Early Olympic Notes...

First Gold Medal

The first gold medal has gone to China. Yi Siling has just triumphed in the women's 10-meter air rifle shooting.

Phelps vs. Lochte

Maybe he was saving himself for the finals. but Michael Phelps was surprisingly slow in the 400-meter individual medley prelims Saturday. He barely made the field and will swim in Lane 8 in the final.  This will be the big Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte matchup.

Tennis is Underway

Tennis is on court at Wimbledon.

Bells Will Be Ringing...

No, not for Christmas just yet, I'm talking about the Olympics.

At precisely 8:12 on July 27, the day the curtain officially drops on the 2012 London Games, hundreds of thousands of Brits from all across the world will be encouraged to ring every bell they can find for three straight minutes.

Church bells. School bells. Door bells. Dinner bells. Cow bells. Butler bells. Bicycle bells. Car horns will be blowing, who knows what other sirens will be going off. They will all ring in celebration of the start of the Olympics, which will culminate with the opening ceremonies precisely 12 hours later.

Even historic Big Ben will get in on the act.

Men's and Women's Olympic Tennis Entry Lists

Here's who is slated to play Olympics singles and doubles.

Mixed Doubles TBA.

Men's singles entry list

- Argentina: Juan Martin del Potro, Juan Monaco, Carlos Berlocq, David Nalbandian

- Australia: Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt (*)

- Austria: Jurgen Melzer

- Belgium: Olivier Rochus, David Goffin, Steve Darcis

- Brazil: Thomaz Bellucci (*)

- Bulgaria: Grigor Dimitrov

- Canada: Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil (*)

- Chinese Taipei: Lu Yen-Hsun

- Colombia: Santiago Giraldo, Alejandro Falla

- Croatia: Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Ivan Dodig

- Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis

- Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek

- Finland: Jarkko Nieminen

- France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet

- Germany: Philipp Kohlschreiber

- Great Britain: Andy Murray

- India: Somdev Devvarman (*)

- Italy: Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini

- Japan: Kei Nishikori, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito

- Kazakhstan: Mikhail Kukushkin

- Luxembourg: Gilles Muller

- Netherlands: Robin Haase

- Poland: Lukasz Kubot

- Romania: Adrian Ungur (*)

- Russia: Mikhail Youzhny, Alex Bogomolov Jr, Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitry Tursunov

- Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Victor Troicki

- Slovak Republic: Lukas Lacko, Martin Klizan

- Slovenia: Blaz Kavcic (*)

- Spain: Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco

- Switzerland: Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka

- Tunisia: Malek Jaziri (*)

- Ukraine: Sergiy Stakhovsky (*)

- USA: John Isner, Andy Roddick, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison

- Uzbekistan: Denis Istomin 

(*)  ITF Place

Women's singles entry list

- Australia: Samantha Stosur

- Belarus: Victoria Azarenka

- Belgium: Yanina Wickmayer, Kim Clijsters

- Bulgaria: Tsvetana Pironkova

- Canada: Aleksandra Wozniak

- China, P.R.: Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zheng Jie

- Chinese Taipei: Hsieh Su-Wei

- Croatia: Petra Martic

- Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Petra Cetkovska, Klara Zakopalova

- Denmark: Caroline Wozniacki

- Estonia: Kaia Kanepi

- France: Alize Cornet (*)

- Georgia: Anna Tatishvili (*)

- Germany: Angelique Kerber, Sabine Lisicki, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges

- Great Britain: Anne Keothavong (*), Elena Baltacha (*)

- Hungary: Agnes Szavay

- Israel: Shahar Peer

- Italy: Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, Francesca Schiavone

- Kazakhstan: Galina Voskoboeva, Yaroslava Shvedova

- Liechtenstein: Stephanie Vogt (#)

- New Zealand: Marina Erakovic

- Paraguay: Veronica Cepede Royg (#)

- Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska, Urszula Radwanska

- Romania: Monica Niculescu, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea, Irina-Camelia Begu

- Russia: Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova

- Serbia: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic

- Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova

- Slovenia: Polona Hercog

- Spain: Anabel Medina Garrigues, Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Silvia Soler-Espinosa

- Sweden: Sofia Arvidsson

- Switzerland: Timea Bacsinszky

- Tunisia: Ons Jabeur (*)

- Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna Bondarenko (*)

- USA: Serena Williams, Christina McHale, Venus Williams, Varvara Lepchenko

(*)  ITF Place

(#) Tripartite Commission Invitation Place

Men's doubles entry list 

- Argentina: David Nalbandian/Eduardo Schwank (*)

- Austria: Jurgen Melzer/Alexander Peya

- Belarus: Alexander Bury/Max Mirnyi

- Brazil: Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares, Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (*)

- Canada: Daniel Nestor/Vasek Pospisil

- Colombia: Juan Sebastian Cabal/Santiago Giraldo (*)

- Croatia: Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig

- Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek

- France: Michael Llodra/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet

- Germany: Christopher Kas/Philipp Petzschner

- Great Britain: Andy Murray/Jamie Murray, Colin Fleming/Ross Hutchins

- India: Leander Paes/Vishnu Vardhan, Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna

- Israel: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (*)

- Italy: Daniele Bracciali/Andreas Seppi

- Japan: Kei Nishikori/Go Soeda (*)

- Netherlands: Robin Haase/Jean-Julien Rojer

- Poland: Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski

- Romania: Horia Tecau/Adrian Ungur (*)

- Russia: Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny (*)

- Serbia: Janko Tipsarevic/Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic/Victor Troicki

- Slovak Republic: Martin Klizan/Lukas Lacko (*)

- Spain: Marcel Granollers/Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer/Feliciano Lopez

- Sweden: Johan Brunstrom/Robert Lindstedt

- Switzerland: Roger Federer/Stanislas Wawrinka

- USA: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, John Isner/Andy Roddick

(*)  ITF Place

Women's doubles entry list 

- Argentina: Gisela Dulko/Paola Suarez

- Australia: Jarmila Gajdosova/Anastasia Rodionova, Casey Dellacqua/Samantha Stosur

- Canada: Stephanie Dubois/Aleksandra Wozniak (*)

- China, P.R.: Peng Shuai/Zheng Jie, Li Na/Zhang Shuai

- Chinese Taipei: Chuang Chia-Jung/Hsieh Su-Wei (*)

- Czech Republic: Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, Petra Cetkovska/Lucie Safarova

- France: Alize Cornet/Kristina Mladenovic (*)

- Georgia: Margalita Chakhnashvili/Anna Tatishvili (*)

- Germany: Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki, Julia Goerges/Andrea Petkovic

- Great Britain: Laura Robson/Heather Watson (*)

- Hungary: Timea Babos/Agnes Szavay (*)

- India: Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sania Mirza (*)

- Italy: Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta/Francesca Schiavone

- Kazakhstan: Yaroslava Shvedova/Galina Voskoboeva

- Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanska, Klaudia Jans-Ignacik/Alicja Rosolska

- Romania: Irina-Camelia Begu/Monica Niculescu, Sorana Cirstea/Simona Halep

- Russia: Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova, Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina

- Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova/Daniela Hantuchova

- Slovenia: Andreja Klepac/Katarina Srebotnik

- Spain: Nuria Llagostera Vives/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Anabel Medina Garrigues/Arantxa Parra Santonja

- Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (*)

- USA: Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond, Serena Williams/Venus Williams

(*)  ITF Place