[Black Dog]

SHOT PUT: Belarusian women's shot put gold medallist Nadzeya Ostapchuk has been stripped of her title after failing a doping test, the IOC has announced. Ostapchuk, 31, threw 21.36m with her third attempt to win in the Olympic Stadium, but has now been disqualified after officials said metenolone was found in a urine sample she provided. New Zealand's Valerie Adams, who was second, has now been awarded gold.

An IOC statement said: "The athlete was first requested to provide a urine sample for a doping control on 5 August. She competed the next day in the women's shot put event, where she placed first, and was asked to provide a sample straight after her competition. "Both samples indicated the presence of metenolone, which is classified as anabolic agent under the 2012 prohibited list."

London 2012 saw the biggest anti-doping operation in the history of the Olympic Games. Before the start of the Olympics, those competing were warned that 150 scientists were set to take 6,000 samples between now and the end of the Paralympic Games. Every competitor who won a medal at the Olympics was tested.

[pressganged pete]

MEN'S 100 METRES: Sprinter Kim Collins carried the flag in the opening ceremony for Saint Kitts and Nevis. Collins over the course of a decade had put the small nation on the map, athletically speaking, by amassing five medals at world championships. But when it came time for the 100 metre competition to begin, there was an empty lane where Collins should have been getting ready in the block. The 36-year-old said he was expelled for staying with his wife away from the athlete lodging. The country's committee said Collins failed to show for practises and was incommunicado.

[Vimalot]

i can't see the benefit in olympic games anymore, it's an outdated concept

I was a cynic about the London games beforehand, but when it happened I was completely won over. Yes you can point to the great expense of it, but I thought it was a terrific success for the country and truly worth it.

[porewitt]

Britain had great success in London 2012, but swimming provided the British team's biggest disappointment. After the positivity of Beijing with then-teenager Rebecca Adlington's double triumph, expectations were high that at least one of those titles would be successfully defended amid a host of other medals from names like Fran Halsall, Hannah Miley, Ellen Gandy and Keri-Anne Payne. Very few came off. Only Adlington and impressive silver medallist Michael Jamieson reached the podium, prompting performance director Michael Scott to begin an immediate review into what went wrong.

"Following our collective disappointment at not meeting our high expectations at these Olympic Games, we will be undertaking a thorough performance debrief," said Scott. "In the Olympic cycle to London, the British swimming team has achieved best-ever results at world, Commonwealth and European level, but in London we failed to continue this trend and we need to fully understand why." Even the British team's own press release pointed out that swimming received £25m in funding for London 2012, comparable with cycling, rowing and sailing, all of whom met or exceeded their targets.

[Black Dog]

GOALBALL:

Goalball is an exclusively Paralympic Sport, a subtle combination of three-a-side gymnastic excellence for visually-impaired players, involving brute strength for rolling the ball underarm along the floor with the flexibility to dive to left and right from a crouched position in order to block an effort on goal, before gathering it for a crack at a score yourselves. The action swings back and forth and even includes one-on-one penalty throws for high ball offences.

To maintain equality among the competitors, all team members must wear eyeshades, with strict rules on adjusting these during play. The only way they are aware of where the ball is, therefore, is to listen out for the bell inside – hence the need for dead quiet among the spectators. To prevent a score, defenders must judge the ball coming to them and literally put their bodies on the line to ensure a successful block – some of the leg stops and full-length finger-tip takes would make any Premier League keeper proud. This no-noise law was, of course, willingly adhered to by the majority of the enthralled ticket-holders, many who were probably witnessing this intriguing sport for the first time.

[Obelisk]

Having spent years fighting for the right to race his own blades, Oscar Pistorius is now complaining about a rival's artificial limbs after a stunning loss at the London Paralympics on Sunday. The "Blade Runner" had never been beaten over 200m in Paralympic competition until Brazilian sprinter Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira came storming down the home straight past him to win by 0.07 seconds. The icon of the Paralympics had been dethroned and wasn't taking it lightly.

Pistorius immediately raised concerns with Paralympic officials that Oliveira's surge came through rule-bending blades helping with the late strides. Pistorius, who won a legal battle to compete wearing carbon-fiber blades alongside able-bodied runners at the Olympics last month, suggested that Oliveira ran with longer prosthesis than should be allowed.
Oliveira won gold in 21.45 seconds after overtaking Pistorius at the line at Olympic Stadium in the T44 classification race in front of a capacity 80 000-strong crowd.

"Not taking away from Alan's performance - he's a great athlete - but these guys are a lot taller and you can't compete (with the) stride length," Pistorius said in a broadcast interview. "You saw how far he came back. We aren't racing a fair race. I gave it my best. The IPC (International Paralympic Committee) have their regulations. The regulations (allow) that athletes can make themselves unbelievably high.
We've tried to address the issue with them in the weeks up to this and it's just been falling on deaf ears."

While Pistorius tried to be more magnanimous later, he still claimed it was "ridiculous" that Oliveira could win after being eight metres adrift at the 100m mark and deny him a third straight 200m gold. He's never run a 21 second-race and I don't think he's a 21-second athlete," Pistorius said. "I've never lost a 200m race in my career." The South African double amputee had the support of compatriot Arnu Fourie, who finished fourth and questioned Oliveira's lengthened blades. "Ask anyone out there - does it look weird? Does it look out of proportion?" Fourie said. "I think 99 percent of people are going to tell you, 'Yes it does. "If they are within the rules you can't fight the athlete, so you're going to have to fight the formula and fight the rule if we're going to do anything about it."

Oliveira insisted he had not broken the rules, and expressed disappointment with Pistorius's criticism. "He is a really great idol, and to listen to that coming from a really great athlete is really difficult," Oliveira said through a translator. "I don't know who he's picking a fight with, it's not with me." The 20-year-old Oliveira was backed by Paralympic leaders.
"There is a rule in place regarding the length of the blades, which is determined by a formula based on the height and dynamics of the athlete," the IPC said in a statement. "All athletes were measured today (Sunday) prior to competition by a classifier and all were approved for competition."

Paralympic officials, including the top medical official, agreed to meet with Pistorius after the race. "He wanted to voice his concerns and we listened to those concerns," said IPC spokesperson Craig Spence, who was at the meeting. "The IPC will meet with Oscar at a later date to discuss his concerns once the emotion of tonight is out of the way."