Post date: Aug 05, 2012 9:52:29 PM
LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 5, 2012) (IOC) - Britain's Andy Murray completed an astonishing recovery from last month's Wimbledon heartache to thrash Switzerland's Roger Federer and claim Olympic gold on Centre Court.
Andy Murray beats Roger Federer at Wimbledon. China claimed unprecedented sweep of all five Olympic badminton gold medals.
Exactly four weeks after Federer had beaten him to take a 17th grand slam title on the same court, reducing Murray to tears in the process, the Scot returned with an army of flag-waving fans to demolish the world number one 6-2 6-1 6-4.
With the din shaking the tennis citadel to its foundations, Murray clambered into the seats to embrace his girlfriend, parents and coaching team before sprinting back to the hallowed turf, leaping into the air as the crowd went wild.
A crestfallen Federer walked off the court where he won seven Wimbledon crowns, knowing defeat had virtually ended his chances of completing the "golden career slam" - all four grand slam titles and the Olympic singles crown - as he will be 34 when the Games moves on to Rio de Janeiro in four years.
The decibel level went up another notch as the players returned to court for the medal ceremony - this time Murray holding back the tears with more success as "God Save the Queen" rang out for Britain's 16th gold of the Games.
China claimed an unprecedented sweep of all five Olympic badminton gold medals on Sunday (August 5) after Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng won the men's doubles title at the London Games.
Shortly after Lin Dan had defeated Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei to win the men's singles title, the pairing of Cai and Fu beat Denmark's Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 21-16 21-15.
The Chinese pair got off to a fast start before being pegged back by the fired up Danes midway through the first game.
However, Boe began to show signs of frustration and was spoken to several times by the referee. The Chinese stayed calm and took the opening game when Cui outfoxed Boe with a serve that sailed over the Dane's head into the back court.
China stepped up a gear in the second game and gave Denmark no chance of forcing a decider.
Double world champion Krisztian Berki broke British hearts as he dramatically snatched the Olympic pommel horse gold medal despite earning the
same score as home favourite Louis Smith.
Smith had raised hopes of ending Britain's 116-year wait for an Olympic gymnastics champion after he topped qualifying but he could not match the flamboyant power and precision of Berki's routine, which edged the gold thanks to a higher execution score.
The duo both earned 16.066, leaving Smith looking rather disappointed when his ranking flashed up but with team mate Max Whitlock earning bronze, it made it the most successful day for British gymnastics at an Olympics.
Romania's Sandra Izbasa upset American favourite McKayla Maroney to strike gold in the women's gymnastics vault final. Maroney had been expected to run away with the gold after she topped qualifying with her near-flawless 2-1/2 twisting Amanar somersault.
After incurring a penalty for stepping out of bounds on her signature vault, the American teenager then looked shell-shocked as she sat down following her second vault, a half-on-straight with full twist.
Despite the mishap, the high difficulty levels of her somersaults had her top of the pile until Izbasa, the final competitor, leapfrogged her with two relatively clean, if not spectacular leaps.
Izbasa earned an average of 15.191 while Maroney was awarded 15.083.
Russia's Maria Paseka picked up the bronze.
China's Zhou Lulu won gold and set an overall world record in the women's super heavyweight Olympic weightlifting event, coming out on top after a
record-breaking head-to-head battle with Russia's Tatiana Kashirina.
In what was always expected to be a two-horse race for gold Kashirina drew first blood, completing a 151-kg snatch lift that surpassed her own previous world record by three kgs and gave her a five-kilogram lead at the halfway stage.
But Zhou overhauled her with a superior performance in the clean and jerk, where she lifted an Olympic record 187kg that also gave her the world record combined total of 333kgs.
The packed crowd inside London's ExCel arena roared as Zhou approached the platform to set the new world record, screaming back at her as she shrieked in preparation for her lift.
In the end, her approach worked as Kashirina's team were dragged into a tactical game of cat and mouse that backfired when she was unable to complete an ambitious final attempt in the clean and jerk.
Failure on that final attempt at 187kg left her with 332kg, one kilogram behind Zhou's winning total, when a lift of 182 would, with hindsight, have been enough to win her the gold by virtue of her substantially lighter bodyweight.
Armenia's Hripsime Khurshudyan took the bronze with a total of 294kg that secured the first medal of the London Olympics for her country.
Zhou's win ends China's weightlifting participation in London on a high note, but a haul of five gold medals and two silvers from their 10-strong squad has failed to live up to the high standards set four years ago at the Beijing Games.
In Beijing the squad won eight golds and a silver.