Month End - Number of Posts per Olympic Sport

Seven gold medals at the Cycling World Championships was the highlight in April. But there were other notable performances in Judo, Archery, Modern Pentathlon and Gymnastics.

	Archery	2 post		Athletics	14 posts
	Badminton	4 posts		Baseball	0 posts
	Basketball	3 posts		Beach Volleyball	2 posts
	Boxing	1 post		Canoe - Kayak Flatwater	1 post
	Canoe - Kayak_Slalom	1 post		Cycling - BMX	0 posts
	Cycling - Mountain Bike	1 post		Cycling - Road Race	3 posts
	Cycling - Track	9 posts		Diving	1 post
	Equestrian	2 posts		Fencing	0 posts
	Football	2 posts		Gymnastics - Artistic	2 posts
	Gymnastics - Rhythmic	2 posts		Gymnastics - Trampoline	0 posts
	Handball	3 posts		Hockey	5 posts
	Judo	3 post		Modern Pentathlon	1 post
	Rowing	3 posts		Sailing	3 posts
	Shooting	3 posts		Softball	0 posts
	Swimming	18 posts		Synchronized Swimming	0 posts
	Table Tennis	1 post		Taekwondo	2 posts
	Tennis	1 post		Triathlon	1 post
	Volleyball	1 post		Water Polo	2 posts
	Weightlifting	0 posts		Wrestling	0 posts

Second Silver at European Championships

Beth Tweddle won a silver medal at the European Gymnastics Championships in the Floor discipline. She did not compete in her World Championship winning discipline of uneven bars due to rehabilitation from a shoulder injury.

Silver at European Champioships

Daniel Keatings won a silver medal at the European Gymnastics Championships in the Pommel Horse discipline. Team-mate Louis Smith finished fourth.

Qualification

Qualification for Beijing is based on the results of the 2007 World Championships held in Stuttgart (1-9 September 2007).

The places (98 men + 98 women) will be awarded as follows:

• 12 best ranked teams qualify 6 gymnasts
• 3 teams ranked 13-15 qualify 3 gymnasts
• 3 teams ranked 16-18 qualify 1 gymnasts
• 7 men + 9 women gymnasts from NOCs outside top 18 with the best individual result
• 6 men + 4 women gold medalists in the individual events if they are not already qualified
• 3 places granted by FIG Executive Board to ensure participation of the Host Nation and each continent
• 1 invitational place

Form

Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch named “Lucky Cloud” will be used to transport the flame across the globe from Olympia to the National Stadium in Beijing. The design of the Torch takes into account Chinese artistic heritage and technological expertise. The design of the aluminum Torch features traditional scrolls and a traditional Chinese design called “Lucky Cloud”. It stands 72 centimeters high and weighs 985 grams.

London on the Torch Relay route

The Olympic flame will come to London on 6 April 2008. This was announced at a launching ceremony today in China, when the Beijing 2008 Organising Committee (BOCOG) presented the 2008 torch design and Torch Relay route to the world.

Under the slogan ‘Light the Passion, Share the Dream’, the flame will travel to 22 cities from the five inhabited continents, all 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the mainland of China as well as the top of the world – Mt. Qomolangma.

London is one of the 22 cities that will have the privilege of hosting the Olympic flame in 2008. The Torch Relay route, which will be the longest in history, has the flame arriving to London from St. Petersburg and continuing to Paris.

Harland wins World Cup Gold

Great Britain's Georgina Harland won gold in her first competition of the year at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup at Millfield School, Somerset.

Team-mate Mhairi Spence also produced a commanding performance, narrowly missing out on the podium in fourth place.

Britain started the day well with four of their seven finalists all shooting 180 or above. Spence and Harland continued their good form in the subsequent rounds of fencing, swimming and riding, with good rides from both meaning Spence entered the final round in the lead with Harland fourth overall. However, Harland – a bronze medallist in Athens in 2004 – started the 3,000m run only a few seconds behind and after the first lap she led the field, eventually finishing 75m ahead of second placed Lada Jienbalanova of Kazakhstan. Poland’s Sylwia Czwojdzinska beat Spence to third spot.

The event marked the start of the qualifying process for Britain’s athletes for the Beijing Games and there were other notable performances. Katy Livingston finished eighth, Heather Fell came home 15th and Louise Helyer, Sarah Langridge and Lindsey Weedon placed 22nd, 25th and 29th respectively.

Elsewhere, in the men’s final, Nick Woodbridge finished 20th and Sam Weale 32nd in a 36-strong final amongst the world’s elite.

Rogers claims Britains second Judo bronze

Great Britain's Michelle Rogers won a bronze medal in the 78kg weight category at the European Judo Championships in Serbia.

It was the fourth time Rogers had won a European Championship medal in just five appearances at the event.

Rogers lost her third fight to Esther San Miguel of Spain but beat Claudia Zwiers of the Netherlands and Lucia Morico of Italy in the repechage.

She then beat Svlatlana Tsimaskenka of Belarus to take the bronze medal.

European Bronze for Burton in Judo

Britain's Euan Burton claimed a bronze medal in the –81kg weight category on day two of the 2007 European Championships taking place in Serbia.

This is the second European Championship medal for Burton, who also won bronze in 2005.

Burton looked strong in the pool, beating former European Champion, Switzerland's Sergei Aschwanden with an armlock for ippon.

He narrowly lost his quarter final match against World Champion Guillaume Elmot of the Netherlands, on a shido (penalty score). In the repechage he beat Sirazhudin Magomedov of Russia, Avisav Sheinmann of Israel, and in the fight for the bronze medal, Klemen Ferjan of Slovenia - all three by the maximum ippon score.

The win is no doubt a fantastic start to Burton’s Olympic qualification campaign who has proved once again his ability to rise to the occasion.

Fellow Edinburgh club mate, and 2006 European Champion, Sarah Clark missed out on a medal in the –63kg weight category after losing the bronze medal match to Claudia Heill of Austria.