 SPAIN netted three medals in one day on Tuesday, a boost to national confidence after a disappointing performance so far.
With two silvers and a gold, Spain now has seven medals to its name in the London 2012 Olympics, following on from whizzkid swimmer, 21-year-old Mireia Belmonte's two silvers and Maialen Chourraut's bronze earlier in the week.
Javier Gómez Noya is so far the only male Spanish medallist, after scooping up his silver in the triathlon, and synchronised swimmers Andrea Fuentes and Ona Carbonell also took the silver.
Spain's first and only gold-medal winner of the current Olympics – so far, anyway – is windsurfer Marina Alabau (pictured).
The female water polo team is guaranteed a medal now after having got through to the finals after beating a very powerful Hungarian squad – they will definitely take the silver, but will be fighting hard for the gold.
China is currently leading in the medal table with a total of 73, of which 34 are gold, 21 silver and 18 bronze, followed by the USA with 70 medals – 30 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze.
The UK is third – ahead of South Korea, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Kazakhstan and Holland, in that order – with an historic 22 golds and 13 each of silver and bronze, for a total of 48 medals.
Britain's greatest achievement so far has been in equestrian sports, where Spain have been long out of the running.
Zara Philips, granddaughter of HRH Queen Elizabeth, and her team won the silver in the three-day eventing, with Zara riding her bay High Kingdom in her first Olympics after having to scratch from Beijing in 2008 when her gelding, Toytown, became injured.
The British showjumping team, which included old hat Nick Skelton and rising star Ben Maher, took the gold, as did the UK's dressage team.
Spain currently sits at 28th on the medal table. |
