Day 8: Foxtel highlights

There are 25 Gold Medal events today, live on Foxtel.

Aussies in action & key events to watch:

ATHLETICS *GOLD MEDAL EVENTS*
Saturday August 4 from 6.55pm AEST – live on LONDON 4 (Track) & LONDON 5 (Field)
Women’s pole vault: Liz Parnov, Alana Boyd (qualifying)
Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Genevieve La Caze (heats)
Men’s 20km race walk: Jared Tallent, Chris Erickson, Adam Rutter (final)
Men’s 400m hurdles: Brendan Cole, Tristan Thomas (semi-finals)
Men’s 400m: Steve Solomon (rounds)
Women’s discus: Dani Samuels (final)
Women’s 100m: Melissa Breen (semi-finals>final)
Men’s long jump: Mitchell Watt, Henry Frayne (final)
Men’s 10,000m: Ben St Lawrence (final)
Great Britain’s best-loved female sports personality Jessica Ennis bids for heptathlon gold. It’s also the day we can catch a first look at the sensational sprinter Usain Bolt in the opening rounds of the 100m. Australia’s Genevieve LaCaze makes her Olympic debut in the women’s 3000m steeplechase on her 23rd birthday, while a trio of Aussies headed by Jared Tallent (bronze medallist in this event in Beijing) take on the shorter of the two walks. The event will comprise 10 laps of a 2km circuit on The Mall.

The evening athletics session will see five gold medals decided. The queens of speed in the women’s 100m final is the headline act, but the Aussie focus will be on the women’s discus (Dani Samuels) and men’s long jump (Mitchell Watt and Henry Frayne) finals. Samuels will be attempting to become only the second Australian woman to get a medal in discus, while our long jumpers will be hoping to do better than our record of the three silver medals in this event.

SWIMMING *GOLD MEDAL EVENTS*
Evening Session: Sunday August 5 from 4.25am – live on LONDON 1
Women’s 50m freestyle: Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell (final)
Men’s 1500m freestyle: Jarrod Poort (final)
Women’s 4x100m medley relay: Hocking, Seebohm, Pickett, Jones, Schipper, Coutts, Schlanger, C. Campbell (final)
Men’s 4x100m medley relay: Arnamnart, Stoeckel, Sprenger, Rickard, Wright, Hadler, Roberts, Magnussen (final)
Swimming wraps up at the Aquatics Centre, where Australia’s women’s 4x100m medley swimmers are going for a third gold medal in a row, with both Leisel Jones and Jessicah Schipper part of the 2004 and 2008 winning teams. Cate and Bronte Campbell (women’s 50m freestyle) will be aiming to be the first Australian sisters to win medals in an individual event, although they are not the first Australian sisters to have swum in the same event an an Olympic Games. That honour belongs to Karen and Narelle Moras in the 800m at the 1972 Munich Olympics (see Day 7). The US men’s 4x100m medley relay is trying to claim their 8th consecutive gold medal in this event.

TRIATHLON: Women’s *GOLD MEDAL EVENT*
Saturday August 4 at 5.55pm AEST – live on LONDON 3
Emma Moffat, Emma Jackson, Erin Densham
The women’s triathlon, based around Hyde Park and beyond, kicks the day off. Watch out for Erin Densham – less than three years after undergoing heart surgery for a congenital defect, Erin has been the standardbearer for Australian triathlon in 2012. The Beijing Olympian, who pushed reigning champion Emma Snowsill off the team, has proved herself worthy of a second Games after winning the Mooloolaba and Sydney World Cup rounds, and finishing on the podium in two others. Other Aussie contenders are Emma Moffatt and Emma Jackson, while local hope Helen Jenkins (GB) and New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt are amongst the international contenders.

ROWING *GOLD MEDAL EVENTS*
Saturday August 4 at 6.25pm AEST – live on LONDON 7
Women’s single scull: Kim Crow (final)
Men’s lightweight double sculls: Tom Gibson & Rod Chisholm (final)
Women’s lightweight double sculls: Hannah Every-Hall & Bronwen Watson (final)
Men’s four: Joshua Dunkley-Smith, Drew Ginn, James Chapman, Will Lockwood (final)
It’s the final day of rowing with four gold medal events. The men’s coxless four and lightweight men’s double sculls finals were both British gold in 2008 but Australia are poised to strike. In particular, the Men’s Coxless Four is shaping up as THE team race of the Games between Australia and Great Britain. Between them, both countries have won the last five gold medals; Australia with the Oarsome Foursome in 1992 and 1996, and Great Britain in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Meanwhile, Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus) is aiming for a fifth consecutive medal in the women’s single scull. Having claimed bronze with the USSR in the women’s quad scull in 1992, it would also be her sixth medal in six Games. However she won’t have it all her own way with Australia’s Kim Crow and the Czech Republic’s Miroslava Knapkova out to spoil the party. We also have high hopes for the men’s coxless four, and lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls.
CYCLING: Track

Sunday August 5 at 12.55am AEST – live on LONDON 2
Men’s sprint: Shane Perkins (qualifying)
Men’s omnium: Glenn O’Shea (rounds)
Women’s team pursuit: Tomic, Cure, Edmondson, Hoskins (rounds)
Day 3 of the track cycling features the inaugural women’s team pursuit, while there is also qualifying for the men’s sprint (Shane Perkins) and racing in the men’s omnium (Glenn O’Shea)

Other events to watch out for:

SHOOTING *GOLD MEDAL EVENTS*
Saturday August 4 at 9.40pm AEST – live on LONDON 1
Women’s 50m rifle: Robyn van Nus, Alethea Sedgman (qualification> final)
Women’s trap: Suzy Balogh (qualification> final)

TENNIS *GOLD MEDAL EVENTS*
Saturday August 4 at 11.00pm AEST – live on LONDON 7
Women’s singles (final)
Men’s doubles (final)

NB: Not all athletes may have yet qualified.