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London 2012 Olympic Games
Host city
London
Opening ceremony
27 July 2012
Closing ceremony
12 August 2012
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Fact of the day
Frank Kugler won four Olympics medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war at St Louis in 1904, making him the only competitor to win a medal in three different sports at the same Games. He claimed a silver medal in the heavyweight category in wrestling, bronze in the two hand lift and all-around dumbbell events in weightlifting and another bronze in the tug of war competition as a member of Southwest Turnverein of Saint Louis No. 2 team. He is recognised as an American by the International Olympic Committee although he was a German national at the time of the Games.
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Tennis ace Sharapova to carry Russia flag at Olympic Opening Ceremony
Friday, 20 July 2012
July 20 - Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova, who was raised in Sochi, will carry the Olympic flag for her country at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 27.Sochi is the host of the Winter Olympic and Paralympics in 2014, making Sharapova a particularly fitting choice.
The 25-year-old (pictured top), the world's highest paid female athlete, won her fourth Grand Slam title at the French Open last month.
She will hope for better fortune on the grass at Wimbledon during the Olympics, though, after surprisingly losing in the fourth round of the Grand Slam event there last week.
"Sharapova will carry our flag," said Alexander Zhukov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
"She was the most worthy candidate among all our athletes.
The honour of carrying the flag was previously given to famous male athletes, such as the renowned Greco-Roman wrestling champion Alexander Karelin and basketball player Andrei Kirilenko, who carried it in Beijing four years ago.
Andrei Kirilenko carrying the Russian flag at Beijing 2008Sharapova will be the first woman to have carried the flag at the Opening Ceremony for Russia.
London 2012 will be Sharapova's first Olympic Games after missing out on Beijing four years ago through injury, and she was thrilled to be given the honour.
"I am so honoured, and especially excited as it will be my first Olympics in my career," she said on her website.
"I have had to keep this hush hush for two weeks and keeping secrets is not my best quality!"
Zhukov is hopeful that Sharapova can help Russia to win one of at least 25 gold medals they are aiming to win this summer.
"Judging from the results of recent world championships we should win the region of 25 gold medals," he said.
Russia is targeting third place if they can reach their target and are sending 436 athletes to London.
They may have a fight on their hands from the hosts for that particular target, though, after Britain came fourth in Beijing.
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Denmark's Poul-Erik Høyer is the only non-Asian badminton player ever to win an Olympic gold medal, giving him a unique place in the sport's history. He is now set to become the first European President of the Badminton World Federation for 20 years with the aim of uniting the two continents, as he tells James Crook in this exclusive interview
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