Goals scored 0
	52 Possession (%) 48
	14 Total attempts 11
	9 Attempts on target 6
	5 Attempts off target 5
	3 Attempts blocked 2
	0 Attempts against woodwork 0
	3 Corners 3
	3 Offsides 3
	1 Yellow cards 1
	0 Red cards 0
	17 Fouls committed 10
	9 Fouls suffered 17

MATCHES

Roland Garros - The 2012 French Open

PARIS: Rafael Nadal clinched a record seventhFrench Open title on Monday, defeating world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and shattering the Serb's dream of Grand Slam history.

In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time because of Sunday's rain, the Spanish world number two, playing in his 16th Grand Slam final, also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss.

Victory, which was achieved on a Djokovic double fault, allowed him to break the tie for six French Opens he shared with Bjorn Borg.

It was the 26-year-old's 11th Grand Slam title, taking him one behind Roy Emerson, three offPete Sampras and five away from the record of 16 held by Roger Federer.

For five-time major winner Djokovic, the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion, it was the end of his dream of emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) by holding all the Grand Slams at once.

He was left to regret his unforced error count of 53 which undermined his challenge.

After Sunday's suspension, the players, meeting in a fourth successive Grand Slam final, resumed with Nadal leading 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2, but with Djokovic in the ascendancy and serving for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set.

But a forehand error from Djokovic, with the court at his mercy, gave Nadal a break point and the Spaniard seized it when the Serb had been left flat-footed by a net cord which allowed his opponent to push through a winner.

The set remained tight as would be expected with the pair meeting for a 33rd time.

Nadal moved to 5-4 as the umbrellas went up all around Philippe Chatrier Court and the players sat courtside to wait out a passing, heavy shower and complained to tournament referee Stefan Fransen about the slippery conditions.

Djokovic finally buckled when a monster forehand from Nadal set up championship point which he converted when the top seed tamely served up a fourth double fault.

The celebrations were ecstatic as Nadal fell to his knees and consoled Djokovic before the champion climbed into the player's box to embrace his family.

On Sunday, Djokovic had looked down and out at one stage, even picking up a warning for destroying his courtside chair box with his racquet.

After slipping two sets down, he was also a break behind at 0-2 in the third before he reeled off eight games in succession to take the third set -- the first lost by Nadal in this year's event -- and lead 2-0 in the fourth.

The first game of the fourth set had featured a gruelling 44-shot rally.

But Nadal had raged at tournament referee Stefan Fransen for having to keep playing as the court became increasingly treacherous.

As he stormed, Djokovic, who had been two sets to love down to Andreas Seppi in the fourth round, and saved four match points in his quarter-final victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seized his chance to get back into the match.

The last time a French Open men's final failed to be completed on the last Sunday was 1973 when it was played on the Tuesday with Ilie Nastase beating Niki Pilic.

Monday finishes have become common at the US Open in New York with the last four finals taking place on the extra day while the 2001 Wimbledon final was also completed on a Monday.

Roland Garros will eventually avoid late finishes as a main court with a retractable roof is to be built in 2017