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 - The low brow low down. 28th July

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Welcome back to MH Gold - the low brow low down on who's hot, who's not and who's on the gear at London 2012.

This morning's Opening Ceremony was very impressive - but we do wish the Brits would stop wheeling Sir Paul out for absolutely everything. Yes the Beatles were great. But its time to move on. Please?! And any way, we think Sir Paul is starting to look a little creepy - is it just me or is he starting to look more & more like Michael Jackson?

Tonight the gloves come off & we get stuck into it.

Today's schedule has a little something for everyone.

If you didn't get enough of the boys on bikes over the last month, well today they are at it again in the mens road race. Tonight we can cheer on all the Aussie contenders who are all flying the same flag this time around. Cadel needs a bit of Vicks VapoRub as he says he's had a bit of congestion on the chest. This will be a fascinating battle with much different tacktics required vs a 3 week grand tour.
What a team - Gossy, Evans, Gerrans, Rogers & O'Grady! With this sort of experience, the Aussies should be in with a real chance. Go Fellas!

In the pool, the heat is on Stephanie Rice to live up to her Beijing reputation and put some of her troubled past behind her. One can only hope that she has been banned from getting her hands on any form of mobile device that is capable of sending a photo or broadcasting her thoughts to the world. We like her new free-style stroke though.

Also in the pool we have the women's 4 x 100m -> go Libby Trickett & crew!

On the hallowed turf of Lord's we have some Archery. Whaaaaat!?

Other events where we are in with a show tonight include the rowing (Mens Quad Sculls) and our four legged competitors in the Equestrian events.

And if too much sport is never enough, get on the Womens Weightlifting! Tonight it's the pocket rockets - 48 kg women lifting 120 kgs - unbelievable!

What to drink: When the Rice is hot at our place we like nothing more than a refreshing frothy. Get on the Tsingtao train. It's a saturday night after all, so drink it by the bag full!

Cheers,

-Johnno & Mitch.

Mitchell Harris Gold: The Games Blog.

Righto, fans. It's that time again. Here in the Mitchell Harris lounge room, we've barely cleared the bleary eyes after Le Tour , and already it's time to fire up the telly for another couple of weeks of late-night sport, matched with a few wines and other nightcaps.

Tomorrow, we crack out the glitter, get our interpretative dance routines down-pat, and pop on a blazer to wander into our metaphorical stadium in alphabetical order to light the flame on our daily squiz at the comings and goings of the Games fortnight.

We'll grab a glass and have a look at what to expect in the day ahead, and what's just gone down in the previous 24 hours. Once again, there'll be some drink matches to help you while away the evenings....

So tune in, and join in the fun of the next two weeks with our irreverent and boozy take on the hardcore sport of London 2012. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (Don't worry, no racy Stephanie Rice type bikini shots of ourselves!) and Facebook (Don't worry, no Nick D'Arcy-type shots...) to keep up with things too!

Cheers,

Johnno & Mitch

Stage 17 It's over folks! Or is it.....? Bagnéres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes

Stage 16 & the haul up Col du Tourmalet was always going to produce a result one way or another.

Like many of our readers we were firmly clutching onto that last sliver of hope that somehow, and by some mysterious turn of fortune, Cadel Evans would be able to claw his way back as a real GC contender. Even if he managed to get all the Gods on his side, he would have needed more to evade the formidable SKY Train. What a team!

Lets hope Cadel can keep his chin up & not slide any further down the classifications. With the pressure off, hopefully we'll see some less conservative riding from him. Was very touching watching Cadel & big George ride across the line together at the end.

What a ride from Voeckler to steal the polka-dot jeursey. He is a machine. What about those facial expressions?

Tonight it's Stage 17, Bagnéres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes, the last in the Pyrenees. So what can we expect? It's short yet sharp with a couple of Cat 1's, a Cat 2, a Cat 3, a sprint and yeah there is the HC, a nasty 7.7% ave 11km climb to bust up the Peleton towards the end of the stage.

Will any one challenge the Sky boys? Nibali showed a bit of spirit last night & will be keen to challenge again to trim the 18 sec between himself & Froome in 2nd. Expect some action from the Liquigas lads.

Sagan has got the green in the bag, so all eyes will be on the breakaway for the KOM polka-dot jeursey. Rolland who earlier in the race had a crack at the jeursey himself will now help Voeckler (107pts) defend his slender lead over Kessiakoff (103 pts). Or will he?

OUR PICK: Voeckler for back to back wins & and another dozen or so new facial contortions...

DRINK MATCH: Given the chilly viewing conditions from the couch & our proximity to Spain lets leap over the Pyrenees into Tempranillo country & sip on any of the fantastic Thelmo Rodriguez reds from the north. His M2 de Matallana never fails.

AUSSIE MATCH: The Mayford Tempranillo out of NE Vic at Porepunkah is superb so to are some local versions in our own Pyrenees. Dog Rock the best of them.

MH Tour Blog Stage 16: The Epic Stage

OK Tourists, we're seriously into the Haute Pyrenees tonight with a couple of massive Hors Categorie climbs, including the infamous Col du Tourmalet at over 2km high! So unlike Schleckie, we recommend you stay off the diuretics and nestle in for a long one tonight with a glass of good red instead...

Profile c/o letour.fr

It could well be said that it's now or never for the GC competitors. With Wiggins well out ahead, this, and tomorrow night's stage will almost certainly see changes: either an extended margin on Froome, Nibali and Evans, or perhaps a comeback from the Italian and/or Aussie mountain-men.

We'll most likely see a few would-be climbers break out from the pack early, and within the Peloton the SKY riders will be working flat-out once again to protect Wiggo's lead from the likely assailants: Evans and Nibali. Both will fancy themselves on that massive descent into the finish, and we'll look forward to watching them with balls to the wall to close the Wiggins gap...

OUR PICK: Nibali to bring it in, hotly pursued by Evans, making up a minute or so on Wiggins....

DRINK MATCH:  Here in the French Pyrénées, it's time to get into Madiran: Usually mainly the Tannat grape (as its name suggests, plenty of tannin around a dark-berry fruit flavour), along with parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Try: Domaine du Crampilh Madiran 


AUSSIE MATCH: If we're talking dark berry fruit and fine tannins in the heart of the Pyrenees... (the ones closer to home) ...then it might be time for a bit of our Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Cabernet Sauvignon 2009...perfect for a cold winter night watching little blokes go up big mountains....


And don't forget, for a little look at our Winter Reds, including the Cab, our new Mataro / Grenache / Shiraz, and the Pyrenees Sangiovese, get into our Winter Warmer Six-Pack - $120 for this month!

Our Pyrenees Cabernet...before it met the bottle.