Saudia Arabian female out early at Olympic judo, athletics under way at main stadium

LONDON – The London Olympics burst into life on Friday with fans packing the 80,000-seat main stadium for early track events being rewarded with a world best for the 100-meter hurdles in the heptathlon for Britain’s Jessica Ennis.

Minutes into the morning program, Ennis broke the national record for the 100-meter hurdles, clocking 12.54 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded for the hurdles in the seven-discipline event.

Thousands of fans waved the Union Jack and gave Ennis a huge ovation when she was introduced for the last heat of the opening event. She didn’t disappoint, bettering the 12.62 run by Eunice Barber of France in 2005.

Later Friday, heats were scheduled in the women’s 100 and 400, the men’s 400-meter hurdles and 3,000-meter steeplechase. The evening finishes with medals up for grabs in the women’s 10,000 and the men’s shot put.

Saudia Arabia’s first female athlete, meanwhile, didn’t last long in her opening judo bout.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, appearing in a modified headscarf under a deal worked out between Olympic officials, the international judo federation and Saudi authorities, was out of her bout with Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica in just 82 seconds. A blue belt compared to other competitors’ black belts, she also looked out of her depth.

On the track, Qatar’s sprinter Noor al-Malki, given a wild card by the IOC, stumbled out of the blocks and fell to the ground within a few steps of her heat holding her leg and was taken from the track in a wheelchair. Saudi Arabia and Qatar were sending women to the games for the first time.

At the Aquatics Centre, Michael Phelps swims the 100 butterfly and will look to add to the two golds and two silvers he has won in five races in London.

Phelps’ last race before ending a career that has so far brought him a record 20 Olympic medals — 16 of them gold — is Saturday’s 4×100 medley relay.

At The All England Club in Wimbledon, it is semifinal day in Olympic tennis with local favourite Andy Murray taking on Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer playing Juan Martin Del Potro. In the women’s draw, Serena Williams plays Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova takes on Maria Kirilenko in an all-Russian semi.

Serena Williams is on Centre Court twice — she also plays with her sister Venus against Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova.

At the velodrome, Britain’s Victoria Pendleton rides in the keirin, a day after the disappointment of her disqualification in the team sprint. After setting a world record in qualifying, British men will be favourites to add the team pursuit title to the team sprint won Thursday.

In early action at the Olympic range, Sergei Martynov of Belarus became the second shooter in Olympic history to score the maximum 600 points in qualifying for the final of the men’s 50-meter rifle prone.

The top-ranked Martynov, competing in his sixth Olympics, matched the 16-year-old achievement by Christian Klees of Germany at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Klees went on the set the Olympic finals record at 704.8 points, which is also the world record.