updated 2:34 PM EDT, Sat July 28, 2012
Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura
competes during the men's artistic gymnastics qualification event on the
first day of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
HIDE CAPTION
Day 1: The best photos
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: U.S. women's football/soccer team ousted Colombia 3-0 sealing a quarter-finals spot
- NEW: Great Britain's women's football/soccer defeated Cameroon to secure a quarter-final place
- U.S. swimmers Phelps and Lochte will compete in the 400-meter individual medley final
- Chinese shooter Siling Yi is "very excited" to win the first gold of the Games
How are you celebrating the Olympics? Share your excitement and moments with CNN iReport.
London (CNN) -- China claimed the first Olympic gold
of the London 2012 Games on Saturday, with a victory for 23-year-old
Siling Yi in the women's 10-meter air rifle shooting, as the first
official day of the Summer Games got going.
"I'm very excited and
happy," she said, quoted by the official Games website. The world's No.
1, who started shooting at age 13, said there had been "a lot of
pressure" on her to perform.
The first American medal
was a silver, after its men's archery team fell to Italy in a riveting
gold metal match that wasn't determined until the final arrow.
The U.S. women's soccer team also ousted Colombia 3-0 on Saturday, securing a quarter-final spot.
Meanwhile, rival American
swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are set to go head-to-head in a
battle that will be a highlight of the day.
And Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku became the first athlete to be sanctioned for failing an anti-doping test at the London Games.
Pulaku, 20, tested
positive on Monday for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol, the
International Olympic Committee said, and has been excluded from the
competition.
Queen Elizabeth II made
an appearance at the Aquatics Center on Saturday to watch the action,
having officially declared the Games open the previous night during
director Danny Boyle's raucous, pop culture-themed opening ceremony.
Widely hailed in UK media
Saturday as showcasing in an inventive, and sometimes eccentric, way
what is best about Britain, the show included a short film featuring
Daniel Craig, the latest actor to play cinematic British spy James Bond,
and none other than the queen herself. It also paid tribute to
Britain's National Health Service and children's literature, as well as
its history.
Many of the swimmers were absent from the athletes' parade because of their early start at the Aquatics Center on Saturday.
Phelps and Lochte will
compete in the men's 400-meter individual medley -- a race that combines
four different swimming strokes -- after both made it through the heats
to the final, Phelps only by a whisker.
Phelps' slightly
below-par performance in the heats means the 400-meter individual medley
champion is situated in lane 8 for the final Saturday evening rather
than in the preferred middle lanes, where there's less chance of
disruption from other swimmers' waves. Lochte has lane 3.
The 27-year-old Phelps, who already has 14 gold medals from previous Games, is looking to add to his pot of Olympic gold.
Lochte, thought of as the biggest threat to Phelps, hopes to live up to the hype and steal his thunder.
Olympics: Opening ceremony
Fireworks lit up sky at Olympics opening
Michael Phelps' photo finish
The wrath of the Morris dancers
The highly anticipated match-up has had many choosing sides.
Presumptive GOP
presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he was leaning toward Phelps. "I
think it's more likely to be Phelps, but I don't know," Romney said
Friday during the opening ceremony.
Legendary swimmer Mark
Spitz, winner of seven medals at the 1972 Olympics, said he thinks
Phelps' experience will help him in the grueling 400-meter individual
medley.
"I put my money on
Michael," Spitz said. "It's going to be a good race. Any time they are
swimming together it is going to be a great rivalry. A great
competition."
But the Phelps-Lochte race is not the only highly anticipated swimming showdown Saturday.
The hosts will get to
cheer for their own when Hannah Miley competes in the women's 400-meter
individual medley. Miley, who has been called one of Britain's best
swimmers, could be challenged by American Elizabeth Beisel and Hungarian
Katinka Hosszu.
Team USA's Dana Vollmer set a new Games best of 56.25 seconds in the heats of the women's 100-meter butterfly.
As the first rounds of
the Olympic tennis tournament began, Swiss star Roger Federer returned
to the All England Tennis Club where he won the Wimbledon men's singles
title only three weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Britain's
hopes in Saturday's 250-kilometer cycling road race, in which newly
crowned Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins sought to aid fellow
Briton Mark Cavendish to a medal, were dashed as Kazakhstan's Alexander
Vinokourov put in a gutsy sprint to take the gold.
Thousands of spectators
had lined the route through the streets of London and along leafy roads
in neighboring Surrey to catch a glimpse of the riders racing by.
Organizers also predict big crowds on Sunday for the women's cycling
road race, as tickets aren't needed to watch the action.
Olympic fans, many
dressed up in their national colors, have also packed outdoor viewing
areas in Hyde Park and elsewhere to watch the day's events unfold on a
big screen.
The government said in a
statement Saturday that plans for the management of crowds, security
and transport appeared to be going well so far, including the exit of
large crowds from the Olympic Stadium following the late-night opening
ceremony.
Concerns had been raised
ahead of the Games about the capacity of London's already busy
transport network to deal with the hordes of visitors heading to the
Olympic Park and other venues.
Security also became an
issue ahead of the Games when the private contractor G4S revealed it
could not provide as many security guards as required. The British
military has stepped in to fill the gap.
London's Metropolitan
Police said more than 130 people were arrested Friday night as they took
part in a mass cycle protest. They are suspected of breaching
conditions imposed on the protest to prevent any disruption to Olympic
events, police said.
"People have a right to protest, it is an incredibly important part of our democracy," a police statement said.
"What people do not have
the right to do is to hold a protest that stops other people from
exercising their own rights to go about their business -- that means
athletes who have trained for years for their chance in a lifetime to
compete, millions of ticket holders from seeing the world's greatest
sporting event, and everyone else in London who wants to get around."
With more than a dozen
venues in London and 10 outside the capital, including football
stadiums, ensuring access and security for the many Olympic visitors is
no mean feat.
Rowing, another sport in
which Britain hopes to excel, got under way Saturday morning on the
lake in Eton Dorney, to the west of London.
Beijing bronze medal
winner Russia squared off against Canada on Saturday as women's
basketball started, while later in the day, Team USA competes against
Croatia.
All teams may be trying
to keep the U.S. women from winning their fourth straight gold medal.
Team USA has played Australia for gold in each of the past three
Olympics. Australia, led by 6-foot-5 Lauren Jackson, starts play late
Saturday against Team GB.
Women's soccer also came
to the fore Saturday as the men take a break, with Team GB defeating
Cameroon to secure a quarter-final place.
Some 25,000 fans showed
up to Wednesday's match against New Zealand, the biggest attendance for a
women's international match in Britain.
Current FIFA Women's World Cup holder Japan kicked off against Sweden on Saturday, a game that ended in a goalless draw.
Weightlifting, dressage and volleyball are among the other sports getting under way.
CNN's Stephanie Halasz, Amanda Davies and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.