London 2010: San Roque beach volley player heads for quarter finals

Adrián Gavira in action
(Photo: grupojoly.com)

LONDON Adrián Gavira, a member of a well known San Roque family, is one half of Spain's Men's Beach Volley Ball doubles team. He and Pablo Herrera, from Castellón, beat their Czech opponents Kubala and Benes by two sets to love (25-23 y 21-16), in 40 minutes. It was Gavira who made the decisive moves in the match, according to the experts, in a match that was more even than shown by the score. But the Spaniards were playing at a disadvantage, after Herrera hurt his knee. Their next hurdle is against the USA's Rogers/Dalhausser, who beat Japan in their opening match.

London 2012: La Línea man aims for sailing gold

Trujillo training at Weymouth
(Photo: grupojoly.com)

LONDON/Weymouth The full Spanish sailing team arrived on Thursday. Among them was Rafael Trujillo ('Rafa' to his friends, as might be expected), who had been training there since May 28. Trujillo, silver medalist in the Finn class at Athens 2004, is ready to sail, having spent all that time testing new his boat and sails against unfamiliar winds. He is very punctilious about getting ready; he had been worried about his equipment for some time, and indeed one of the masts split. That made him decide to use his old boat instead, as well as much of the familiar equipment. We wish him well.

London 2012: Photo focus on the 'beach-girls'

LONDON The sport of female beach volley is probably the major attraction for photographers this year - no surprise. The beach-girls, as the Spanish media dub them, will carry on chasing medals in their mini shorts though not in bikinis: at the last minute their International Federation allowed them to use more Lycra where it might be needed. For years, this sport has been a sort of counterbalance to male-dominated athletic stardom. This is written shortly before the teams set off for their medals on Horse Guards Parade - which may or may not be the ideal venue for them, depending on which Guard you ask - one of the girls, Kerry Wals, twice gold from the USA, said, "I love playing in a bikini." German player Ilka Semmel put it more seriously, "Bikinis are more comfortable when it's hot. And anyway, we've been making the shorts shorter ourselves." (Sorry, gotta go watch them.)

London, a mosaic of inequalities: how the Spanish media sees Britain's capital

Olympic Torch at Battersea Dog's Home

The Olympic city is full of contrasts between different and separate social classes and a diversity of cultural identities

LONDON The Olympic Torch was carried through 33 of London's boroughs this week, the idea being to show an image of unity and harmony. The reality is very different, however. London is full of contrasts and inequalities, although, together with Paris and Berlin, the capital of the old British Empire is one of Europe's popular cities, having welcomed over 15 million tourists in 2011. This is a generalization of some of the comments offered up by the Spanish media, where the diversity of opinion is as varied as the variety of cultures of London's inhabitants.>>>

Rafa Nadal to carry Spanish flag at Olympics opening ceremony

Photo: sportchalk.com

SPAIN The world's number 2 in tennis, champion of Opens all over the place and a very nice chap by all accounts, Rafa Nadal, has been chosen by Spain's Olympic Committee, unanimously and without need of a vote, to carry his nation's flag during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics next July 17. The committee also gave formal approval of the Spanish Olympic Team, a total of 284 sports men (169) and women (115). A delighted Rafa, who was chosen among several athletes, said that "it is a great honour to carry my country's flag" and that it is likely to be one of the most "emotional days of my life". Well he would, wouldn't he?