United States' Serena Williams, left, celebrates with partner Venus Williams, right, after defeating Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova in a women's doubles gold medal tennis match at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, in London, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
United States' Serena Williams, left, celebrates with partner Venus Williams, right, after defeating Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova in a women's doubles gold medal tennis match at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, in London, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
In this photo provided by the Royal Mail Press Office a post box is painted gold in Penzance, England, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. The Royal Mail celebrated the Olympic gold medal of British rower Helen Glover by painting an iconic red post box gold in her home town of Penzance. (AP Photo/The Royal Mail Press Office, Phil Monckton)
Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana looks back as she runs on the finish straight to win gold during women's marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics on, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 in London. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Runners pass through the historic landmark of Leadenhall Market in London during the women's marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Julien Behal, PA)
Russia's Elena Savelyeva, right, fights North Korea's Kim Hye Song, during a flyweight 51-kg preliminary boxing match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
LONDON (AP) ? Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
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KING OF THE SEA
Britain's Ben Ainslie didn't win the race, but he still sailed into the history books.
By coming in ninth in Sunday's race, Ainslie won his fourth straight gold medal and fifth Olympic medal overall to eclipse Denmark's Paul Elvstrom as the most decorated sailing Olympian ever.
The key for the British sailor was to come ahead of Denmark's Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, who crossed last Sunday but still took the silver.
On the shores of Weymouth, where tens of thousands watched the race on Jumbotrons, British fans erupted in joy at Ainslie's achievement, waving a sea of Union Jacks.
? Sheila Norman-Culp ? Twitter http://twitter.com/snormanculp
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GOLD LETTER BOX
If you're British and you win a gold medal, you don't get money. You get a mailbox.
Well, your hometown gets a mailbox ? or, as they say here, a post box.
Well, actually, a post box in your hometown that is already there ? and is of the traditional red variety ? gets a golden makeover courtesy of the British Royal Mail.
On Sunday, crowds gathered in the center of the northern city of Sheffield, the home of heptathlon gold medalist Jessica Ennis, to see the gold paint being applied to a post box outside city hall.
Turning red paint to gold is no easy task. It requires one coat of primer followed by four coats of gold.
The cherry on the cake? As a gold medalist, Ennis also gets a postage stamp with her face on it. She does share that space with the queen, though.
? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb
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OLYMPIC INK
Tattoos of the iconic Olympic logo ? the five interlocked rings ? aren't just for the world's top athletes.
Amateurs, performers at the opening ceremony and tourists, too, have been inspired to get the Olympic spirit under their skin.
London tattoo parlors say the plain Olympic rings are the most popular choice for tourists and fans who want a permanent souvenir.
"They're mainly Americans ? there's a hell of a lot of Americans in town," said Darryl Gates, owner of the Diamond Jacks tattoo parlor.
British fans, meanwhile, are getting something more patriotic.
"We did the Team GB lion logo on two athletes who came in on opening ceremony day," said Scott Maclaren at the Fulham Tattoo Center.
? Sylvia Hui ? Twitter http://twitter.com/sylviahui
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NOT SIGHTSEEING
Ethiopia's Tika Gelana kept looking back at Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial, but she wasn't sightseeing.
Gelana was in the surprise position of upsetting the favored Kenyans in the women's Olympic marathon Sunday, and the run finishes on the Mall in front of those two British landmarks.
Setting off in the pouring rain, Gelana found a late kick. With clenched teeth she sprinted along the Mall, looking back to check the surge of Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya.
Gelana blew a kiss before as she crossed the line. The she fell to the red tarmac, exhausted.
Jeptoo was left to take silver.
? Sheila Norman-Culp ? Twitter http://twitter.com/snormanculp
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COE, CAT, CREAM
Sebastian Coe is purring like a very contented London Olympics organizing committee chairman on Sunday.
Like the cat that got the cream.
The morning after a stellar Saturday night for British athletics, the two-time 1,500 meters gold medalist was asked to share his favorite moment from the Olympic Stadium.
"It was a bit like glugging your way through a quart of cream. It just got better and better as the evening went on," Coe says at the daily news briefing.
? Graham Dunbar ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/gdunbarap
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BOXING MILESTONE
Russia's Elena Savelyeva is the first woman to win a boxing match in Olympic history. She defeated North Korea's Hye Song Kim 12-9 in the first female match on Sunday.
Kim took the first swing, a hooking right cross that missed the mark. The bout also had a female referee, Algeria's Kheira Sidi Yakoub, who also referees male fights.
? Greg Beacham ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/gregbeacham
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WILLIAMS GOLD
More Williams gold at Wimbledon just now: Serena Williams has teamed with big sister Venus to win the women's doubles title, adding to the gold she won a day earlier in singles.
The American sisters beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 under the roof on a rainy afternoon at Wimbledon. Venus closed out the match with a backhand volley winner after the Czechs saved a pair of match points.
On Saturday, Serena beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 for the singles gold. She joined Steffi Graf as the only women to complete the Golden Slam ? winning the Olympics and the four majors.
Serena became tennis' first double gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. The sisters also won the doubles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
? Janie McCauley ? Twitter http://twitter.com/janiemccAP
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GUATEMALAN SILVER
Before Erick Barrondo of Guatemala traveled to London to compete at the Olympics, he bought his family their first-ever TV.
Good decision.
His parents, both middle-distance runners, watched him race in the 20-kilometer walk in which he won a silver. It was first medal of any color at any Olympic games for the poverty-stricken and violence-wrecked Central American nation.
"It is a country that has suffered much, but that also has dreams," said Barrondo, a 21-year-old accounting student. "If somebody tomorrow changes a gun or a knife for a pair of shoes and begins to train for a sport, I would be the happiest person on earth."
Otto Perez, the president of Guatemala, said "this achievement shows what we can do with perseverance."
? Barbara Surk ?Twitter http://www.twitter.com/BarbaraSurkAP
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HARD HITTING
It's equal opportunity on the court in Olympic mixed doubles.
Finalist Laura Robson of Britain said she expects male opponents to hit the ball hard at her and she also expects partner Andy Murray not to hold back when he hits it at a female opponent.
"He's not going to hit it as hard as he can!" she said.
"I might," Murray said, smiling. "If it means winning a gold medal or losing one."
Robson said: "Sometimes I'd like him to hit it harder at the girl, but he's too nice."
Murray and Robson play Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus for Olympic gold later Sunday.
? Christopher Torchia
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ENGLISH BREAKFAST: JUBILATION
Jill Lawless of AP's London bureau has this to say about Sunday morning in the Olympic Games' host nation:
"Britain awoke, afraid it might all have been a dream. It wasn't."
Six gold medals, including three in track and field within the space of an hour, had given the country its best day at an Olympic Games since 1908. A country accustomed to sporting disappointment could scarcely contain its disbelief.
"Don't choke on your cornflakes," said a BBC morning TV presenter, before telling viewers that Britain, population 63 million, lay third in the medal table, behind the United States (population 310 million) and China (population 1.3 billion).
Sunday British newspapers tried to outdo one another in front-page superlatives.
The Observer declared it "Britain's greatest day," and the Sunday Times ? reaching for wartime resonances ? said it was "Our finest Olympic hour."
"The six pack," said The Sun ? referring, in true tabloid style, both to the gold medalists and to the washboard abs of heptathlon champ Jessica Ennis.
? Jill Lawless ? Twitter http://twitter.com/JillLawless
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MEDAL FOR CYPRUS
For the first time at an Olympics, there's a medal for the country of Cyprus.
Sailing champion Pavlos Kontides has earned the small island nation's first-ever Olympic medal. The 22-year-old Kontides has assured himself at least a silver medal in the Laser class and has a slim chance at clinching the gold in Monday's final race.
Cypriot media are praising his achievement as the "brightest page in Cyprus' sporting history." It's certainly a milestone for the island: While Cyprus is said to have fielded some Olympic champions in antiquity, Kontides' medal is its first since the island started taking part in the modern-day Olympics in the 1980 Moscow Games.
The medal offers some cheer to ethnically-split Cyprus roiling under an economic crisis that in June saw it become the fifth country to seek an economic rescue package from its eurzone partners.
It's fitting that Cyprus' first Olympic medal comes in sailing, since the seafaring nation's sailing heritage stretches back millennia. Its current shipping registry ranks 10th in the world.
? Menelaos Hadijcostis in Nicosia, Cyprus
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LET'S RUN TWO TODAY
The fastest men in the world on one of the fastest tracks around. Should make for an electric night in the 100-meter dash.
Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and the rest of a blazing will run in the semifinals, with the fastest advancing to the finals on Sunday night.
Bolt was just OK in the preliminaries on Saturday, starting poorly on his way to a 10.09. That's good for sixth fastest, but the world record holder says he feels great heading into the big day. Americans Ryan Bailey and Justin Gatlin are also in the mix.
"My legs are great. My training has been great," Bolt says. "I'm feeling better."
? Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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ANYONE FOR ENNIS?
This wasn't a competition. It was a coronation.
With a healthy lead in the heptathlon, Britain's Olympic poster girl Jessica Ennis could almost have walked around the final event, the 800 meters. But the roars of 80,000 fans carried her over the line in first place.
As she headed around the second and last lap, the Olympic Stadium announcer implored the crowd to make more noise. And, somehow, they did. And they carried her over the line in first place.
I've been in some noisy stadiums in my time (vuvuzelas in South Africa, anybody?) but this felt ? I could physically feel the roar ? like the loudest by far.
? Mike Corder ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/mikecorder
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EDITOR'S NOTE ? "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.
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