Richard Weinberger has won bronze in the men's open-water marathon at the London Games.

Weinberger stayed with the lead pack to finish third, while Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli won gold. Germany's Thomas Lurz took silver.

"You've just got to have fun," said Weinberger. "That's pretty much my position going into every single race. I'm here to have fun, I'm here to race these guys and compete, but racing is just the best.

"Training is hard and this is like Christmas morning."

Mellouli, who earned bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle last week, became the first swimmer to win medals in both the pool and open water at the same Olympics.

The Tunisian pulled away from a small group of leaders in the fifth of six laps and won in 1 hour, 49 minutes, 55.1 seconds in the murky waters of the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

It was the second gold of Mellouli's Olympic career. He won the 1,500 at the 2008 Beijing Games.

The only previous swimmer to win medals in both the pool and open water at the Olympics was David Davies of Britain.

Weinberger not far back
The 22-year-old Weinberger, who lives and trains in Victoria, is the first Canadian to win a medal in open-water swimming.

The sport made its Olympic debut in 2008 in Beijing, but Canada didn't qualify any swimmers then.

Weinberger, who was born in Moose Jaw, Sask., served notice he was an Olympic medal contender for London by winning last year's test event.

He was 5.2 seconds behind Mellouli on Friday.

Calm conditions
The 25-man field completed six laps of a 1-mile course in near-perfect conditions as fans lined both banks of the rectangular lake under bright sunshine.

Marathon races are usually contested in oceans or seas, where athletes have to deal with waves and currents — and more wildlife — making this race relatively tame, and allowing Mellouli to use his pool expertise.

Mellouli stayed with the leaders for the first few laps then opened up a small lead on the fifth lap. That was all he needed to do, and it left three other swimmers fighting for the other medals, although world champion Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece dropped back in the final stages and finished fourth, 10.2 seconds behind.

Gianniotis had been among the favourites and was hoping to give Greece its first gold of the Games after winning three World Cup races this year.

Lurz has won the 5K race seven times at worlds but has struggled to dominate the 10K event.

Meanwhile, the crowd favorite was Benjamin Schulte, a 16-year-old from Guam, who finished far behind all of the other competitors. Fans stuck around and applauded loudly when Schulte finally finished nearly 14 minutes after Mellouli.

Canada's Warner impresses with 5th place in decathlon





CBC

Canadian kayaker Mark de Jonge has won bronze in the K-1 200-metre race Saturday at the Olympic Games.

The 28-year-old from Halifax won both his heat and semifinal Friday to advance to today's final on the last day of canoe-kayak competition at Eton Dorney.

De Jonge's Olympic dream was almost derailed in April when he broke a finger.

The muscular kayaker dropped an 80-pound dumbbell on his hand when he lost balance during a workout in Florida.

Britain's Ed McKeever won the gold and Spain's Saul Craviotto Rivero took the silver.

Jubilation turned to absolute horror for the Canadian men’s 4x100-metre relay team.

Canada shocked the field by earning an apparent bronze medal on Saturday before being disqualified moments later.

The Jamaicans, meanwhile, broke their own world record en route to a gold medal.

The disqualification came when Jared Connaughton stepped on the line of his outside lane just prior to his exchange with Justyn Warner, Canada’s anchor.

A distraught Connaughton, of New Haven, P.E.I., knew immediately that he had committed the stringent infraction and apologized to the rest of his teammates — lead leg Gavin Smellie (Brampton, Ont.), Oluseyi Smith (Ottawa), and Warner (Markham, Ont.).

He later tweeted: "I'm so sorry everyone. My heart is broken. I let my team down. I'm sorry."

Athletics Canada appealed the disqualification, but the decision to keep Canada off the medal podium was upheld.

Even with Great Britain — the world’s No. 4-ranked team — out of the final after a disqualification for an illegal exchange, Canada was in tough against a strong field.

But the 11th-ranked Canadians held firm as they remained in contention throughout the race. When Connaughton handed the baton to Warner for the final leg, Canada stood fifth.

Warner, who's been a revelation during these Olympics, quickly made up the ground and just edged out Trinidad & Tobago’s Richard Thompson at the line.

The Canadians were justifiably elated as they saw their result flash across the scoreboard, which displayed Canada in the No. 3 position. It appeared the nation would reach the 4x100 relay podium for the first time since Donovan Bailey led a gold-medal victory at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

However, celebration was quickly replaced with heartbreak when the Canadian members looked up at the same scoreboard and saw the team had been disqualified.