Saudi Women Debut; Triathlon Closes Roads; BBC Reports Ticket Scalpers

(ATR) The first women to compete at an Olympic Games for three countries at London 2012 aren't quite making the headlines they would’ve wanted.

London’s Games represent the first time that every competing nation has fielded a female Olympian. In another landmark, this is the first Games with more than half of the Olympians being women.

However, though much praise was given to Saudi Arabia for sending two female athletes for the first time in its history, Wojdan Shaherkani was easily beaten in a judo bout on Friday that lasted barely 82 seconds.

On Friday, the first day of athletics events, history was being made on the track as Qatar’s own Noor Al-Malki was to become the country’s first female track athlete at an Olympic Games – she was competing in the 100m first round.

However, after only 10m of running she pulled up with an injury, not even finishing the race.

BBC Reports Ticket Touts

The BBC is reporting that despite a police crackdown, tickets for London 2012 are still available through illegal ticket touts.

LOCOG has constantly insisted that tickets could only be bought on the official website – however, the BBC says that websites still exist which offer much-coveted tickets to the Games.

London 2012 organizers say that people buying tickets from touts risk being ripped off for tickets that may not even exist.

Travel Report

The women’s triathlon event begins on Saturday in Hyde Park – meaning that the whole area will be the focus of transport diversions.

Several road closures have been put in place from 3:30 a.m and drivers are urged to stay clear of the area throughout the whole day. Hyde Park Corner station is also closed from 5:30 a.m.

Along with the triathlon, the men’s 20km race walk is also taking place later in the day around Constitution Hill and The Mall. With the beach Vvlleyball continuing down the road at Horse Guard’s Parade, it might be wise to stay clear of that part of London.

Spectators coming back from Saturday evening’s events may want to head to Stratford station rather than opting for the high-speed Javelin service. Though the train itself is high-speed, the wait is not as spectators were left queueing in pens for almost an hour on Friday evening – while passengers at Stratford Underground station quickly got on the frequent trains running through.

Media Watch

Another successful day for the hosts means that the British newspapers continue with their positive attitude toward London 2012.

The Daily Mail leads with the headline ‘TEARS OF GOLD’ as gold medal winning British Olympians such as cyclist Victoria Pendleton cried on the podium. The Guardian also celebrates the medals which have put Great Britain up to third in the medal table with the refrain ‘GOLD, GOLD GOLD!’.

However, The Independent looks forward to what Britain hopes will be one of the biggest moments of the Games. Crowd favorite Brit Jessica Ennis leads the heptathlon after day 1 of events and will be pushing for gold today. The paper has a picture of Ennis with the headline ‘HER DAY OF RECKONING’.

Saturday's Medal Events

Athletics – Men’s 20km Walk, Women’s Discus, Women’s Heptathlon, Men’s Long Jump, Men’s 10,000m, Women’s 100m – Olympic Stadium

Badminton – Women’s Doubles, Women’s Singles – Wembley Arena

Track Cycling – Women’s Team Pursuit – Velodrome

Fencing – Women’s Team Epee – ExCeL

Rowing – Men’s Four, Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls, Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls, Women’s Single Sculls – Eton Dorney

Shooting – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions, Women’s Trap – Royal Artillery Barracks

Swimming – Women’s 50m Free, Men’s 1500m Free, Women’s 4x100 Medley, Men’s 4x100 Medley

Tennis – Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles – Wimbledon

Trampoline Gymnastics – Women’s – North Greenwich Arena

Triathlon – Women’s – Hyde Park

Weightlifting –Men’s 94kg – ExCeLReported by Christian Radnedge

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