golds gym trial
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Morose Murray After an embarrassingly soft exit from the doubles tennis tournament, albeit to a class French act, Jamie Murray departs today from Beijing for New Haven, and some much needed practice ahead of the US Open with his Belarus doubles partner Max Mihyr. They haven't played together since Wimbledon. He and brother Andy were dragged all over the court by Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra as they lost 6-1, 6-3. The Scots did not have a break point between them, and both dropped their serve twice. Andy double-faulted to lose the first set, and then admitted he had been unprofessional in his preparation. He does not think it will affect him in the New York Open which starts a week on Monday. "I would like to think I'll be able to put it behind me," he said after an earnest 25-minute conversation with his mother, Judy. "I have had bad results in the past and been able to put them behind me. I found that the day after my match I had lost four and a half kilos since I arrived here. I was struggling, not so much with the heat but because I didn't prepare for the matches as well as I should have done after all the flying and stuff which was unprofessional on my part. It's something I have to learn from and make sure it doesn't happen again, because I am playing very well just now and the US Open is my favourite tournament. I believe I could do very well there." But he said he and Jamie plan to practice together more, and they have targeted London 2012. "I'm sure the next time we play in the Olympics we will be much better prepared and we will be playing at home on one of me and Jamie's best surfaces, on the grass at Wimbledon," he said. "At doubles as well we are very young as well, and have less experience than a lot of the top teams. Hopefully come 2012 we will have a bit more experience." Scots pool resources Swimmer Eric Shanteau was diagnosed with testicular cancer just before the US Olympic trials. Despite the devastating news, he qualified, and as it was his dream to compete in the Games, he delayed the potentially life-saviing surgery. He missed the final when he finished one place ahead of Edinburgh's Kris Gilchrist in his semifinal. He swam more than five seconds quicker than David Wilkie did to win Olympic gold in 1976, for tenth overall, missing a final place by 13 hundredths of a second. Gregor Tait, Gilchrist's training partner at the Royal Commonwealth pool, was just a few hundredths of a second outside his best when he reached the final of the 200m backstroke this morning. "The whole aim was to make the final," he said. "I didn't think about what time I'd need to do. Hopefully I can get up tomorrow morning after a full day's rest and go quicker. "I didn't get get that much sleep last night, but enough to get me by. I kept waking up, thinking about random things. I had a dream last night that I was getting done for murder." Did he dream about standing on the podium? "I don't dream about that kind of stuff." he said. Tait swims at (3:19am, GB time). His opponents include the joint world record holders, Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte of the USA. It could be the 29-year-old Tait's last swim. He is moving to Queensland's Gold Coast, near his sister, and is considering his future in the sport. The other three British swimmers in action this morning reached tomorrow's finals. Fran Halsall is fifth fastest for the women's 100m freestyle (4.04 GB) while James Goddard and Liam Tancock qualified for the final of the men's 200m individual medley (10:48). Caitlin McClatchey's Olympics turned sour on her when coaches withdrew her from last night's 100m freestyle heats to conserve her energy for the women's 4 x 200m relay final. Scotland's Loughborough-based double Commonwealth champion had already swum the final of the 200m in the morning. But the plan blew up. McClatchey was also rested from the relay heats, and without her, the quartet, which included Garioch's Hannah Miley, finished ninth fastest, failing to qualify for the final. Hockey latest Team GB lost 1-0 to Holland, succumbing to a 63rd minute penalty flick after an inspirational performance by Aberdeen goalkeeper Alistair McGregor had denied the Olympic men's hockey silver medallists. They now play Canada on Friday, South Africa on Sunday, and an almost certain decisive game against Australia, the reigning Olympic champions, on Tuesday. Dunaway ditty BUMPED into 81-year-old Jim Dunaway, doyen of US track and field writers, at his 16th summer Olympics. The soft ball is rained off. The rowing is cancelled - not too much rain, but risk of lightning. Jim, who does his business under the name of Dunaway Ink, mails me the following: Gray Skies, music by Irving Berlin: Grey skies, Frowning at me. Nothing but grey skies, Do I see. Grey skies, All the day long. Nothing but gry skies; Something's wrong. Noticin' the clouds Greyer than grey. When you're in Beijing, That's how they stay. All of the officials Say it's not true. Telling us grey, Really is blue. Blue skies, All of them gone. Nothing but grey skies From now on. Nervous Naomi Nerves cost archer Naomi Folkard the chance of progressing to the quarter-finalsof the women's individual event in Beijing this morning. She was 24-26 down on her Japanese opponent Nami Hayakawa after the first end, but went to pieces with 19 on end two, while Hayakawa shot 26. She matched her opponent shot for shot for the rest of the contest, going down 106-97. "I didn't shoot my best," she said. "I allowed my nerves to affect me more than I had hoped. I felt like giving up, but I kept fighting back." GOT a smile today out of Alan Campbell, my Sunday Herald colleague, who has been unusually grim-lipped these past few days. My normally cheery chum has dared not crack a smile these past few days because he has been having dental repairs. These left him with a temporary oral battlement like the Great Wall. Well, we exaggerate only a little, to share the image it would be a jolly jape. But he sure would not be featuring in any toothpaste adverts. He's been shuttling back and forth - one would have fewer fittings at a Saville Row tailors - but now it's job completed, and Allan's smiling again. We suspect that's also because of the size of the bill, clearly a fraction of what he'd have been charged at home. In fact, we suspect the canny Campbell has had the problem held together with Wrigleys for months, knowing he could save a few quid on arrival. And he has threatened blog-wars if I file this. So don't believe a word of the retaliatory rant which we soon anticipate. WE know the Spanish are not too pc. Their football racism is a genuine scourge, a national disgrace. And now their basketball team here has been forced to apologise for their latest outrage. They have a poster in which the players are pulling at the corners of their eyes, indicating Chinese features. The IOC say it was "clearly inappropriate", but the athletes meant no offence. Their basketball is notorious. In Sydney they thought it would be a jolly jape to infiltrate the Paralympic learning disability team with people of normal IQ. The result is that all LD sport is now axed from the Paralympics. Doug Gillon - Olympic Diary from Beijing
Phenomenal Phelps Two golds, two more world records for Michael Phelps in the pool, both in world record time. The Baltimore Bullet took the 200 metres butterfly, and then contributed a telling relay leg in the 4 x 200m freestyle. This brought his golden haul here to five (all world bests), two short of the record seven by Mark Spitz in 1972 which he now seems sure to beat. He has the 4 x 100m individual medley, 200m IM, and 100m butterfly left. He is now the greatest Olympian of all time. The latest two golds brought his haul of Olympic titles to 11, passing the previous best held jointly by Spitz, Finnish endurance runner Paavo Nurmi, US sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis, and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latina who holds the outright Olympic medal record at 18. "Greatest Olympian of all time? I'm lost for words," said Phelps "To be the most decorated Olympian of all time is such a feeling. I've nothing to say. I'm speechless." Despite his heroics friends back home in the US are keeping his feet firmly on the ground. Before the second race a friend sent him a text message: 'It is ridiculous how many times we have to see your ugly face.' The British quartet, which included three Scots: David Carry, Andrew Hunter, Robbie Renwick, plus Ross Davenport, finished sixth behind the USA, genuinely shocked not to have taken bronze which they missed by less than a second. Double Commonwelth champion Caitlin McClatchey, was sixth in the 200m freestyle. "I came in here not even ranked in the top 10 in the world, so to make the final was a bonus. She goes in the relay in the early hours, UK time. "I think we have got quite a good chance, but we have all got to be swimming our absolute best tomorrow morning to be in contention for a medal. It's touch and go how we all do, but everyone's been performing really strongly... I know that will be a really tough race to do, but if we all swim our best we could be in contention for a medal, hopefully." EMMA Pooley won silver in the women's individual road time trial, Britain's second cycling roa