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| Britain's David Florence saw lots of white water, but no gold, in the canoe slalom. |
This is getting awkward.
In the opening five days of the 2012 Games, London has proved a welcome and accommodating Olympic host. On this point, nearly everyone seems to be in agreement. But as the venues cleared out for the night Tuesday, there was a wee bit of a problem: no British athlete had yet managed to earn a perch at the top of a podium.
The wait for the first gold medal in what was supposed to be a breakout Olympics for Britain is beginning to stir a restless reaction. The Sun's front page went ahead and dispensed with the subtleties, blaring, "Wanted: Gold Medal."
"I hoped we would have won a gold medal by now," said Emma Carter, a 36-year-old Briton, while watching the big TV screen inside the Olympic Park as Britain's equestrian team took silver on Tuesday. "Maybe it's a case of once we get one, there'll be no stopping us."
British fans didn't expect to wait this long. The first event of the Games, the men's cycling road race, was supposed to deliver a British winner in the shape of Mark Cavendish, the world's leading sprinter.
But Cavendish and his teammates came unstuck and the British letdowns haven't let up since. Lizzie Armitstead lost to Marianne Vos of the Netherlands by a wheel's length in the women's road race Sunday, while Rebecca Adlington, defending Olympic champion in the 400-meter freestyle, finished third.
Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield led through two rounds of 10-meter platform synchronized diving Monday, but dropped to fourth after an off-kilter entry in round four. "I'd rather finish last," said Waterfield.
On Tuesday, Britain's equestrian team was well-positioned for team gold, but costly penalties in the final round helped Germany to the gold. Elsewhere, David Florence, a silver medalist in Beijing, entered the day shooting for gold No. 1 in canoe slalom, but he hit his head on one of the gates during his semifinal race and failed to advance to the medal round.
Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow took an early lead in the women's synchronized high dive but ended up in fifth place. Said 23-year old Barrow with trademark British understatement: "It's slightly disappointing."
Publicly, British officials say the team remains on track. "There's no sense at all among the team that we're not delivering," said Andy Hunt, chef de mission for Team GB, as the British team is known.
Hugh Robertson, U.K. Olympics minister, said on Tuesday, "We're at a very early stage." Referring to such strong British events as rowing, sailing and track cycling, he added, "We always knew the heavy lifting [in terms of winning medals] would come at the end of this week, over the weekend and the beginning of next week."
But no host has got out of the blocks so slowly since Canada failed to win a single gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Games.
The gold rush could begin as early as Wednesday, when Bradley Wiggins, Britain's first Tour de France winner, competes in the men's time trial. Other gold contenders on Wednesday: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in women's pair rowing, cyclist Emma Pooley in the women's time trial, and the British men's eight in rowing.
On Friday, the U.K. could match the nine gold medals it collected on a single day in Beijing. Adlington in the 800-meter freestyle, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins in the women's sculls, and the men's team pursuit track-cycling team all will be competing in finals.
For now, however, British officials have had to celebrate smaller victories. "I'm very comfortable with where we are," Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said at a news conference Tuesday. "It's always good to be ahead of Germany in the medal table."
Britain did lead Germany at the start of Tuesday's action, three medals to one. But as the fifth day of the 30th Olympiad drew to a close, there was a new tally: four medals for Britain, and six for Germany—including two gold
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
