London 2012 - Day 6 guide

5 April 2012

Over the next three weeks before tickets go on sale, Standard Sport will guide you through the 16 days of competition and 26 sports involved in the greatest show on earth...

Day 6 - Thursday August 2

Cycling

Where to watch it: BMX (Olympic Park); mountain biking (Hadleigh Farm, Essex); road (The Mall/Hampton Court Palace); track (Olympic Park)

When to watch it: BMX (August 8-10); mountain biking (August 11-12); road (July 28-29, August 1); track (August 2-7)

How the event works: mostly it's a straight race with first over the line getting gold. However, the time trial on the road is an individual race against the clock. Likewise, the track team pursuit is all about the quickest quartet against the clock although a round can be won if one quartet catches the other around the track. The omnium is track cycling's answer to the decathlon with a host of different disciplines deciding the medal winners over two days of action.

How many matches to win a medal: in the BMX each rider completes a time trial to seed them for the knock-out stages of quarter-final, semi-final and final. The road events are all one-off races. Most of the track events have three rounds while the omnium consists of five separate rounds. In the mountain biking there is just one race for the men and women.

The star of the sport: Sir Chris Hoy is the most famous track cyclist after his three golds in Beijing. However, he is not even guaranteed a Team GB spot - such is competition for places - let alone a medal.

Do the Brits have a medal chance? We are contenders in virtually every discipline although there won't be quite the same gold medal rush of Beijing with Olympic qualification and the number of events changed for 2012.

Did you know? The track event the keirin which sees cyclists jockey for position behind a motorbike originates in Japan, where it has a massive following.

Ticket prices: £20 to £325

Fencing

Where to watch it: ExCeL

When to watch it: July 28 - August 5

How the scoring works: the three disciplines - epee, foil and sabre - all boast the same scoring. Over three, three-minute rounds fencers pick up points for touching an opponent with the top of their sword or, in the case of the sabre, with the edge of their blade.

How many matches to win a medal: depending on the number of entries there are five or six rounds in the individual events and three or four in the team competition.

The star of the sport: Italy's Valentina Vezzali, 37, has won gold at the last four Olympics.

Do the Brits have a medal chance? Richard Kruse is our best bet and is ranked in the top 10 in the world for foil fencers.

Did you know? fencers compete on a piste, a narrow strip that is supposed to emulate a castle hallway where sword fights took place, according to tradition.

Ticket prices: £20 to £95

What else to watch on Day 6

Archery (Lord's), badminton (Wembley Arena), basketball (Olympic Park), beach volleyball (Horse Guards Parade), boxing (ExCel), canoe slalom (Lee Valley White Water Centre), equestrian dressage (Greenwich Park), artistic gymnastics (North Greenwich Arena), handball (Olympic Park), hockey (Olympic Park), judo (ExCel), rowing (Eton Dorney), sailing (Weymouth and Portland), shooting (Royal Artillery Barracks), swimming (Olympic Park), table tennis (ExCel), tennis (Wimbledon), volleyball (Earls Court), water polo (Olympic Park)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in