UN called in to find weapons of mass destruction

You win some & you lose some! A mixed bag on day 2.

Usain Bolt getting rolled on the track will be as bigger loss as was the defeat of the Aussie mens 4 x 100m relay team last night in the pool. The sub-editors are having a field day with this one, and poor old James Magnussen is coping the heat big time. There's lots of Missiles misfiring & Missile bombs out etc...
Don't take it too hard James. At least you'll still have your abs! Grrrrrr!

The Australians may not be quite as dominant in the pool as what we've been used. The rest of the world has caught up to us!

It wasn't all bad news. Alicia Coutts grabbed a bronze in the 100m butterfly final, & it took a world record by a South African (we didn't know they could swim) to beat him, but Aussie Christian Sprenger pulled one out of the suitcase of courage to grab silver in the mens 100 m breaststroke.

There's quite a few Aussies in the finals tonight so there is still plenty of hope for more success in the drink. Emily Seebohm in the 100 breaststroke, Hayden Stoeckel in 100m backstroke, Leisel Jones 100m breastroke, plus more... Stay tuned....

In other results, the Boomers were bounced by Brazil, Bernard Tomic was bundled out by little known Kei Nishikori of Japan at Wimbeldon, and we got done in the beach volley ball. How many sandy beaches do they have in Germany?

The Aussie Rowers continue to do well with 4 crews all making it thru to finals today.

And for all you shuttlecock fanciers out there, Australian women's pair Leanne Choo & Renuga Veeran are playing Korea for a spot in the Quarter finals. Go girls!

Unfortunately the Australian women gymnasts missed out on the teams final after coming tenth in qualifying. It seems so cruel that a tiny little slip up on a dismount can effectively mean 4 years of hard work ruined! The gymnasts are unreal! I couldn't even walk across a beam without falling off!

Here at MH Gold HQ, what we do love most about the Olympics is the sports you don't get to see every week such as the badminton, the diving, gymnastics and the equestrian. What's the chances of the equestrian events ever getting shown on Aussie TV outside of the Olympics?

And what ever you do, don't get us started on synchronised swimming! We love it! Only 1 week to go!

Looking ahead, the Opals take on France in the women's Basketball, the Kookaburras line up against Sth Africa in the men's hockey, and and we have Australians participating in Archery, Badminton, Beach VolleyBall, Boxing, women's weightlifting, table tennis, sailing and just about every other sport scheduled, including the tennis where Little Lleyton lines up against Sergiy Stakhovsky, so a massif COME ON!!!!!! for Hewitt.

Something to sip on whilst you digest all of the above in front of the box or beside the wireless:

As a tribute to Honduras who sent the reigning world champs Spain back home last night (& to give us strength & internal warmth as we huddle on the couch on a freezing Ballarat night) we are slurping big spoonfuls of Guaro, a strong sugar cane rum.

Our favorite is Tatascan. It makes us big & strong like a cowboy & at about $4 for a half bottle you can drink it all day every day.

Good luck to the green & gold & go you top little Aussies!

-Johnno & Mitch.

MH Gold Blog: Wake Up!!!

Ever had one of those mornings?Alarm goes off, it's the weekend, hit the snooze button for a few more zeds...Then you realize it's the Olympics and you're the Aussie shooting chance!Yep, we've all been there (!), and that's what happened to our 10m Air Rifle sharpshooter Alethea Sedgman yesterday morning as she narrowly dodged missing the team bus, when she figured that a weekend sleep-in might beat actually competing at the Olympics! 

Alethea needs to get one of these:

She made the event in a nick of time after being woken by flatmate Lauryn Mark, and went on to narrowly miss making the final. Bit of a nightmare scenario, and one that I know in my nightmares usually involves forgetting to wear pants, which for Alethea might have been the final insult.By the way, if there's an accident at the Air Rifle shootout, do they call the Air Ambulance?

The rest of the day saw the much-awaited men's cycling road race go to former doping cheat Alexander Vinokurov whilst fancied Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara forgot how to go around a corner, and local favourite Mark Cavendish had a moan about Aussie tactics rather than win as expected...


And, sadly, poor old Steph Rice dipped out on a medal in the super-quick 400m IM, whilst in the 4x100m relay our girls snagged Australia's first gold! Whoo Hoo!

So, to today...

Another big day in the pool with Liesel Jones keen to put the "too fat" critics in their place with a medal in the 100m breaststroke.
The 4x100m freestyle relay is another massive chance for an Aussie gold
too, led by our 'Missile' Magnussen, who has the fastest 100m time this year.

Elsewhere tonight we'll see our Boomers take on the smooth Brazilians on the basketball court, see the women take to the cycling road race course in a wide-open field (won't even try to tip this one) and a bit of wild water as the slalom canoeing gets underway.

So strap on in, because we're in the midst of it all now.

We're recommending pouring yourself a whisky tonight, say a nice highland malt, whilst we watch the hapless Scotsman, Andy Murray, re-try for a win at Wimbledon as he opens his London 2012 campaign.

MH Gold - Let the Games Begin "Release the Pigeons!"

Welcome to Day 1 - the warm up lap for MH Gold - the official On the Tasting Bench Olympic Games Blog.

We are coming to you live from the couch with, the tv guide, the remote, and a glass of some exotic booze all with in arms reach. We are all juiced up & ready to go!

Fresh from our our comprehensive Tour de France  blog coverage we have donned the metaphoric flippers & crossed the channel to bring you our games highlights, culinary recommendations, & unpredictable predictions on all things Lympics.

Expect the expected for the opening ceremony, or as we like to call it - how to blow $50 Million in 3 hours. Beefeaters, corgi's, fireworks, some 007 action, foul weather and thousands of crooked smiles. At MH Gold HQ we are hoping that they take a leaf out of the South Korean book of opening ceremonies & release / roast a thousand pigeons into the Lympic flame for a bit of welcome to London-style hospitality.

All eyes will be on the team fashions - we will show you the highlights tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some atrocities to challenge the above!

Congratulations to Lauren Jackson one top Aussie who deserves to be flying the flag for Oz. To represent one's country at 4 Lympics is an incredible achievement. Lauren truly is a great ambassador for her sport & the our country.

Apparently the games have already began with a few games of soccer having been won & lost. Highlight thus far: Japan beating Spain 0-1(Men's Soccer)

We would like this blog to be as interactive as possible, so please feel free to add your comments, highlights, and recommendations along the way. This will be a very special journey. We'd like you to share it with us. So if you see anything remotely interesting in regards to the Lympics, especially any fantastic royal family moments, gaffs or slip ups, we'd like to share it with the world.

What we are drinking:  Apart from some ever improving fizz down south, the English are not really well known for their wine. Beer on the other hand they do know! We like the look of this Spitfire Kentish Ale. They have some decent ad campaigns too!

This is just the warm up lap, so settle in folks and let the games begin.

Follow us on Twitter & Facebook for more ramblings and other news & views.

Cheers & go Aussie go!

-Johnno & Mitch.