Yorkshire Icons

Coe Reflects on Team GB Effort

Sebastian Coe has today (Friday) thanked Team GB for helping generate excitement for the 2012 games . The London 2012 chairman felt the medal winning performances would help London 2012 to further inspire the country in the run up to the next Olympic Games.

Bronze for Super Heavyweight Price

Great Britain's David Price came away with an Olympic bronze medal tonight after the referee stopped his super heavyweight semi-final one minute and 11 seconds into the second round. The referee stopped the contest against the Italian Roberto Cammarelle who had rapidly built a lead of 9-0, swarming over the British fighter with a well planned and quickly executed strategy to take command and not let it slip.

Sixth Placed Finish for Team GB Hockey Girls

Team GB’s women hockey players finished the competition in sixth place, three spots above their pre-tournament ranking, after going down to a 2-0 defeat to Australia in 32 degree heat at the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium in Beijing.

DeGale Delights in Boxing Semi-Final

James DeGale, the 22-year middleweight from London, became Great Britain's first boxer to earn a gold medal chance when he out-pointed Darren Sutherland of Ireland 10-3 in the semi-finals. DeGale turned round previous form against the 26-year-old Sutherland who had beaten him in four of five fights.

Boxing Bronze For Jeffries

Team GB light heavyweight Tony Jeffries has had to settle for a bronze medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, after being outboxed by Ireland’s Kenny Egan in their semi-final fight. The Irishman moves on to the gold medal bout following a clearcut 10-3 victory at the Workers' Gymnasium on Friday night local time.

Three Out Of Three For GB Track And Field

Great Britain’s athletics team enjoyed a successful three-out-of-three session at the Bird’s Nest on Tuesday morning (August 19), with Emily Freeman, Jade Johnson and Goldie Sayers all progressing to the next stage of their respective competitions.

Johnson left it late, but her third and final jump of 6.61m was enough to see her through to Friday’s (August 22) final. Leading the way was Brittney Reese of the USA, who jumped 6.87m.

Goodison Parks Himself In Gold Medal Spot

Paul Goodison has made Tuesday (August 19) another golden day for Great Britain by clinching first place in the laser class at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

Goodison went into the race knowing that he had to finish within eight boats of Sweden’s Rasmus Myrgren to be certain of first place, and he made no mistake in sealing the biggest prize of them all in light winds, sailing the Swede to the back of the fleet at the start and pinning him there throughout the race, stopping Myrgren have any chance of reaching the front and threatening gold.

Progress Not Medals for GB Women’s Hockey

The Team GB women’s hockey squad secured a hard earned 0-0 draw with USA to guarantee third position in their pool and a place in the fifth-sixth place classification match against either China or Australia on Friday.

Although Team GB will feel initial disappointment at missing out on the semi finals and a chance of a medal here in Beijing, they can take heart from the solid progress they have made since failing to qualify for the last Olympic Games in Athens four years ago

Team GB Sailing Towards More Success

British Sailing finished day 10 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with a silver medal to add to the two golds won on Sunday in the Finn and Yngling class. And there are strong hopes of more to come from Qingdao.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield picked up their second successive 470 men’s silver medal on Monday (August 18), while Paul Goodison is all but guaranteed at least a Laser class silver, leading the fleet by 18 points, going into Tuesday’s (August 19) scheduled medal race.

Price Sure of Super Heavyweight Medal

Britain's super heavyweight David Price assured himself of an Olympic bronze medal when his Lithuanian opponent Jaroslav Jaksto was ruled out of their bout by injury at the end of the first round.

The 28-year-old Jaksto, a more experienced and clearly a dangerous opponent, found Price to be a difficult fighter. After Price had built a 3-1 lead, he inflicted even more damage when Jaksto pulled up towards the end of the round, clutching his left leg and hip.

Team GB Day 11 Preview

Team GB cyclists are aiming to add to their haul of medals on the last day of action in the Laoshan Velodrome on day 11 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Britain has already reaped rich rewards from cycling – earning six golds, three silvers and two bronzes so far.

Gallantree Gains Invaluable Springboard Lesson

Olympic debutant Rebecca Gallantree was unable to progress beyond the qualification of the women’s individual 3m springboard this afternoon.

The Leeds based diver produced a selection of strong dives, But where her ariel work was strong her entries were not up to par and on placings she remained in the twenties from the 30 starters for much of the qualifying competition.

Simmonds Reaches 200m Backstroke Final

Lizzie Simmonds progressed to tomorrow’s final of the 200m backstroke with a third place finish in her semi-final this morning.

The Team GB swimmer clocked a time of 2:08.96, but British team-mate Gemma Spofforth just missed out on the final. She finished fourth in the same semi in 2:09.19, but that was only the ninth fastest time from the two semis.

Team GB Women’s Hockey Clinch Vital Victory

Team GB overcame New Zealand 2-1 in a close contest to record a crucial three points in their quest to qualify for the semi finals of the women’s hockey competition.

With only one place separating these sides in the world rankings, it was inevitable that the odd goal would decide the game. Team GB entered the match looking to continue the momentum gained from the second half performance of their previous game against world number two Argentina where they recovered from two goals down to secure a point.

Yorkshire Icons in action today

GB Hockey men v South Africa:

Diver Rebecca Gallantree goes in the women's 3m springboard preliminary round

Simmonds qualifies for 200m Backstroke Semis

Beverley born Elizabeth Simmonds maintained the GB success for the evening as she led from start to finish in the women's 200m backstroke, clocking 2.08.66, and qualifying second fastest for Friday morning's semi-finals. It was an impressive performance from Simmonds, who was only beaten on qualifying times by formidable Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry who also swam an Olympic record of 2.06.76 in qualifying.

Saunders Suffers Points Defeat in the Ring

Light welterweight Bradley Saunders has missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after being beaten by France’s Alexis Vastine on Thursday evening.

The 22-year-old slipped to a 11-7 defeat, in a match where he lost three out of the four rounds.

Super Price stops Russian in Second

Super heavyweight David Price continued Team GB's positive start in the ring on Wednesday evening after stopping his Russian opponent - the highly rated Islam Timurziev - in the second round.

Despite Timurziev having the advantage at the end of the first, Price was in peak form in the second round and caught the Russian neatly before landing a second that meant the referee was forced to step in to bring the fight to an end.

Team GB Men's Hockey Suffer Narrow Dutch Defeat

Team GB men’s hockey head coach Jason Lee was ‘very proud’ of his team despite suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to reigning Olympic silver medallists the Netherlands.

The Great Britain squad had entered in to the late evening game full of confidence following an excellent 4-2 victory over Pakistan in the opening match of their Olympic campaign and the high quality performance levels were once again replicated.

Little Misses Out In Skeet Qualification

Elena Little missed out on a place in the women’s skeet final following Thursday morning’s qualification round at the shooting range.

Moscow-born Little was 14th out of the qualifying field with 66, a score not enough to see her through to Thursday afternoon’s final. Italian Chiara Cainero lead the qualifying pool with 72.

Mixed Morning for Saunders and Jeffries

Team GB had a day of mixed fortunes in the welter and light heavy weight competitions.

Welterweight hope Billy Joe Saunders saw his Olympic campaign come to an end, whilst light heavyweight Tony Jeffries won his first fight following a bye to today’s round.

For Jeffries it was the perfect start as he came out of his corner positively and had an answer for every thing Columbian Eleider Alvarez could throw. Maintaining his cool through a barren opening round which ended 0-0 he then stepped in to take his opportunities in the second, narrowly taking a 2-1 lead.

Team GB's Olympic Games By The Numbers

Over the next 16 days, 312 British athletes will run, swim, fight, ride, jump, row, paddle, sail, dive, shoot, throw, serve, tumble, play and lift their all in the name of Team GB.

Here we bring you a selection of statistics from the upcoming festival of sport

Team GB Look Forward to New Zealand Clash

Great Britain’s women hockey players are back in action on Thursday (August 14), when they take on New Zealand in a crucial Pool B match at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and head coach Danny Kerry is predicting a “real humdinger”.

Men’s Synchronised Team Show Diving Promise

In the men’s 3m synchronised competition, the Team GB pairing of Nick Robinson Baker and Ben Swain showed flashes of brilliance, but could not make an impact on the lead results finishing seventh. The pair started with promise, ranking fourth after their opening dive and demonstrating excellence considering they have been competing together for less than a year.

Brownlee Looks Forward to Beijing Experience

Qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games may have come as a surprise to triathlete, Alistair Brownlee, but he is not intending to let the opportunity pass him by.

A World Cup bronze medal in Madrid in May earned 20-year-old Brownlee his inclusion for Team GB's squad for China, and he said: “If you’d told me this time last year that I would be at the Olympic Games I’d have been pretty surprised. I certainly didn’t expect it. I only qualified in Madrid at the end of May this year.

“To have a good race is the main focus. I want to know I have done everything I can, and so long as that is the case then I’ll be happy.” The men's trio of Clarke, Alistair Brownlee and Tim Don compete on Tuesday 19 August, while Helen Tucker and Hollie Avil go in the women's event on Monday 18 August. Both races begin at 10:00 local time, 03:00 BST.

Bronze for Yorkshire's Joanne Jackson in 400m Freestyle

Rebecca Adlington earned Great Britain's second gold medal when she won the women's 400m freestyle in the pool, with Joanne Jackson of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, claiming the bronze.

Fighting Talk From Team GB's Boxers

Team GB's largest Olympic boxing squad since Barcelona 1992 talk about their hopes and dreams of medal success in Beijing, as well as showing off their fast footwork and powerful punches.

Gavin Withdrawal My Hardest Decision Says Coach

Team GB’s boxing head coach Terry Edwards has shed further light on lightweight boxer Frankie Gavin’s withdrawal from the boxing squad for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Gavin left the BOA Preparation Camp in Macau on Thursday (August 7) after failing to reach the –60kg weight limit for his class, and Edwards explained: “We always said it was going to be a struggle, and obviously it was a struggle for young Frankie.

24 Sheffield Hallam students called to report in Beijing 08

Sheffield Hallam University is proud to see 24 of its media students fly out to China to report on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Each will have the opportunity to interview athletes and write press releases for the press office, a national and international media service, and will work alongside professional journalists throughout their visit. The press office originally only required 15 students, but were so impressed with the Sheffield students they decided to ask along all 24, including 21 year old Fay Whitaker.

Yorkshire referee to officiate at Beijing 08

A water polo referee from Sheffield Hallam University has been selected to officiate at the Beijing 08 Games. Brian Littlejohn, the university funding coordinator, will travel to China as the only water polo referee in the UK to be called to this Summers Olympic and Paralympic Games. Brian has been refereeing since 1997 and has already represented Great Britain and Scotland in previous tournaments.

Representing the Yorkshire Committee for the 2012 Games in Beijing....

Executive Chair of the Committee Martin Havenhand, Neil Jenkinson – Head of Culture and Major Events, Yorkshire Forward and Gary Clifton of Sheffield City Council will be attending the ‘Britain in Beijing’ contingent during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in August. This will be a wonderful opportunity for Yorkshire to demonstrate its commitment to the London 2012 Games and showcase some of the instrumental partnership working across Yorkshire Gold – Yorkshire and Humber’s strategy for seizing the opportunities of the 2012 Games.

Last Updated: 19 August 2008