Day 13 - As It Happened

1630 Right that's your lot for today! I'm off now for one of my trademark lie-downs after another hard day at the Olympic office. Join us tomorrow morning bright and breezy at 1am, if anyone is ever breezy at 1am, for day 14 of the Games.

1628 GOLD Football - USA are the Olympic champions as they edge a 1-0 win against Brazil - the South Americans gave it everything at the end but could not force an equaliser.

1626 Equestrian - Ben Maher has just clattered a load of fences in his run and now has no chance of a medal I'm afraid.

1623 Basketball - Australia lead China 53-31 in the women's quarter-finals in the third quarter and look nailed-on for the final.

1615 Football - USA have taken the lead in extra time, with just 15 minutes to go now they lead 1-0 and the gold is theirs to lose.

1549 Football - USA and Brazil need extra time to settle their gold medal argument, and the final whistle goes with the teams locked at 0-0.

1547 Equestrian - The show jumping will be coming to a conclusion soon, it's tense there with one fence down making all the difference.

1513 1512 - Evora is in tears as he claims his gold medal, Idowu's not far off himself after only bagging silver, that's a big let down for GB fans as Idowu has been the best around all year but just could not find it in the Bird's Nest.

1511 GOLD Triple Jump - Idowu can't do it! Nelson Evora of Portugal takes the gold medal and the Briton can only take the silver, the look on his f ace says it all, he didn't come to Beijing for silver but Evora just got the better of him.

1510 Triple Jump - Here comes Phillips on his last jump!

1501 Hockey - Spain hang on to knock out defending champions and favourites Australia in the semis in a big shock, and a big blow for the Aussies' hopes of adding more gold.

1457 Triple Jump - Just one more jump left for Idowu now as he gets his fifth attempt all wrong and he's struggling to get the gold we all expected.

1456 Hockey - Spain take a late lead against Australia in the men's semis! 3-2 they lead now with two minutes left to play.

1447 Athletics - Robles was brilliant in that win and he simply strolled through the final, Americans David Payne and David Oliver take silver and bronze but they were miles back.

1446 GOLD Athletics - Regulation win for Dayron Robles as he cruises away with the 110m hurdles gold medal in a supreme performance and he clocks 12.93 at a canter!

1445 Hockey - It's 2-2 now in the men's hockey semi-finals between Australia and Spain with under ten minutes left before extra time and the possibility of another exciting shoot-out.

1443 Triple Jump - Idowu goes big! But it's a red flag and he's now got two more jumps left to try and claim the lead back. The tension mounts..

1442 Basketball - USA have beaten Russia 67-52 to reach the Olympic final of the women's basketball tournament.

1438 Triple Jump - Nelson Evora jumps 17.67 to go into the lead again - Idowu is right up against it now this is going to be some competition.

1431 GOLD Diving - Women's 10m platform title goes to China, as all the diving medals have done, with Chen Ruolin coming out on top. Briton's Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell finished 8th and 10th.

1427 Athletics - Warriner basically gave up once her saw Merritt was ahead in the straight, nobody expected this! David Neville literally dived over the line and looks to have claimed bronze for a USA 1-2-3, at least America get some pride back on the track.

1426 GOLD Athletics - LaShawn Merritt downs his compatriot Jeremy Warriner in the 400m final to take shock gold from the defending champion! Massive upset here, terrible race from Warriner, tied up badly in the straight.

1419 Triple Jump - Leevan Sands of the Bahamas goes close with 17.59m and he goes into silver medal position, was holding my breath then that looked big.

1417 Triple Jump - Great leap from the big man and Idowu records 17.62m in his third round to go back to the top of the standings and in gold medal position half way through.

1406 Basketball - USA are are leading Russia 45-38 in the women's semi-finals.

1400 Football - Brazil and the USA have kicked off their gold medal match in the women's competition.

1356 Triple Jump - Idowu's second attempt does not get him back in front as it's only 17.31m, and he needs to go big to get back in front.

1354 Triple Jump - Nelson Evora has jumped in front of Idowu, a borderline foul for me right on the board, but the white flag went up.

1350 Athletics - Complete carnage out on the track now in the women's 4x100m, what has happened to the Americans? The women have followed the men in dropping the batton on the last leg - do they practice this at all? GB managed to get round safely this time though and make the final.

1349 GOLD Softball - The final ever softball gold medal goes to Japan - who have shocked the USA 3-1 in the final.

1347 Hockey - Australia are 1-0 up on Spain in the men's semis and looking good for the final, although Spain are on the attack.

1346 Athletics - Veteran Larry Achike falls short of 17 metres in his first jump. Meanwhile GB have been disqualified from the 4x100m - seems a correct call after PIckering's brainstorm in the final changeover, a great chance for GB lost with the Americans already out, let's see if the women can do better.

1338 Triple Jump - Phillips makes an easy first jump but at 17.51m he still goes into the lead up to now.

1336 Athletics - More drama here, and the Brits can do no better than the USA! Craig Pickering takes off miles too soon, don't know what he was thinking there! They look to be outside the changeover box but as yet they're still in, must be a big fat DQ coming GB's way though.

1335 GOLD Athletics - Czech Republic's Barbora Spotakova takes the women's javelin, chucking the second-best distance of all-time to claim the title on her last throw.!

1334 Athletics - Fale start in Britain's heat of the 4x100m relay...

1327 Athletics - Goldie Sayers just misses out a medal in the javelin as she finishes an agonising fourth place! Bad luck there.

1323 Athletics - Drama in the men's 4x100m relay - Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay get it all wrong on the last changeover and they're out! Patton's fault for me, didn't get anywhere near Gay's palm with the baton, America's sprinters are having a shocker. In the very next lane though the Nigerians look like a couple of schoolboys messing up their changeover, very comical errors by the Africans.

1315 GOLD Pentathlon - Russia's Andrey Moiseev takes the men's gold, becoming the first man for 52 years to win back-to-back titles.

1313 GOLD Taekwondo - South Korea's Lim Su-Jeong won the Olympic women's taekwondo 57kg category.

1310 Athletics - Michael Rimmer bows out of the 800m semis in a bizarre race that saw one of the best in the world this year Abubaker Kaki finish last and Algerian Nabil Madi spring a shock win.

1304 Hockey - Surprise, surprise! Holland miss their penalty and the Germans rush on the celebrate making it through to the final, I've seen that scene before one too many times for my liking.

1258 Hockey - Both Holland and Germany missed two pens each and at 3-3 it goes to sudden death - what drama at the hockey pitches!

1254 Hockey - Germany and Holland have gone to penalties in their tense semi-final, if it's anything like football the Dutch will bottle it and the Germans will stay calm to go through.

1254 GOLD Water polo - Holland have won the women's water polo gold medal.

1245 Football - It's all over now, the bronze is in the bag for the Germans as they have gone 2-0 up against Japan in the closing few minutes.

1241 Football - Germany are heading for the bronze in the women's football as they lead Japan 1-0 with just eight minutes left to play.

1240 Hockey - Germany levelled late on and the men's semi-final has gone into extra time.

1239 Athletics - That was a terrific display from Campbell-Brown. Michael Rimmer's up soon in the 800m semis, while Goldie Sayers has just gunned her javelin 65.75m in a national record and she goes third.

1235 Athletics - Campbell-Brown ran a great bend and would never get caught in the straight - Allyson Felix had a shocking start but came back for silver, that might have cost her gold though, Kerron Stewart took bronze, just about, for Jamaica.1234 GOLD Athletics - Defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown takes the 200m gold! Another sprint victory for the all-powerful Jamaicans as Campbell-Brown follows Usain Bolt's win in the men's 200.

1232 Handball - Norway beat South Korea 29-28 in the Olympic women's handball semi-final to set-up a gold medal decider against either Hungary or Russia.

1226 Betting - So what about big Phillips Idowu later then? Sky Bet have him at 4/7 to win the triple jump Click here Betting to have a bet, I think he's a stick-on!

1226 GOLD Wrestling - Russia are denied another wrestling gold by Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan as he won the men's 120kg category beating Bakhtiyar Akhmedov in the final.

1225 Athletics - Lisa Dobriskey qualifies pretty well in the end as she finishes third in her heat and she goes safely through to the final - a very confident performance there from the Brit just following the leaders and kicking into third place in the final 50m.

1222 Hockey - Holland are 1-0 up on Germany in the men's semis with just three minutes left to play.

1217 Athletics - Susan Scott finishes well down the straight but just misses out as she finishes fourth and that time doesn't seem to be quick enough for her to be in contention.

1211 Athletics - Sixth placed for Twell, only three go through so she'll have to wait to see if she sneaks through as a fastest loser.

1208 Athletics - Steph Twell's of fin the heats of the 1500m. My man Idowu is on later - I'm convinced it's another gold for GB in the triple jump.

1157 Football - Germany 0 Japan 0 at half time in the women's bronze medal match.

1139 GOLD Wrestling - Another gold for Russai as they close in on GB's tally with Shirvani Muradov winning the men's 96kg freestyle wrestling - that's the sisxth gold Russia have won in wrestling as they move two golds behind Britain, and the Aussies go on about GB's medals being in dodgy sports!

1138 Medals - Neil's predicting that GB have peaked! The Aussies will come back stronger and by 2016 Britain will be down in the doldrums again, good positivity Neil, glass half empty by any chance?

1127 Athletics - It's also the men's 400m final with Warriner and Merritt, and Martyn Rooney hoping to medal for GB, seems it's just the bronze to go for in all honesty with the two American stars dominant. Also the 110m hurdles final and women's 200m.

1127 Athletics - Not long before the action gets underway at a soggy Bird's Nest, we've got Phillips Idowu going for triple jump gold and Lisa Dobriskey, Steph Twell and Susan Scott in the 1500m semis medal chances for them?

1111 Hockey - Semi-final time in the men's hockey and first up it's Holland playing Germany and early on it's still scoreless.

1109 Football - Germany and Japan are getting it on in the bronze medal match in the women's competition - Brazil and USA go for gold later on.

1107 Drugs - I'm telling you it's true! Some of you think it's some big wind-up but this is genuine alright.

1048 Drugs - Another doping scandal I'm afraid in the Olympics - this time four horses have been banned from Thursday's show jumping competition for doping, no, honestly it's true! Don't really know what to say to that.

1044 GOLD Wrestling - Some good news for Georgia with Revazi Mindorashvili taking the men's 84kg freestyle wrestling gold by beating Yusup Abdusalomov of Tajikistan in the final.

1036 Pentathlon - Britain's Sam Weale gets 224 penalty points from his round of show jumping in the modern pentathlon - it is a long day for these athletes with all five events on the same day.

1013 Emails - "I can't understand the Aussies really, the only real difference between most of them and us 'Brits' is our ancestors didn't get caught." from John in Germany, of course I could not possibly comment on such a statement, I am merely showcasing viewers' comments thats all, I'm neutral, like Switzerland.

0959 Boxing - a word for Michael Allen on the boxing, its a rest day today ahead of the semi-finals tomorrow and the finals over the weekend.

0957 Golds - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson get their gold medals and the national anthem booms out for the 17th time this Olympics - the weather is awful in Qingdao, so Weymouth in 2012 hasn't got much to live up to there, what with lack of wind followed by torrential rain.

0946 BMX - An update for Martin Lester - the BMX finals involving Britain's Shanaze Reade have been called off for the day and rescheduled to tomorrow due to the heavy rain in Beijing - out athletes must be feeling at home with all the rain they've had, maybe that's the key to their success?

0940 Betting - On the betting front, we had an emailer yesterday lumping on Walter Dix in the 200m hoping Bolt got injured or something, with so many DQs Dix nearly did get a gold. My wager of the day was the 3-1 Bolt to set a new world record, nice touch that.

0938 Record - No Usain Bolt today, but what about Jeremy Warriner in the 400m final - Leshawn Merritt will push him all the way but could it be for a record? Michael Johnson coaches Warriner, wonder if he'll be telling him not to break another one of his long-standing records!?

0930 Emails - Robin Geary is jumping in on the GB v Aussies clash, claiming our friends Down Under are suffering from a sourness of the grapes, another gold this morning in the sailing could have sealed up the medal battle with Australian, unfortunately though Robin the Ashes could be a different story!

0927 We've been sent a rather philosophical email from Tony Tapper. He says: "Richard Nixon, famously, said 'show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser'. That appears to be Australia's motto, nowadays. Well, a) he wasn't exactly a good role model and b) it doesn't therefore follow that being a bad loser makes you a winner. Contrast with Shawn Crawford of the USA who having just lost his 200 metre title to Usain Bolt, in a new world record, picked the guy up and carried him round the stadium. Or, David Davies, despite the disappointment of just missing gold in the 10K swim, sang the praises of the man who beat him, who had had to beat cancer just to make the start line.Losing one race doesn't make them "losers". These people are winners because of their strength of character and generosity of spirit, regardless of the colour of a piece of metal hanging round their necks. Can we get a measurement of character, "per capita", as well?" Good thoughts there. Meanwhile Dr Stuart Fuller adds: "I'm a teacher at a school in Brisbane. All the talk from teachers and kids about the Olympics died down over the last weekend as Britain surged ahead of the Aussies - all that is apart from me!"

0925 Vicki Bartlett asks: "We're having a huge debate in our house (possibly slightly pointlessly) about why in the athletics lane one isn't used, but lane nine is. We've managed to all come up with all sorts of stupid suggestions, but were wondering if you could give us a definite answer to stop the confusion!" Have you come up with either lane nine is closer to the spectators or that lane one is too tight and athletes would prefer to be wider? Anyone have the official answer?

0923 Canoeing - Great Britain's Lucy Wainwright is through to the final of the 500m K1 final after powering through to finish second in her semi-final. Another medal chance there perhaps.

0922 It's been a fantastic morning for Great Britain with another sailing gold and David Davies earning a silver in the open water event. There should be more to come on the track later with Phillips Idowu competing in the triple jump and I'll now hand over to Paul Higham who will take you through the rest of the day's action. If you want your thoughts and views published, email him now at paul.higham@bskyb.com

0920 Malcolm Norquoy, in Malaysia, says: "Having cleared up the fact that a nation is defined by one government (Great Britain) and that Great Britain is recognised as a country by the UN (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not), can we now progress the per capita excuse the Aussies are making? I would put a large wager that the Aussie investment in sport, school and beyond, per capita is far in excess of Great Britain's. So they should have no excuse for being beaten by the Brits in any sport!"

0915 Canoeing - Attila Sandor Vajda of Hungry will be one of the favourites to land gold in Saturday's C1 500m final having qualified as fastest in today's semi-finals. Other leading contenders will be France's Mathieu Goubel and Iurii Cheban of Ukraine.

0910 Jason Berry, an Estonian cricketer in Mauritius, says: "I would like to echo the chap from South Africa, great blog and great to keep in touch with how the Brits are doing. To see us so high in the medal table is amazing. Lottery money does make a huge difference, and at last some good can come from the population's addiction to buying lottery tickets! However one small grumble: why can baseball make the Olympics and cricket can't? With over 101 countries now playing, and with a format of Twenty20 that can fit in time wise, why is it so difficult to include cricket? I have currently the world record for having played in 128 countries, and I know therefore that the sport is truly international." Well I think it might have an outside chance of getting in the Olympics one day but I'm not sure big professional sports need to be involved. It's an ongoing debate but I agree the Twenty20 format would feasibly work and bring a lot of excitement to the Games.

0900 Canoeing - With Tim Brabants through to the K1 500m final, it's now time for the flatwater C1 semi-finals. This event is sheer hard work as they kneel on their canoe and just have the one oar to propel them forward. You have to wonder why they don't opt to compete in the downhill slalom - arguably the most fun of all water events.

0855 Jonathan Hallt says his favourite Olympic moment so far is David Davies' efforts earlier this morning in the open water event. He says: "How much further did he swim than the other competitors? Although clearly the best swimmer in the field, he gave everything as shown by his exhaustion after the race. He still finished second and yet had the biggest smile on his face at the medal ceremony for he realised the enormity of his achievement - second best on the day in the world. His humbleness in his post raise comments and unbridled congratulations and praise of the winner show that he is not just a true gentleman but epitomises what the Olympic ideal is all about. For that he is my hero of the Olympics to date and I only hope that he learns to swim straight for future events! As an ex-pat living in Perth, Australia since 2000, I can concur with all comments posted to this site. Australians are the worst losers in the world and for England or Team GB to beat them is an insult of the highest order. I salute all of our Olympians especially our medal winners - bring on London 2012." I agree about Davies, he emerged from today a moral winner if not the gold medallist.

0850 Kevin Pears has answered my question from 0825, and says: "I guess that people will opt for football because to top the medal table would require a lot of medal from the Scots and a few from the Welsh and Northen Irish." Tom O'Neill has backed up his theory by sayiing: "If forced to chose I'd pick the 2010 football World Cup."

0845 Boon-Teck Yeo has emailed in from Hong Kong and says: "Based on the current performance of the British team in Beijing, I believe the London Games 2012 will feature a three-horse race for the top of the medals table. UK as host nation should perform better (add 20% more medals) and China will find it hard to replicate their rich vein of form (deduct another 20%). With USA maintaining roughly the same number of medals, London may provide the stage for more competition. Let's also not forget the rest of Europe will find it easier to adapt to London. Not sure how the Aussies would perform then." Thought-provoking stuff there, can Team GB really top the medal table? Just imagine that!

0842 Canoeing - Tim Brabants has just finished third in his semi-final and he'll be disappointed with that showing even though he does progress to the medal race. There is plenty of room for improvement, especially at the start where he failed to keep with the early explosive pace.

0837 Canoeing - It's semi-final time for the men's and women's K1, K2, C1 and C2 500m events out on the Shunyi Rowing Park. Great Britain's Tim Brabants goes in the second K1 semi-final.

0835 Thanks to Mark Yansifski, an ex-pat in South Africa, for this email: "Great Blog, really enjoying it. The coverage here is pretty good. We've got five channels devoted to the Games so I've been thriving in the Gold Haul. It really has been a fantastic spectacle, with China putting on a wonderful spread and our boys and girls really making us proud. Talk over here is of the disappointing SA attempt, with only one medal thus far after promising plenty in the swimming. It's amazing how the events that would otherwise be overlooked by myself such as Gymnastics and Handball have really been fantastic to watch.I'm a big football fan but the Olympics really are the greatest sporting event on the Globe. It definitely helps that we're having a good run but after being an athlete in my youth I find myself teary eyed whenever a Gold is won or a record broken, even if they fall to another country. What an amazing spectacle!" I'm so glad there are other people out there who put the Olympics higher than football in importance because like you said, what other events can bring us all to tears - even if it's someone leaping into a sand pit!

0826 Nick Watson has sent in a couple of betting tips for you all to consider. He says: "My tip for the day is that Martyn Rooney will win the bronze medal in the 400 metres in a UK record time of 44.28 seconds! That would arguably be one of the top British performances at these Olympic games given the quality of the opposition. Incidentally we must also have a good chance of winning gold in the women's 4x400m. In regards to Idowu it is important that he gets a good first jump in and can then relax and try and consolidate."

0825 I would say these Olympics have made us more proud to be British than anything the English football team have achieved in recent years. So here's a good question, what would you all rather, Team GB to top the medal table in London 2012 with some truly great performances, or England to win the 2010 football World Cup?

0820 Thomas Holland says: "I would just like to say how proud I am to be British. The debate goes on as usual between poms-v-oz - I'm working out here in Qatar and we have one or two Aussies out here and their latest excuse for being failures is that not all the athletes for team GB were born in GB! I pity them in 2012 maybe they will have got there act together by then! Also would like to congradulate not only the sailing crews but also all the competitors who make it great to be British!"

0812 Andrew Williams has emailed in about the excuses of the Aussies, saying: "Yes it is a bit comical but I've been here a long time so I keep a foot in both camps. Think the trouble is there's just no concept of Australia being anything but world champs in cricket, rugby union, rugby league, netball, over achieving in soccer etc, so really they don't know how to handle coming second (or worse). As for four countries in Great Britain...puh-leez! All vote for the same Government, pay taxes to the same place, there are no passport or visa requirements, all share the funding. All the rest of the world is doing is 'catching up'."

0805 Modern Pentathlon - Not wanting to bring us all back down to earth with a bump, but British modern pentathlon duo Sam Weale and Nick Woodbridge are lying down in 11th and 32nd position respectively after three events. That said credit must go to Woodbridge, who came second in the swimming to lift himself away from the rock bottom position of 36th.

0800 Leigh Mason is delighted with another gold for Team GB this morning. He says: "Surely we have cemented third place in the medals table now after this morning's gold because, after all, we are guaranteed three medals in the boxing and the way David Price is performing at the minute that's one more gold at least ( Not to mention Philips Idowu later today.)" You're not wrong! I don't think 20 gold medals is completely out of the question either and that would be a stunning effort.

0755 Pete Wheatley says: "It's currently a joy to be Brit living in Oz, their ability to handle losing is actually getting comical. The current excuse doing the rounds in the office refers to team GB being more than one country so it doesn't count, laughable. My fellow pommes in the the office are now taking up the call of Australia being like Liverpool FC - all the talk but in the end - just not good enough!" I shouldn't have published that because this should be a football freezone! They'll be time for plenty of football talk between now and London 2012 so lets forget it exists for the time being!

0750 The medal table is looking even better now! The Russians were closing the gap but Great Britain's 17th gold has put them three clear in third place! And there's still Phillips Idowu to come later on in the triple jump. Surely he must top the podium at the Bird's Nest Stadium.

0745 Sailing - What an stunning climax to the Olympic sailing regatta for Great Britain! The team really have ruled the waves in Qingdao with four golds and you just have to wonder how much more successful they can be at London 2012. Please send in all your reaction to the latest British gold to christopher.hammer@bskyb.com

0742GOLDSailing - It's gold for Great Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star class and boy how close was that! In an incredible finish they just about managed to cling on to fifth place in the final race which was enough to finish ahead of Brazil and Sweden in the overall standings.

0740 Athletics - The decathlon has been taking place today and after the third event - the shot put - America's Brian Clay is way out in front on 2862 points. Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine has now moved up to second with Trey Hardee slipping to third while Roman Sebrle is languishing in 10th and Britain's Daniel Awde is 31st.

0735 Sailing - It's very tense in Qingdao because the Great Britain boat are looking very vulnerable in gold position. Sweden and Brazil are the main rivals and it's still all to play for. Anything could happen given these blustery conditions out at sea.

0732 Scott Barth, in Libya, says the Aussies he works with are congratulating Team GB! He also asks how Shanaze is getting on in the BMX. Well, unfortunately, the BMX has been postponed today due to the awful weather and it will now take place tomorrow morning.

0730 Sailing - Back to the medal race in the Star class and the Brits are now in gold position! It's so exciting right now although the Swedes are still lurking so don't count on victory just quite yet.

0725 Ciaran Carberry, an Irishman living in Australia, has sent in his thoughts on the moaning Aussies, saying: "Fair enough I normally would be on anyone's side when supporting teams other than the Brits, but that per capita thing and "hey it should be on total medals not just golds" is embarrasing really. Anyway good luck to the Irish men in the semis of the three disiplines in Boxing (one of which is against a brit)!"

0720 Sailing - The Star class are under way in their medal race with GB pairing Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson going for gold but their chances do rest on a knife edge. They must beat the Swedes and finish in the top six of this final race.

0715 Philip Lomax says: "I don't so much know what my favourite moment has been, the most repetitive has been the handing over of gold medals to the Chinese competitors. I'm watching in Hong Kong and the events we actually see on television are those with Chinese winners, we see lots of medal ceremonies though, but don't always see how they actually won."

0710 Equestrian - Tonight's showjumping final in Hong Kong could be postponed with a typhoon in the region expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds this afternoon. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.

0705 Mike Selby, a Brit who now lives in South Africa, says: "Although there have been some really outstanding individual achievements from the British Team, the greatest achievement is the way it has all come together so obviously, and they are a TEAM. Fom the very first medal by Nicole Cooke there was an aura about the whole team, they could win anything. Well done to you all, the true spirit of the Olympics is alive and well. I for one cannot wait for 2012." I remember back in Sydney in 2000, Jason Queally winning gold was seen as the inspiration which had an incredible snowball effect on the rest of the team. This time it was Nicole Cooke and we've never looked back!

0700 Nigel Stafford, in Sydney, says: "As another pom living in Australia, I am enjoying the Brits' great haul of medals. My wife is an Aussie and she keep on about the GB team being England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales so we should have more medals but per capita they should have about 90 odd gold medals. She also reckons we are good at triple jump and long jump because we are used to jumping over puddles. Go GB." Well, there are plenty of puddles on the track inside the Bird's Nest Stadium so hopefully this will help Phillips Idowu a later on today!

0655 Swimming - Earlier David Davies won a silver for Great Britain in the open water event and he's since praised the winner Maarten van der Weijden of Holland. He said: "Maarten's had a cancer battle in the past and almost had to give up the sport. It's almost like a Lance Armstrong story. He's a complete gentleman and a great ambassador for the sport and he's Olympic champion now. I said to him at the end that I was really proud of him. He's a really tough competitor, his story's amazing and one that can inspire people. What he has achieved is phenomenal."

0651 Volleyball - America have given themselves a shot at indoor volleyball gold after the women's team easily beat Cuba by three sets to nil in the first semi-final. They will now face either China or Brazil.

0650 Simon Ward says: "I must echo all the ex-pats in Australia, when I say that this is almost as good as the Rugby World Cup and Ashes 2005 thrashings of these poor winner, poorer loser Aussies. Even the TV coverage here won't show or even mention GB athletes if they can help it. Even when Davies was leading the 10km swim, all they prattled on about was how courageous Ky Hurst was being. It's sickening. and it doesn't only happen for the Olympics. Keep up the great coverage and here's to a hatful more golds in the closing days."

0645 Handball - In a women's handball placement clash the hosts China have beaten Sweden 20-19 but it means nothing as far as medals are concerned.

0642 Modern Pentathlon - The second event of the men's modern pentathlon has been completed - the fencing - but any hopes of a British medal are fading fast. Sam Weale is 19th but it's worse for Nick Woodbridge, who is in last position. The leader is China's Qian Zhenhua so another home gold is on the cards.

0640 Sailing - Next up at sea is British duo Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson going for glory in the Star class. They lie in second position behind Sweden in the standings heading into the race so lets keep our fingers crossed.

0635GOLDSailing - Spain have won gold in the Tornado class out in Qingdao, with Australia getting the silver and Argentina bronze. The actual race was won by Great Britain pair Leigh McMillan and Will Howden but it was never going to be enough to snatch a medal.

0630 Volleyball - In the indoor women's competition, the USA are now leading Cuba by two sets to nil in the first semi-final are well on course for the gold-medal match.

0625 My mailbox is being flooded by all your comments on this 'per capita' argument! More emails have come in about this than Usain Bolt! Andrew Soutar from Singapore says: "I think the "per capita" argument is valid. Australia now need to approach the world's cricket and rugby authorities to have the rules changed. Since their population is around 1/3 that of the UK, an Australian try in rugby should be worth 15 points, and each run scored should count as three, when playing against England. That should give them some hope of winning something." Anthony Parson is also voicing his opinion on the matter, saying: "I'm an ex-pat now living in Sydney and I too have heard the 'per capita' argument. That argument might have some validity if everyone from every nation was competing. Surely a more relevant argument would be the number of medals won per team size. However, the Aussies wouldn't go for that, they've sent 433 athletes to Beijing and have won 36 medals where Britain has sent only 311 athletes and have won 38. That's a winning percentage of 8.31 for Australia and 12.22 for Team GB. I can't wait to throw that one in to the next "discussion" about the Olympics!"

0620 Suzy Raymer's 'per capita' comments have generated a lot of feedback from other readers. Ian Hayes, in Kuala Lumpur, says: "What about the amount of funding of sports per capita? Australia has some of the largest and best sports facilities in the globe. Often, countries will send their athletes to Australia for training. Surely the amount of funding per capita far outstrips anything that Team GB got from government or lottery grants? Thus, adding to the remarkable achievements of Team GB." Meanwhile Greg Phillippo adds: "I am also in Brissy and am suffering excuses from the Aussies and Kiwis - turns out we are all wrong Slovenia and New Zealand are the top nations at this Olympics. Can't wait for the next football match Eng 4 NZ 1 - that's a win for New Zealand per capita! That said, I am not making too much of our position - if the Aussies catch us, the abuse would be none-stop!"

0615 Earlier Kevin Pears sparked a debate about Michael Phelps v Chris Hoy. Brian Chapman has this to say: "Firstly both are champions. Phelps did great but how good is it to get almost half your tally through the relays. Wish there were relays in the cycling then Hoy would win heaps more. There are 34 gold swimming medals, wish there was 34 gold cycling medals, guess which nation would get the majority!" I suppose Hoy's team spirit is as close to a relay as you can get but I know what you mean.

0612 Nick Sharp says: "Tell Suzy I believe NZ have the most golds per capita, sure to further annoy the Aussies."

0610 Hockey - In one of those "meaningless" hockey classification matches I was so rude about, New Zealand have defeated Pakistan 4-2 to take seventh place overall.

0605 Athletics - After two events of the decathlon, America's Brian Clay has come through the pouring rain to top the standings with 1994 points, with team-mate Trey Hardee in second and Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine in third. World champion Roman Sebrle is seventh and Britain's Daniel Awde is down in 17th.

0600 Gordon Cumming has emailed in with his favourite moment of the Games. He says: "Living in Seoul, I've not been able to see much of Team GB's incredible success. Therefore I am limited to what Korean telly has shown us. Based on that, it has to be Bolt demolishing the rest of the field in the 100 metres. To think how fast he could have gone had he not let-up in the last 15 metres. I am sure that he could have set a world record untouchable for at least 10 years. Keep up the great commentary." Gordon

0555 Volleyball - The USA women have won the opening set of their semi-final against Cuba and at least this is one event not affected by the dismal weather in Beijing.

0550 Athletics - Let me now just round-up all this morning's qualifying action at a wet Bird's Nest Stadium. In the men's javelin, the best throw came from Vadims Vasilevskis with an effort of 83.51m but the slippy conditions meant only three competitors cleared the automatic qualifying mark of 82.50m, although the best 12 progress. In the women's high jump, 15 women, including red hot favourite Blanka Vlasic, reached the final after the required mark was lowered to 1.93.

0545 Suzy Raymer in Brisbane says: "The Aussies are really getting desperate in their attempts to save face over being beaten by the British. At the work lunch table today, I've heard "Australia have won more medals per capita, so are still really beating the Brits". The only other Pom in our office isn't in this week, so although I am enjoying gloating, it's not as much fun when I don't have company. Strangely Olympics isn't a favourite of topic of conversation here in Brisbane at the moment!" I love that excuse - per capita! Without doubt the best one yet!

0530 Volleyball - Already we've brought you the drama from the beach but now it's time for the indoor version of volleyball as Cuba take on the USA in the semi-finals of the women's competition. Later today hosts China face Brazil in the other semi. Is the original the best as far as volleyball goes?

0525 If you had to pick your favourite moment of the Olympic Games so far, what would it be? Is it Usain Bolt's sensational sprinting, Chris Hoy's awesome power in the velodrome, Michael Phelps' record breaking exploits or something completely different? Share your thoughts by emailing me at christopher.hammer@bskyb.com

0515 Sailing - Later on this morning it's the medal race of the Star discipline where British duo Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson are bidding for a medal. They head into the final race in second position behind Sweden. The Tornado class also gets under way at the same time but our British pairing of Leigh McMillan and Will Howden are well down the field.

0510 Swimming - Here are some quotes from David Davies, who fought so bravely earlier this morning to get silver in the open water event. It could have been gold but he veered off course in the closing stages and it proved costly. He said: "At the last bit I didn't know what was going on. I gave everything and now I've got something to show for it. I need to learn to swim straight, I know that sounds silly."

0500 Charlie James has emailed back in to say: "Not following UK politics, since I'm now residing in the USA, but I was wondering if either Labour or the Tories, on the back of our Beijing success and in preparation for 2012 and beyond, have made it a policy issue to introduce compulsory athletic events into schools. Gotta start 'em early, I say." I completely agree about that. I never had the chance to throw a javelin at school or a hammer for that matter, which is quite surprising given my surname. It would have been brilliant had I become an Olympic champion at that!

0452 Athletics - After a long rain delay the qualification for the women's high jump and the men's javelin are now well under way as is the decathlon long jump.

0450 Kevin Pears is sparking an interesting debate by asking: "I wonder if those who complained about Michael Phelps golds are also complaining about Chris Hoy's? There is less variety in what he does than for the swimming." Let me know your thoughts on this by emailing me at christopher.hammer@bskyb.com

0445GOLDBeach Volleyball - It's all over and America's Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have won Olympic gold for the second year in a row by defeating China in straight sets and you have to say they deserved it. The duo never dropped a set throughout the entire tournament and they can't keep their hands off each other as they jump up and down on the sand!

0437 Beach Volleyball - China's Jie Wang and Jia Tian are battling so hard as they look to square this gold medal match but the Americans lead 17-15 in what could well be the final set.

0435 Mark Billton has swiftly got in touch again to add: "I'm living in the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand. Is anyone else winning easy bets on the back of GB's golden exploits? Two Kiwi mates bet that they would get more medals than the poms... easy money for a yorkshireman to pick up!" Have you collected your winnings yet? They must be paying out early!

0430 Diving - Brilliant news for Great Britain, with both Stacie Powell and Tonia Couch making it through to the final of the 10m platform having qualified in 11th and 12th respectively. That will take place later today but I think chances of a medal are very slim.

0425 Beach Volleyball - The Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have somewhat silenced the crowd by taking the opening set 21-18 but they are being tested severely by their spirited opponents.

0420 Beach Volleyball - This is without the most exciting beach volleyball match I've ever seen but I think that has something to do with the partisan atmosphere. The players are absolutely drenched but both teams are giving as good as they've got in this opening set.

0415 Mark Billton says: "Unlucky for Davies, imagine going the wrong way after such a swim. Has anyone else thought about new events for Olympics. How about combining traditional events.... eg 100m sprint onto a mini trampoline as used in the gym to get on the beam etc then straight into a high jump or long jump? Just an idea." I quite like the idea! A much more advanced version of a triple jump!

0410 Stephen Oliver is responding to the comments I made about the "pointless" play-off for positions in the hockey. He says: "Originally, the Olympics was a celebration of sport and it still is, albeit nowadays a celebration of winners (and 2nd, 3rd). In the US here we get about five seconds to see who came fourth through to eighth! In many sports, you only get one chance as an individual to go to the Olympics. Why not play a game to decide 9th and 10th? In the swimming, track & field, and gymnastics we generally see who came first to eighth. It also allows the team sports to play more games than two or three and gives the individuals to do something before the Closing Ceremonies. If you play hockey and love it, then you would want to play as many competetive games as you could at an Olympics. I have never competed in an Olympics, but in rugby tournaments we were always ready for another game even if it was into the "Shield" part of the double elimination." Thanks for that, that's a very good point and I'll officially retract what I said earlier! Stephen also asked me if there were any road engineers out there during the walk that could attest to aquaplaning while walking fast! I reckon the water did help some athletes get away with "lifting" because the rain would have got in the judges eyes!

0402 Nick Emery has got in touch to say: "I am having a fantastic few weeks here in Australia as I'm a Brit. One Aussie told me we wouldn't be up in third place if it wasn't for our efforts in the velodrome which I was quick to point out how many medals they would have if it wasn't for the swimming. Go the Brits keep up the good work as now I can rub in how many medals we have as well as golds. One paper here wrote an article on how the Britshave been giving it to the Aussies over the medals tally and pointed out how many golds we won in Atlanta. This maybe true but for a columnist to stoop to bringing up past efforts says it all. We have them all worried bring on London 2012.

0400 Beach Volleyball - It's the final of the women's beach volleyball with China's Jie Wang and Jia Tian taking on American duo Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor. This should be a cracker.

0355 Swimming - David Davies needs medical attention due to sheer exhaustion and let's hope he makes a quick recovery. I just wish he'd be able to come round to a gold medal rather than a silver.

0352SILVERSwimming - Heartbreak for David Davies. He takes silver in the 10km marathon but it should have been gold. His poor direction let him down badly and he looks absolutely gutted. If he had just stayed on line he would be celebrating right now such was his huge lead but we can't be too harsh on him because he gave absolutely everything. van der Maarten Weijden won the race having taken advantage of Davies' error while Thomas Lurz settles for bronze.

0350 There's been several emails sent in over the past 20 minutes or so but I'll publish them out after this cracking finish.

0348 Swimming - This is an absorbing finish but so nerve-wracking. Davies might throw this away because he keeps swimming way off line and his rivals are catching fast. This would be so upsetting. Maarten van der Weijden is right at his feet now.

0345 Swimming - David Davies is storming away now as we approach the end of this incredible race. He leads Thomas Lurz and Spyridon Gianniotis by several metres but has he got enough energy to hold them off!

0340 Swimming - I can't quite comprehend how these open water swimmers do it. I get tired after a couple of lengths of a 25m pool so to splash around in sea-like waters for near two hours at this kind of pace is startling. Then again, swimming is their life so it would be worrying if they were only a bit better than me! Anyway it's the Liverpool-born Greek Spyridon Gianniotis who has now burst into the lead and David Davies has work to do if he's to win this race.

0335GOLDAthletics - Olga Kaniskina of Russia is completely soaked to the bone but she won't care because she's just won the 20km walk. Despite the rain her time of 1:26:31 is an Olympic record while Kjersti Tysse Platzer of Norway takes silver with Italy's Elisa Rigaudo collecting bronze. Ireland's Olive Loughane came in a creditable seventh while Johanna Jackson of Great Britain ends up 22nd.

0332 Swimming - David Davies lost the lead briefly to Thomas Lurz but he's fought back again and is now just about in front. To be honest there's about five swimmers, including Vladimir Dyatchin, in the mix for a medal so this is far from secure for the Welshman.

0330 Malcolm Norquoy, who now lives in Malaysia, has emailed in to say: "Having lived in Singapore for the last 10 years, I have come to learn that it is a well known fact that Aussies are the worst losers and the worst winners. After years of ridiculing British/English sport the fact that England won the Ashes at home (and will do so again next year), that they haven't beaten England in a competitive rugby union game for 10 years (during which England reached two world cup finals, winning one, in Sydney, against the Aussies) and now the fabulous performance of the GB team at the Olympics is just too much for them to bear - for those that have not experienced Aussies for a great deal of time, the phrase "Whingeing Pom" should absolutely have been associated with Aussies. Bring 'em on!"

0325 Swimming - It's the final lap of the men's 10km marathon and David Davies is still the pacesetter but he is closely pursued by Ky Hurst of Australia and Thomas Lurz.

0320 Diving - An update from the women's 10m platform semi-finals where Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell are looking in decent shape after two dives. Couch has the best chance of reaching the final but there are still three attempts left.

0315 Ian Ashenden in Beijing says: "I can confirm it's absolutely piddling down this morning here and anything that could get affected by the weather will be. It's been nice bumping into some of the competitors and families over the last week or so, one of the great things about the amateur nature of the Games seems to be that they can wander around unhassled. I would like to wish good luck to the Irish walker, Olive Loughnane simply because I met her Dad in a public loo on Monday, what a lovely guy! I asked him about his daughter's chances, he replied that 'well she's the Irish champion, but some of the others walk really quickly you know'. Magic!" You know that email makes me want to start another debate - who make better sporting role models, Olympians or professional Premier League football players? For me it's a no-brainer, but let me know what you think by emailing christopher.hammer@bskyb.com .

0312 Hockey - Belgium have defeated Canada 3-0 to finish ninth overall. What is the point in these classification matches? Are the players actually that bothered where they finish if they don't win a medal?

0310 Athletics - On the subject of rain, this morning's qualifying sessions in the men's javelin and women's high jump have been put back as we wait for this bad weather to clear. The decathlon long jump and shot have also been delayed.

0305 Brian Chapman has entertained me with his email, saying: "Sounds like David Davies should be swimming in the Bird's Nest with all that water, at least he would stay "on track". Incidently it is pouring here in Melbourne Australia too. The triple jump looks a good chance for us to add another gold doesn't it?" I would definitely agree about Phillips Idowu in the triple jump, I really feel that is a nailed on gold. By the way Davies has seemingly got his bearings back and continues to lead the way so that could be another winner for GB!

0302 BMX Cycling - Just to remind any late-comers to our clockwatch that Shanaze Reade's quest for gold has been temporarily halted because the BMX track was deemed unsafe due to the torrential rain and the semi-finals will now take place tomorrow.

0300 Diving - It's the semi-finals of the women's 10m platform in the Water Cube with British pair Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell in action so I'll let you know how they get on a bit later.

0255 Charlie James, an Englishman in Philadelphia, says: "I'm just wondering what events remain where Russia/Australia/Germany are hot favourites for gold. I'm trying to do the math in the hope that GB can hold onto third in the medals table." Well, like one of those stereotypical football managers I'd like to say: "Let's not worry about other countries and just concentrate on our own game!" On a serious note I reckon three more golds will secure us third spot - what does everyone else think? Meanwhile John Dover has mocked America's Olympic efforts. He says: "I dont know how strong the US swimming team was but if Mr Phelphs had been injured there medal count would have looked very mediocre."

0250 Swimming - The 'food and drink' station at the 10km marathon is mostly used for athletes to take fresh water on board or energy drinks. However one swimmer seemed to down a cup of coffee - perhaps a new breakthrough in sports science!

0246 Matt Ransby has got in touch to say: "The GB success at the Olympics has been totally frowned upon by the Aussies and they have used the most mind-blowing excuses for it. Anything from the weather to us Brits only being able to win "sit down sports". Up until yesterday they had even changed the medal table format to be in total medal order, they can't even do that now! Come on Team GB keep the medals coming!" It is a bitter pill for the Aussies to swallow seeing GB higher in the medals table and it could get even worse for them! Hopefully Team GB can get a few more athletics medals to silence the "sit down" sport jibes!

0245 Swimming - David Davies is streaks ahead in the 10km marathon but can he sustain this form? He certainly looks inspired and full of beans at the moment and let's hope he can keep this up right until the end.

0240BRONZEBeach Volleyball - China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhang have wrapped up the second set 21-17 against Brazil's Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha to win bronze on the Beijing sand! Next up it's China's other pairing, Jie Wang and Jia Tian, against America's Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor for gold.

0235 Modern Pentathlon - After the first event today - the 10m air pistol - British duo Sam Weale and Nick Woodbridge are lying down in 25th and 35th respectively, out of 36! David Svoboda of Czech Republic leads the way but closely followed by China's Zhenhuat Qian and team-mate Michal Michalik with four events left.

0232 Athletics - Back in the Bird's Nest Stadium, the rain continues to hammer down and the conditions are awful. The track is covered by surface water but this does not deter the heroic decathletes, who are in action in the 100m. The hot favourite Roman Sebrle didn't look too convincing while British entry Daniel Awde could only finish seventh in his heat. American Brian Clay is the early pacesetter.

0230 Swimming - Great Britain's David Davies is still leading the way in the men's 10km but he seems to be confusing everybody by swimming off course! Don't panic, all his rivals are following him rather than capitalise on his mistake! He is at least going in the right direction, just not on the best line.

0225 Already this morning we've had some feedback from you. Martin Jones, originally from Leigh in Lancashire, now lives in Toronto and he says: "Really enjoying your coverage and regular updates. I think Canada is extremely envious of our great results to date, although at least now they are into double figures. While we (GB) are third in the medal table it's worth remembering that just a relatively short time ago, the USSR had not fragmented as it is now. I reckon if it was still in existence today they would have won close to 120 medals and won much more than us - not to take anything away from a fantastic GB effort of course! USSR had many times as many people." I'm still pinching myself that Team GB have accumulated so many golds - is it possible we can get to 20? I'm not sure but I'm confident there could be another two or three more victories! Keep all your views coming in to christopher.hammer@bskyb.com

0220 Beach Volleyball - I'm also keeping my eyes on the Chaoyang Park BV Ground, where the women's Beach Volleyball medal matches are taking place. At the moment China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhang are battling Brazil's Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha for bronze and so far it's been a thriller. The home favourites have just taken the opening set 21-19 and the crowd are delighted with that! Later on it'll be the gold match between another Chinese pairing, Jie Wang and Jia Tian, and America's Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.

0210 Athletics - The Bird's Nest Stadium is almost flooded due to the heavy rain with stewards frantically sweeping puddles of water off the track. The women's 20km walk is taking place with Johanna Jackson going for Great Britain. We'll also keep you up to date with all the morning qualifying sessions for the men's javelin, women's high jump and the first three events of the decathlon.

0207 Swimming - Davies has made a strong start but he'll need to watch out for his main threats Thomas Lurz and Vladimir Dyatchin. There's such a long way to go, as you might imagine, and I think this has got to be one of the most physically draining events in the entire Olympics.

0200 Swimming - They're under way in the men's 10km marathon and David Davies has hit the front without his swimming cap - an unusual tactic considering everybody else is wearing one! He'll be hoping to at least emulate the achievements of Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten, who took silver and bronze for Team GB in the women's race yesterday.

0155 BMW Cycling - Already we have some bad news. The weather is so bad in Beijing, with the rain absolutely teeming down, that the women's BMX semi-final races have been cancelled for the day, so we'll just have to wait another day for Shanaze Reade to go for gold.

0150 As always we invite all our readers - wherever you are in the world - to send us your thoughts and opinions about the Olympics and we'll publish as many as possible. What have been your personal highlights so far and what are your hopes and expectations for the remainder of what has been a sensational Beijing Games. Have they been the best ever? Email me at christopher.hammer@bskyb.com

0130 Welcome to day 13 of the 2008 Olympics, where Great Britain will be looking to add to their impressive haul of 16 gold medals - and there are certainly plenty of opportunities to do so. Triple jumper Phillips Idowu is the star attraction later on today but before then we have BMX world champion Shanaze Reade eyeing a podium place while swimmer David Davies has aspirations in the men's 10km marathon. Stay in touch with all the major action from Beijing right here with us.