On Wednesday, Russia’s Natalya Antyukh has won the women's 400-meters hurdles at the London Olympics to take the country’s gold medal count to 11. The 31-year-old athlete edged out world champion Lashinda Demus, missing the games record by just 0.06 seconds.

      Antyukh won in 52.70 seconds, with Demus 0.07 seconds behind. Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic got the bronze medal in 53.38.

      Another Russian athletics medal was brought by Yelena Sokolova on August 8, who finished second in the women’s long jump. The 26-year-old, who finished the day with a personal best of 7.07m, stood between two Americans: Britney Reese (7.12m) and Janay Deloach (6.89m).

      Eighteen-year-old Aleksey Denisenko has clinched a narrow win over Australia's Safwan Khalil to claim Olympic bronze in the men's flyweight taekwondo competition. This medal put an end to Russia's 12-year Olympic taekwondo drought. Spain’s Joel Gonzalez Bonilla beat South Korea’s Lee Daehoon in the final.

      And another Russia's bronze was brought by female freestyle wrestler Lyubov Volosova in the women's 63 kg freestyle, who defeated Poland’s Monika Ewa Michalik in a clinch at the end of the third period to win 3-1 on points. The first place was occupied by Kaori Icho of Japan, who won her third consecutive Olympic gold medal against China’s Jing Ruixue with a 3-0 win.

      Good news came this Wednesday from the volleyball ground when the Russian men’s volleyball team thrashed reigning World League holders Poland to set up a semi-final encounter with Bulgaria.