BRITISH BOXER WINS 19TH GOLD MEDAL

James Degale, 23, has just won Britain's 19th Gold Medal in the Men's Middleweight Boxing Finals. James was the 40-1 outsider and is the 1st British boxer to win a gold medal since 1968. Tim Brabants added to his Gold Medal success by winning a Bronze Medal in the Men's Canoe/Kayak 500m.

Sarah Stevenson won a Bronze Medal in Taekwondo, Britain's 1st ever Olympic medal in this sport by defeating an Egyptian in the semi-final. Sadly she was defeated by a Mexican in the final. Lisa Dobriskey came 4th in the Women's 5000 metres, just missing a medal in her first Olympic Games. Britain's only remaining chance of a medal rests with 14 year old Tom Daley in the Diving Finals tomorrow morning.

Predictably Britain has slipped back to 4th place behind Russia, but has achieved an amazing total of 47 medals including 19 gold and is still the leading small nation.

Emma, my 6 year old granddaughter has just acquired 2 female guinea pigs, named Victoria (after Victoria Pendleton our Bedfordshire Olympic Cycling Sprint Champion)and Rebecca(after Rebecca Romero, also an Olympic Cycling Champion).

This afternoon I am off to spend the rest of the August Bank Holiday with my daughter Helen and 2 grandchildren Jessica, 5 and Oliver, 3, so I am taking a few days off. Will be back on line next week.

TEAM GB ACHIEVES 40 OLYMPIC MEDALS

British sailors won their 4th Gold Medal today when Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson beat the Swedish pair in the Star Sailing Event. David Davies won Silver Medal in the arduous open air Men's Marathon 10 km Swim and missed gold by 1.5 seconds. Phillips Idowu expected to win a gold medal in the Men's Triple Jump but had to settle for Silver.

Britain is 3rd in the medal table with 17 gold medals but Russia is close behind with 16 gold medals. We have more medal chances tomorrow - Shanaze Reade in Women's BMX Cycling, Tim Brabant in Men's Kayak and our 3 boxers.

WILD BRITAIN - IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE
Today I took Emma, my 6 year old granddaughter to Wild Britain at Bedford Butterfly Park, a conservation area set in 10 acres of wilflife meadows in Wilden. We saw a wonderful collection of tropical butterflies, followed the hedgehog interactive trail, fed the goats, watched a puppet show and Emma enjoyed the art and craft activities. If you are looking for a fun and educational day out for the family at modest cost why not visit Wild Britain.

STOP PRESS
The closing date for the Poll to find Bedford's Sexiest Politician has been extended to 29 August so you can still vote for me. I have 134 votes so far and I am in 3rd place but I need as many of your votes as possible. Today I received this great comment from an anonymous Blog reader -

"Congratulations on your worthy 3rd place, so far anyway. Maybe a late burst will get you at least a Silver! Hope my vote helped. Have enjoyed your Olympic blogs. Keep up the good work."

BRITISH GIRLPOWER IN BEIJING

Emma Pooley, a 25 year old Cambridge graduate won a Silver Olympic Medal yesterday and demonstrated the true Olympic spirit. On Sunday she took part in the gruelling Beijing Road Race, helping her team mate Nicole Clark to win Britain's 1st Gold Medal but only came 23rd herself. Yesterday it was Emma's turn and this tiny 7 stone cyclist battled up the Beijing hills on a specially adapted bicycle in the Women's Time Trial Cycling Event, missing a Gold Medal by just a few seconds.

On Tuesday the Equestrian Team achieved a double bronze in the 3-day Event, with Tina Cook, a 37 year old mother of two winning individual and team bronze medals with her 4 team mates including Mary King, Daisy Dick and Sharon Hunt.

Where are the British men? So far British women have won 5 of the 6 individual medals, including 2 Gold Medals for swimming and cycling and 9 of the 11 British medals overall. David Florence won a Silver Medal in canoeing and William Fox-Pitt a Team Bronze Medal in the 3-day Event but what happened to Andy Murray and Tom Daley the 14 year old British diving wonder?

Our Bedfordshire women have a chance to shine this weekend. On Tuesday Gail Emms, the Bedford badminton player won a ferocious 1st round match with her partner Nathan Robertson against the 2004 Chinese Olympic Champions. Victoria Pendleton, 2007 World Cycling Champion from Stotfold cycles on Saturday and Paula Radcliffe, 2005 World Marathon Champion, runs in the Sunday Marathon. Good luck to them all.

OLYMPIC GOLD FOR BRITISH WOMEN

Many congratulations to Nicole Cook a 25 year old Welsh cyclist from the Vale of Glamorgan who won the 1st Beijing Olympic Gold Medal for Team GB in the Women's Road Race on Sunday
and is the 1st Olympic Gold Medal winner for Wales in 36 years.

Britain's 2nd Olympic Gold Medal was won by 19 year old Rebecca Adlington in the 400 metre Women's Freestyle. Rebecca is the 1st female British swimmer to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 48 years. Team mate Joanne Jackson won a Bronze Medal.

David Florence was the first British man to win a medal - a silver in canoeing and The British Equestrian Team won bronze medals in 2 events. Kristina Cook won both individual and team bronze medals and was one of 4 women in the successful team.

Great Britain is now in 9th place with 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals and the women have performed best so far, winning 70% of the British Olympic medals.

STOP PRESS

You can still vote my Blog one of the 2008 Top Ten Political Blogs by googling www.totalpolitics/com/politicalblogs before 15 August 2008. Also the Bedfordshire's Sexiest Politician Poll on Blogging for Bedford - www.bloggingforbedford.go.uk - closes on 21 August.