Rochdale’s Olympic weekend round-up

Stuart Bithell, sailing

In what was an extremely successful weekend for Team GB, with Britain grabbing no less than six Olympic Gold medals, many of our Rochdale-born athletes also competed in their respective sports.

In women’s hockey, Littleborough local Nicola White and her team-mates suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by China on Saturday (4 August). The Team GB girls previously had an untarnished run of victories so far these Games, but China’s strong defence proved hard to beat. Nevertheless, GB has secured a place in the semi-finals.

Earlier today (6 August), Nicola Tweeted: ‘Big big day today, final group games are being played and the semi finalists are being decided. GB play The Netherlands at 7pm but keep an eye on China v Japan at 1.45 as that game will determine what result GB need to go through!’

A win for Japan against China this afternoon now means that Team GB cannot be caught in second place, with Britain’s match against the Netherlands tonight determining which team will finish top.

Team GB also faced South Korea in men’s football on Saturday, but a penalty from ex-Rochdale FC defender Craig Dawson unfortunately wasn’t enough to keep GB in the competition, losing 5-4 on penalities.

Rochdale’s Stuart Bithell and his partner Luke Patience held on to first position in the Men’s 470 Sailing. Stuart and Luke are currently sitting in overall second place behind Australia, with only two races left before this Thursday’s (9 August) final and all-important medal event.

Heywood-born Keri-Anne Payne will be hoping to bring home a medal as she competes in the women’s 10 kilometre open-water marathon on Thursday.