Presenting the games of the 25th Olympiad.
Just Jeans, Australia's genuine jeanswear specialist.
Mars, the official snack food of the Australian Olympic team.
And Coca Cola, you can't beat the feeling.
Now the final dive in the competition for 18 year old Michael Murphy.
Can he finish it with a big one?
Oh, well done Michael. Great dive.
He's got a great future ahead of him, Michael Murphy.
Congratulations to him on a fine performance here in Barcelona.
Well our girls are also doing well, knocking on the door of the springboard preliminaries.
Let's go back to the pool now. Here's Drew and Val.
Thank you Drew. Bad luck for the Aussie girls, but still a great performance anyway.
Particularly by Jenny in her fourth Olympics and the highlight of course this year.
Carrying the flag for the Australians at the opening ceremony.
We've got so much to look forward to in the next few hours.
As the countdown continues, Lisa Ondiecki will be out on the road in under two hours now in her quest for gold in the marathon.
It's interesting, prior to the game starting, Wanda Panfield and Lisa were joint favourites for the marathon.
Now it appears Lisa is an outright favourite to take the gold.
Also tonight, two blue ribbon events. The men's 100 metres and the women's 100 metres.
Two 32 year olds trying to rewrite the history books.
Namely Linford Christie in the men's and Merlene Otte in the women's.
They will be the sentimental favourites at the stadium. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.
And of course in hockey it's going to be a big night for Australia as well.
So lots to look forward to. Lots of reasons to stay on seven.
On the subject of hockey, we'll have two of Australia's great rivals coming up shortly.
Music
The last two Olympic Games, Australian hockey and the men's have finished in fourth position in the Olympics in 84 and 88.
A little bit later on they take on India. That's a little bit later on tonight.
If Australia is to go one better and take a medal at these games, the chances are that to get there they're going to be playing either Pakistan or the Netherlands.
Two teams that are very, very strong in hockey. The Netherlands, third in 1988.
Pakistan who won the gold medal in 1984 but slipped to fifth position in 1988.
Well the Netherlands and Pakistan are playing each other at the moment.
It's one all at half time as we go to the action now and picking up play at the start of the second half.
Music
Presenting the games of the 25th Olympiad, McDonald's, proud partners in the Olympic dream, Coca-Cola, you can't beat the feeling and Nissan, the new Nissan.
Music
Yes, the bronze medallists of 1988 finding just a minor hiccup in their 92 campaign going down 2-3 to Pakistan.
Of course Australia has a big night in men's hockey tonight when they take on India so I hope you can stay with us for that.
It is going to be a monster evening and hopefully a big night of gold for Australia after the break.
Cameron Williams will be back to bring it all to you.
Music
Hello, welcome back to Barmy, Barcelona. In fact it's somewhat warmer than Barmy and that's going to cause plenty of concern for the women's marathon field tonight.
Australia's Lisa Ondeke among them when they set off on their 42km journey in just over an hour from now.
A big program in athletics tonight, the Glamour events with finals of the men's and 100m who will become the fastest pair of sprinters on the globe.
Now that the absence of Lewis and Catherine Craver have left both races wide open.
And in the field Australia's Louise McPaul carries our hopes in the Javelin final.
While in hockey of course the Aussies take their great form into the match against India and in the gymnasium the apparatus finals for women's.
Well we're half way through the 25th Olympiad and a glance at the medal table shows the unified team has well and truly dominated despite the breakdown of some of their training programs.
In fact the United States is a distant second at this stage with Germany in third, China just there in fourth and Hungary.
Down to Australia in sixth spot with five gold medals after a great day on the water.
As you surely know by now our combination of Peter Anthony and Steve Hawkins won the double skulls out at Lake Banyoles.
But you may not have heard that a few hours ago Melbourne's Danielle Woodward won a very unexpected silver in the K1 white water slalom and she in fact became our eighth silver medalist.
What a wonderful effort we've had there.
Glenn Hauss and Gary Nhiwong, Cathy Watt superb efforts there from our silver medalists.
Well there's been giant upsets of the bronze medals.
First are Philip Rogers, Hayley Lewis, Samantha Riley, Susan O'Neill and Nicole Stevenson taking our tally well up over the 20 mark.
Some giant upsets in boxing at Battle Ona this evening.
Let's go to the 67 kilogram bout between Riley of the USA and Kappa Suskus of Lithuania.
We picked them up during the second round.
Yes well Jeff Harding and Ron Casey have seen some upsets out at Barcelona.
I wonder if there will be any surprises on the track tonight.
We'll find out in just over an hour when Lisa Martin takes to the track in the 42 kilometre marathon.
We'll be back in just a moment.
Hauss and Spayne had a wonderful game, they're already five gold medals in tennis.
Their hopes are resting with Arantxa Sanchez Vacario.
But there's a bit of a struggle going out at Valdabron because she lost the first set against Barbara Ritner of Germany.
She won the second set 6-3.
We'll pick up the action in the third where Arantxa leads 4-1.
Yes perhaps another gold medal on the way there for the Host Nation.
Meanwhile we're just 50 minutes away from the start of the 42 kilometre marathon.
Bruce McEvaney is out there at Montjuic.
Bruce there's some argument about Wanda Panful or Lisa Ondeke our own marathoner.
Who should be the favourite? I guess they all have to beat the heat.
Well that's right Cameron, I guess they're equal favourites.
I think Ondeke on the strength of her run in Helsinki a couple of weeks ago,
over 10,000 metres is a narrow favourite over the world champion Panful.
There are seven or eight genuine chances in the race but they're the two.
There are three Japanese runners that have all got a chance.
John Walker the Olympic champion from 1976, the New Zealand gold medalist and the 1500 metres is with us.
And John it's a tough race to call a favourite because historically favourites don't win the marathon.
No but the second and third favourites do.
I think you've got to realise that it's 26 miles, anything can happen
and it's going to be probably one of the toughest races we've seen here.
But Ondeke she's a clear favourite as far as I'm concerned.
She's so confident and I believe she'll win.
And the course, it's going to be testing, apparently it's very flat early and very steep towards the end.
So if you can get a break you might break the spirit of the athletes trying to chase you home.
It's not the most ideal course, normally they start inside the stadium, this time they're not.
It's a one way street, it finishes in the stadium, they've got to finish uphill.
And of course the pollution, the heat, everything is going for it.
But it's the same for everybody and whoever copes on the night will win.
OK what about the 100 metres because the semi-finalists of the women's 100 metres are coming up very shortly and also the men.
Firstly the men, we saw Christie and Borel, arguably the two favourites drawn against one another in the second round yesterday.
What were your impressions of that race?
I thought Christie took it to Borel, it's the only, Borel improved a little bit this year.
He was as fast as time yesterday but of course the heat, semis, they don't mean a damn thing.
And of course we're going to have to wait and see what happens in the final.
And it's going to be the person who copes in that last hour and a half between the semis and the final, the resting period and back in the stadium.
Pressure is the big thing and that's who will win and whoever gets the best start.
Alright let's see what sort of a start they got yesterday and see how they handle the pressure.
Here's the second round action, Ben Johnson in this as well, Leroy Borel against Linford Christie.
Four and six, there's Christie, will he become the oldest man ever to win the 100 metres in Olympic history?
We'll know that tomorrow. Johnson has to sit and wait here, he can't afford to fly or else he's out.
He waited, he got a good start, Christie away okay and so is Borel.
Christie got a great start, Johnson's running well, he's going to get through I think.
Borel and Christie, yes Ben Johnson makes it, Christie shaved Borel, emo and Johnson qualifies, it's 10.07.
Had another look there, you reckon Christie might have been flat out?
I think he ran full out yesterday, I think he was a psychological value, he wanted to beat Borel and I think he took it to him.
Well those two semi-finals are the men's coming up in about an hour's time.
Now the women's semi-finals in about less than a half an hour's time.
They've drawn the three favourites together, Privolova, Otty and Torrance all in the one semi-final.
We saw Otty v Torrance yesterday in the second round.
I think if Otty's ever going to win it and she's going to be the queen of sprinting, it will be tonight.
I believe she has all the credentials to win, she deserves to win, she's been the king of sprinting for so long and I think this will be her glorious night.
Well I hope you're right, she has deserved to be the champion.
Let's have a look at second round action again, Gwen Torrance the American champion against Merlene Otty.
Will they test each other right out here?
Pride at stake and something to go on for tomorrow.
Torrance maybe just in front of Otty, Davis got away well in lane six, Otty and Torrance together at half way.
Otty just shading Torrance, it's going to be close, it's as close to a dead heat as you'll get.
Otty just shading her, an 11.15, Torrance second.
Boggles of Skye I think has qualified along with Davis.
Well we saw Otty slightly in front of Torrance, now we didn't see Privolova in that video.
She was in another second round action, she was the only woman to break 11 seconds into a slight headwind.
Should she be favored on what we've seen so far?
No I don't think so because I think the Russians have got it against them.
Eastern Block really haven't dominated this event and I think this will be Otty's night.
Okay Merlene Otty at 32 years of age, now in the semi-final the three go against one another, strange seeding as far as I'm concerned.
Are we expecting to see Otty trying to defeat Torrance and also defeat Privolova in the semi-finals?
I think they'll be flat out.
If I was in that situation and I was running that race I would want to win.
Because I would want to put the psychological advantage to say look I'm still king, I want to win on the night.
But of course it's not the real thing.
They've got to come back again and as I say whoever survives the pressure, whoever gets the best start will win on the night.
Okay John, you feel as if that break between semi-final and the final is the crucial thing in Olympic athletics.
I really believe that because it's the person who can go back and relax the best, get the lactic acid out of the legs.
They've got to sit down, relax and come back here and re-warm up again.
And that's what it's all about.
The sprinters are only used to one race a night.
This tonight they've got two and I think that's going to be the time to tell.
Well there's so much to look forward to.
Women's marathon we have Louise McPaul in the Javelin final and the 100m, the showcase event in track and field.
Women's and men's finals and Cameron hits two of the most even 100m we've had for many, many years at the Olympic Games.
Yes Bruce, we look very much to your call from out at Montjuic tonight.
And I guess while most of the Australians here in sub-Barcelona are celebrating the ever growing medal tally,
our heptathlete Jane Fleming can't.
It's been a year and an Olympics she'd rather forget.
On its own it's been a trial for Jane Fleming to even get to Barcelona.
While 1990 was her glory year capped with Commonwealth Games gold medals in the heptathlon and the long jump,
1992 has been a disaster.
Fleming has been plagued by a series of injuries, all of which prevented her from setting a qualifying mark.
Finally in May her luck appeared to change.
Competing in an event in Taiwan she got the points she needed and it included a trip to Spain.
For the Horsham-born Canberra-based athlete ranked second in the world in 1990, it looked as though she was back.
All I'm looking at is going there to do the best I can.
And my father always said to me when I was young and doing sport or going to school or whatever,
you know, all you can ever ask of yourself is to do the best you can on the days.
And that's what I'll be going out there to do and sometimes the best I can do is good enough to win and sometimes it's not.
And that's not to take away if I compete badly, but certainly everyone can know that when I'm out there I'll be giving 100%.
Good luck to Jane Fleming.
But this morning in the very first event of the heptathlon, the 100m hurdles, it ended.
Fleming's gone, pulled up at the third, tragedy for Australia.
Oh, her Olympic dream over in three hurdles, Joyner Kersey and Nostasi and then Braun and the time's 12.85.
Fleming again fell to injury. It appears her Olympics are over after less than 10 seconds.
The 27-year-old who everybody warmed to in Australia with her courageous performances in Auckland when she won the long jump on her final attempt
and she won the heptathlon in still the Commonwealth record.
And this must be one of the lowest points of her life. We've had some wonderful moments in Barcelona.
This is not one of them. She's trying her eyes out as she leaves the stadium and for one my heart goes out to her.
All our hearts go out to Jane Fleming. What a terribly frustrating 25th Olympiad for her.
Let's hope it's a better story for Lisa Ondeke in half an hour from now when she takes off in the marathon.