Swimmer David Davies wins silver medal for Britain

David Davies, of Cardiff, added to the British run on medals with a silver in what was only the third 10km marathon swim of his career, finishing 1.5sec behind Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden after dominating for most of the race on in a rain-swept Shunyi Olympic Rowing lake. The champion’s story is one that will be filed in the book of Olympic lore in the chapter entitled “Against the odds”: he was just 20 when he was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukaemia. Given only a slim chance of survival, his treatment included chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Now 27, he is the first Olympic 10km marathon champion in history. After having set the pace for almost every metre of the way, Davies put in a blistering turn of speed 1km out but he led the leading three, including Thomas Lurz of Germany down the middle of the course... [read full story]