All the waiting is finally over as the action begins in earnest on the first official full day of competition at London 2012.
In total, 19 different sports will be staged and gold medals will
be awarded in Archery, Shooting, Fencing, Road Cycling, Judo, Swimming
and Weightlifting.
The honour of becoming the first champion to be crowned at
London 2012 is likely to come at the Royal Artillery Barracks, where the
Shooting events get under way early in the morning with the men's 10m
Air Pistol and women's 10m Air Rifle competitions.
Russia's World
Cup champion Leonid Ekimov is one of the stars to watch in the men's
event, while China's Siling Yi will be hoping to repeat the world record
she set when winning gold at the 2010 World Championships.
But
while China look to make a good start as they aim to beat their gold
medal tally of 51 from Beijing 2008, most British eyes will be on the
men's Cycling Road Race.
The Host Nation have been eagerly
anticipating the event for over a year, with Isle of Man sprint
specialist Mark Cavendish hotly tipped to replicate his victory at the
World Championships in Denmark in 2011.
Cavendish is the
favourite to land Great Britain their first gold medal of the Games,
especially as he will be helped along the way by recently-crowned Tour
de France champion Bradley Wiggins and runner-up Chris Froome.
Team
GB could also be celebrating more success when the action gets started
at the Aquatics Centre, with Hannah Miley aiming to go one better than
her silver at the 2011 World Championships when she lines up in the 400m
Individual Medley.
Day one of the Swimming also sees Ryan Lochte
begin his quest to try and repeat his five world titles from last year
to try and overshadow fellow USA athlete and 14-time Olympic champion
Michael Phelps.
Lochte will go for gold in the 400m Individual
Medley, while USA team-mate Missy Franklin will be the one to watch in
the final of the women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay.
The women's
Individual Foil Fencing competition takes place at ExCeL, where Elisa Di
Francisca will renew her rivalry with fellow Italian Valentina Vezzali.
Vezzali is the three-time defending Olympic champion in the
event and beat 2010 world champion Di Francisca in the final of the 2011
World Championships, only to then lose to her rival in the final of the
European Championships.
Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor also
kick off the defence of their Beach Volleyball title knowing that a
place alongside the greatest Olympic names will be their reward if they
can claim a record-breaking third gold medal.
Cocktail is an upcoming Bollywood romantic comedy film directed by Homi Adajania under Saif Ali Khan's banner Illuminati Films.
Cupid must be spending some time in Knoxville, Tenn. At least that is
the finding of a new poll by Amazon.com that named Knoxville the most romantic city in the United States,
based on sales of romance novels, relationship books, romantic comedy
movies, Barry White albums and sexual wellness products since the start
of 2012.
