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Canoe slalom: Britain win gold in canoe double
British crew Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott powered to gold in a thrilling Olympic canoe slalom double final at the Lee Valley White Water Centre on Thursday.
The slowest of the six qualifiers from the semi-final, the British duo were the first down the surging rapids in the final but surged through the 23 gates in a time of 106.41 seconds - a mark that was to prove unbeatable.
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Britain's first gold in Olympic canoe slalom was already in the bag when the other home duo, David Florence and Richard Hounslow, set off on the last run of the final.
With 12,000 people going wild in the stands, Florence and Hounslow, who had both failed to make their individual finals, seemed set to beat their compatriots but crossed the line 0.36 seconds slower.
Slovakian three-times Olympic champions Pavol and Peter Hochschorner suffered a two-second penalty on their final run but still collected bronze.
"We lost it on the final paddle to the line to be honest," Hounslow told reporters. "But at least we get to stand on the podium and hear the British national anthem."
Briton Wilson wins double trap gold
British sharp-shooter Peter Wilson overcame blustery conditions to win the men's double trap Olympic title on Thursday.
The world record holder shot 188 out of 200 to win gold ahead of Sweden's Hakan Dahlby in second on 186 in front of a capacity crowd at the Royal Artillery Barracks in south east London.
Russia's Vasily Mosin took bronze after a shootoff with Kuwait's Fehaid Aldeehani as both finished on 185.
"It was an emotional rollercoaster for me from start to finish," Wilson told the BBC
"What a feeling. What a rush."
Wilson had looked assured in taking a three point lead into the final after topping qualifying with a score of 143 out of 150.
He never lost his lead throughout the 50-shot final, where he was cheered loudly by the partisan crowd everytime he brought pink smoke from the orange clays.
However, Wilson missed both clays in the 21st round of the final as Dahlby, who hit 49 of 50 targets, closed but the Briton hung on and finished in style by hitting the final two clays.
Russia's Khaibulaev delights Putin with gold
Tagir Khaibulaev won Russia's third judo gold medal in London in the men's -100kg on Thursday, thrilling watching Russian President Vladimir Putin who leapt from his seat with his arms raised in celebration.
The world champion, 28, who has not lost an international match since August last year, defeated the champion of four years ago, Mongolia's Tuvshinbayar Naidan.
Khaibulaev only reached the final after a tight contest with Germany's Dimitri Peters was decided by judges after it finished scoreless.
Henk Grol of the Netherlands beat 34-year-old South Korean Hwang Hee-Tae to win a bronze to add to the one he got in Beijing in 2008, delighting a huge Dutch contingent in the crowd.
Germany's Peters, 28, took the other bronze beating Uzbek Ramziddin Sayidov, the reigning Asian champion.
New Zealand win men's double sculls
New Zealand sprinted to victory in the men's Olympic double sculls on Thursday, powering through on the line to confirm their domination of the event and kick off what is expected to be a strong regatta for the Kiwis.
Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan, the double world champions, had been sitting in fifth place for most of the race before they upped their rate and surged through a tiring field in a thrilling final 300 meters.
Italy's Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti took silver and the experienced Slovenian crew of Luka Spik and Iztok Cop grabbed bronze after fading in the second half of the race. The Slovenians have now completed the set after winning silver in Athens and gold in Sydney.
The New Zealand duo had started the race as one of the favorites but appeared to have left themselves too much to do before they made their move in front of a roaring grandstand in the final stages of the final.
As they went over the line they punched the air in delight, before crawling from their boat on to the side of the lake to lie flat out.
Ki wins archery gold for South Korea
South Korean Ki Bo-bae won the women's individual archery gold medal at the London Olympics on Thursday, beating Aida Roman of Mexico in the final at Lord's cricket ground.
Ki's gold medal was her second of the London Games after she won the team event with Lee Sung-jin and Choi Hyeon-ju.
In the bronze medal match, Mexican Mariana Avitia beat American Khatuna Lorig.
The gold medal is the 14th of a possible 15 Olympic individual and team titles won by the South Korean woman since 1984. The silver and bronze were Mexico's first archery medals at any Games.
Harrison wins first U.S. judo gold
Kayla Harrison, who contemplated suicide after being sexually abused by her childhood coach, beat Britain's Gemma Gibbons in the women's -78kg category on Thursday to win the first Olympic judo gold for the United States.
Harrison, 22, the world number two, defeated Gibbons in a close final with two scoring throws.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was in the audience with Russian President Vladimir Putin, commiserated with Gibbons, Britain's first judo medal winner since Sydney in 2000, as she left the mat.
Audrey Tcheumeo won France's sixth judo medal of the Games By defeating Abigel Joo of Hungary for bronze.
Brazil's Mayra Aguiar also continued her country's judo successes, beating Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands to take the other bronze, the Brazilian team's third judo medal.
Britain's Ogogo shocks gold medal favorite
Britain's Anthony Ogogo caused the first big boxing shock of the London Olympics on Thursday, upsetting the favorite for middleweight gold in front of an vociferous crowd that included Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip.
Ogogo, whose hopes of making it to his first Olympics were nearly ruined by a serious shoulder injury last year, became the first Briton to reach the quarter-finals after he beat Ukrainian world amateur champion Evhen Khytrov by the tightest of margins.
World number one Khytrov came back from two points down in the first round to level the scores at 18-18 at the end of the bout and after the pair could still not be separated when the five judges' individual scores were totted up, they were each asked to call a winner.
After an anxious three minute wait, the longest for a decision at the Games so far, the 23-year-old Briton was deemed the winner and fell to his knees before leaping around the ring and beating his chest to the delight of a packed house.
The Ukrainian team, shocked at losing the top seed, lodged an appeal which the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said did not mention any specific motivation and was rejected after careful consideration.
Zhang takes table tennis gold for dominant China
World number one Zhang Jike powered to victory over Wang Hao in an all-Chinese men's table tennis final on Thursday, taking China half-way to another clean sweep of golds in its national sport at London 2012.
Zhang, the 24-year-old reigning world champion and pre-tournament favorite, won 4-1 over his compatriot. He celebrated by leaping over the court surround and kissing the gold medal podium and then draping himself in a Chinese flag.
For Wang, 28, it marked a third successive Olympics singles final defeat.
Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, seeded 8th, took bronze after winning 4-2 against Taiwan's Chuang Chih-Yuan.