Day 14 - As It Happened

1552 : That's it for the commentary today, thanks for your company and e-mails and be sure to join us again in the early hours of Saturday for what promises to be another action-packed day. Dr Tim Brabents is going for his second gold in as many days in the K1 canoeing, James Degale in the middleweight boxing final, and both men's and women's 4x400m relay teams are medal contenders - if they can get the baton round.

1545 : Athletics - Hooker adds some gloss to Australia's first athletics medal in Beijing with a third-attempt clearance at 5.96m for a new Olympic record. Russia's Evgeny Lukyanenko (5.85) claimed the silver and Denys Yurchenko (5.70) of Ukraine the bronze.

1530 : GOLDAthletics - Good news for our Australian friends - fuzzy haired pole vaulter Steve Hooker has taken gold in the pole vault. He's not done yet, opting to raise the bar to 5.96m in an effort to set a new Olympic record.

1518 : Athletics - That was an amazing run by the Jamaican quartet of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Bolt and Powell. They lowered the world record by 0.30s, a huge margin over 400m.

1511 : GOLDAthletics - Jamaica's sprint relay team storm to gold in the men's 4x100m relay in a world record time of 37.10s. Usain Bolt, who ran the third leg, claims his third gold of the Games - all in world record times! Asafa Powell ran the anchor and was already 10 metres clear when he received the baton, he extended the winning margin to about 30 metres. Trinidad and Tobago (38.06) collect silver and Japan (38.15) the bronze.

1507 : GOLDAthletics - Brian Clay has taken gold in the men's decathlon. The American demolished the rest of the field with a total of 8,791 points. Andrei Krauchanka (8,551) of Belarus won the silver and Cuba's Leonel Suarez (8,527) the bronze. Clay's 240-point winning margin is the biggest since 1972. Britain's Daniel Awde, appearing at his first Olympics, finished 21st with a total of 7,516 points.

1500 : GOLDHockey - The Netherlands have closed out a 2-0 win over China to secure gold in the women's hockey. Naomi van As and Maartje Goderie scored the goals.

1458 : BRONZEBoxing - Price has to settle for bronze after walking onto a huge left hand. He went down before quickly regaining his feet, but the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight immediately. No complaints from a dazed-looking Price as he was trailing 9-0 at the time.

1456 : Boxing - Britain's David Price has fallen 5-0 behind after the first round of his super-heavyweight semi-final against Roberto Cammarelle, the world champion from Italy. A sluggish start from Price allowed Cammarelle to land with a couple of sweet left hooks.

1448 : Diving - Both Waterfield and Daley are safely into the Sunday's semi-finals of the men's 10m platform with respective fourth and 12th place finishes in the qualifying competition.

1445 : Hockey - The Netherlands are heading for gold in the women's hockey. They lead China 2-0 with five minutes remaining.

1435 : Diving - Young Master Daley is in action in the 10m platform preliminary competition. Television are not covering it at the moment but both Daley and his British team-mate Pete Waterfield look good to progress to the semi-finals. The top 18 go through and, with one dive remaining, Waterfield is third and Daley 11th.

1426 : Boxing - Egan stays out of trouble in the final round to notch a 10-3 success over Jeffries. He becomes the fourth Irishman to reach an Olympic boxing final and the first since Michael Carruth (who won gold) 16 years ago.

1423 : Boxing - Egan is giving Jeffries a bit of a lesson, the Irishman leads 8-1 after the third round...

1418 : Boxing - Egan is now 4-1 up after the second round.

1415 : GOLDAthletics - Russia win the women's 4x100m relay. Britain, who had been fancied to be in the minor medal shake-up dropped the baton. They were in good company as favourites Jamaica also suffered the same fate. Both teams made a mess of the second changeover, Britain's Montell Douglas failed to pass to Emily Freeman - who may have gone off too early - with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart doing the same for the Jamaicans. That left the Russian quartet clear to take gold ahead of Belgium and Nigeria.

1415 : Boxing - After the first round, it is a 1-1. Still all to box for.

1413 : Boxing - Britain's Tony Jeffries and Ireland's Kenny Egan light heavyweight bout has got underway.

1357 : GOLDAthletics - Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia wins the women's 5,000m gold medal - it is an historic double after she also won the 10,000m. She finished in 15min 41.40sec, with Turkey's Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse claiming silver in 15:42.74 and defending champion Meseret Defar back in bronze medal position at 15:44.12. Dibaba's double is a landmark for women athletes and the first since male compatriot Miruts Yifter's feat over the same events at the 1980 Moscow Games.

1352 : GOLDAthletics - Maurren Maggi of Brazil wins the women's long jump title with a best effort of 7.04metres.Defending champion Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia claimed silver (7.03m) while Nigerian Blessing Okagbare - who was only competing because Ukrainian finalist Lyudmila Blonska was thrown out for doping - was third with a best of 6.91m. Britain's Jade Johnson comes seventh.

1348 : BRONZESoccer - Brazil are worthy winners of the bronze in the men's soccer after defeating Belgium 3-0 thanks to goals from Diego (28) and Manchester City's Jo on 45 minutes and in injury time.

1342 : BRONZEHockey - Argentina beat Germany 3-1 in the women's hockey.

1332 : GOLDTaekwondo - Iran's Hadi Saei beat Mauro Sarmiento of Italy to win gold in the men's under 80kg final.

1330 : Boxing - Edgar Jullienne has e-mailled in to say: "Mauritius just grabbed its first Olympic medal ever. Bruno Julie lost 7-5 in Boxing (bantam category) semi-final but secured the first olympic medal ever for our small island! It deserves a note on your blog!"

1325 : Athletics - The British men's 4x400m quartet follow the lead of the women and qualify for Sunday's final. Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney produced an accomplished run to win the second semi-final ahead of the Bahamas and Jamaica. The USA looked a class apart while easing to victory in the first semi-final.

1318 : Athletics - Johnson is putting a solid series of jumps together with leaps of 6.64m in the second round and 6.50m in the fourth. She is currently down in seventh, Maggi still leads with 7.04m.

1314 : GOLDTaekwondo - South Korea's double world champion Hwang Kyung-Seon beat Canada's Karine Sergerie to earn gold in the women's 67kg category.

1311 : SILVERModern Pentathlon - Heather Fell has picked up a silver medal for Britain in the modern pentathlon after a solid display in the final event, the 3,000m run. Lena Schoneborn of Germany took gold.

1300 : BRONZEHockey - Argentina take bronze in the women's hockey with a 3-1 triumph over defending champions Germany.

1255 : Athletics - USA, Jamaica and Belarus take the automatic qualification spots in the second semi-final of the women's 4x400m relay. Nigeria also progress as a fastest loser.

1253 : Taekwondo - Cook, a 17-year-old member of the Doncaster Scorpions club, fails to find the necessary sting on the way to a 4-1 defeat. Zhu seemed to have both the crowd and judges on his side during that one and so Britain's wait for an Olympic Taekwondo medal goes on.

1250 : Taekwondo - It's not going well for Aaron Cook in his bronze-medal match against China's Zhu Guo. The Briton trails by three points after the opening two rounds...1244 : Athletics - Britain's women have qualified for the final of the 4x400m relay. The quartet of Nicola Sanders, Kelly Sotherton, Marilyn Okoro and Christine Ohuruogu finished third to secure their place in Sunday's final. Individual 400m champion Ohuruogu almost messed up the anchor leg by coasting down the home straight and having to put in a very late sprint to see off Germany for third spot. Russia and Cuba finished first and second. Lee McConnell is injured so it looks as though the same quartet will contest the final on Sunday.

1237 : Handball - France have beaten defending champions Croatia 25-23 in the men's handball semi-final to set up a meeting with either Iceland or Spain in the gold-medal match.

1234 : Athletics - Brazil's Maureen Higa Maggi has taken the lead in the long jump with an effort of 7.04m. Johnson is fifth after the first round.

1231 : Athletics - Johnson, wearing a fetching pair of blue see-through knee-length socks, manages 6.51 in the first round. Russia's defending champion Tatyana Lebedeva holds the early lead with an effort of 6.97m.

1228 : Paul Taylor has e-mailled in to say: "On the subject of new sports for the Aussies to catch us up. What about men's 30 minute shrimp roasting - competitors have 30 minutes to roast the perfect shrimp on barbecues drawn at random from a pot containing barbecues of differnet varieties from traditional to an ultra modern gas powered delux model. The winner is decided by a panel of three judges - Kylie Minogue, Paul Hogan and Dennis Lillee."

1225 : Athletics - The women's long jump final is just got under way, Britain are represented by Jade Johnson. There is nobody in this field who has jumped over seven metres this year so Johnson - who has a season's best of 6.81m - is a definite medal chance.

1218 : Boxing - "There was no doubt I lost the fight but the judging was a disgrace," says an unhappy Barnes afterwards.

1215 : Boxing - Barnes has to settle for bronze after a 15-0 defeat to Zou. There was a hometown element to the scoring in the first round but thereafter the switch-hitting Zou was well worth his victory. We've still got the Anglo-Irish light-heavyweight semi-final between Tony Jeffries and Kenny Egan to look forward to at approximately 1400 (BST) and Britain's David Price in the super-heavyweight semi (1445h).

1205 : Boxing - Irish boxer Paddy Barnes is 8-0 down to his Chinese opponent Zou Shiming in their light-flyweight (48kg) semi-final. The judges did not give him anything during an even first round but Zou took control with six unanswered points in the second.

1152 : Dream - Right well my Olympic dream is over for another four years, as I'll hand you over to Graham Mair for the rest of the day...as they've said loads this last two weeks, and many more to come...see you in London!

1150 : Thanks - Had a great email in from Verity praising our coverage this week, thanks a lot for all your emails, very welcome and largely highly entertaining. Verity also has a dig at the Aussies to finish...

1136 : Diving - Remember little Tom Daley is diving off a 10m platform at 12 UK time Sky Bet have some specials on him - 33/1 to win gold and 9/2 on a medal - go here Betting for a bet.

1136 : Diving - Remember little Tom Daley is diving off a 10m platform at 12 UK time Sky Bet have some specials on him - 33/1 to win gold and 9/2 on a medal - go here Betting for a bet.

1134 : Hockey - It's 2-0 for Argentina against Germany and they take control in the women's bronze medal match.

1124 : Drugs - Ukrainian athlete Lyudmila Blonska has officially been stripped of her Olympic silver medal in the heptathlon after testing positive for steroids, she had already been banned once but seems she couldn't help herself, she must have known she would be targeted for testing surely..Good athlete but none too clever up top maybe?

1119 : Hockey - Argentina are 1-0 up against Germany in the women's bronze medal match.

1106 : Pentathlon - GB's Katy Livingston just has the one fence down for a great round, but she only moves up to ninth and is too far back to affect the medals - we think....

1055 : Betting - It's definitely not betting, I bet an Australian in our office a snickers bar that we'd beat them in the medals table 'we didn't shake on it' was the response just now as I very calmly brought up the subject..that says it all I think.

1054 : Pentathlon - Speaking of pentathlons - Wally and Iain from Leeds are pondering (obviously not working) what sports we could include in a new pentathlon for Aussies to give them a chance of a rare gold medal - any thoughts? paul.higham@bskyb.com is the address.

1053 : Pentathlon - The Chinese girl has scraped round clear in the show jumping - the first clear round of either the women's up to now or the entire men's competition yesterday! I blame the horses...

1042 : Taekwondo - My new favourite sport, well for the past hour it has been. Great excitement at the end there but heartbreak for Cook in the end, he still could win a bronze though but that was a hard way to go out - tough sport!

1039 : Taekwondo - We woz robbed! To me it looked like a flurry of kicks from Cook late on had won it, with the scores level, but in the last second a point appeared for the Italian - no idea where that came from!

1037 : GOLDCanoeing - Belarus complete a quick double after they won the gold medal in the K4 1000m Kayak fours.

1036 : Taekwondo - Cook sneaks a kick in late doors to level at 3-3 against the Italian giant. I've got no idea how the judges are scoring this but it's great entertainment - final round coming up...

1032 : Taekwondo - Cook is 2-1 down after the first round, but he was unlucky as he got some good kicks in that didn't score - all the sports involving judges have come under huge criticism so far in Beijing.

1030 : Taekwondo - Aaron Cook is on the mat going up against Italian giant Mauro Sarmiento - the 6ft5inch star beat the two-time defending champion and huge favourite Steven Lopez in the last round.

1025 : GOLDCanoeing - Belarus on the board, as the men's C2 1000m doubles win gold at Shunyi.

1020 : Diving - Speaking of teenagers (another seamless link) Tom Daley is diving again at 12 UK time in the 10m prelims. Sky Bet have some specials on him - 33/1 to win gold and 9/2 on a medal, definite medal chance on previous form - go here Betting for a bet.

1020 : Taekwondo - Ten minutes until Aaron Cook fights in his semi-final - the teenager has won his two fights to date superbly.

1008 : Bolt - The brilliantly named Andy Champion says keep showbotaing Usain, keep showboating!

1007 : Pentathlon - They're off in the show jumping, this was complete carnage for the men yesterday so let's hope it's a bit better today, the horses came in for some stick yesterday and they've dropped a few apparently!

0959 : Pentathlon - Just catching up on the horse selection process in the modern pentathlon - GB's Heather Fell by the way is in second place! The high-tech Beijing Games have descended into pulling numbered golf balls out of a box to decide your horse, before a helper goes and fetches it for you. Reminds me of hiring a car with lots of fancy shiny new ones out front and after you've paid they drive round some old banger and hand you the keys - that's the same look of sheer disappointment I've seen on some of these pentathlon girls up to now.

0954 : Bolt - Richard from Russia's emailed in on the 'Back the Bolt' campaign and is right behind the Jamaican. I think we should encourage the showboating, if only GB had more athletes on the track capable of such things!

0947 : GOLDCanoeing - Germany again! They're closing right in now on GB on the medal table as the men's K2 doubles take the 1000m title.

0944 : Bolt - Frankie Fredericks has defended Usain Bolt after the Jamaican has been criticised for a 'lack of respect' towards other athletes with his celebrations..barmy that if you ask me, I think he's great value after a win, and if I could break the 100m world record without trying for the final 20m then I'd do a bit of showboating too, maybe moonwalk over the line...as it is I can't even run for a bus without needing an oxygen tank afterwards.

0942 : Medals - Australia have all-but conceded defeat in their medal race with Britain, according to their acting high commissioner, two many golds behind apparently, but what about Russia and Germany? email me your thoughts at paul.higham@bskyb.com

0939 : GOLDCanoeing - Germany have scooped another gold by taking the women's K4 500m Kayak fours, they are still a few behind GB though.

0930 : Taekwondo - Italy's Mauro Sarmiento will be the semi-final opponent for Briton Aaron Cook. He's just come through an epic last-eight contest after extra rounds.

0915 : Boxing - It will be Clemente Russo,of Italy, against Russian Rakhim Chakhkiev in the heavyweight final. That's the last bout of the first semi-final session. The action restarts at 1200 when Britons Tony Jeffries and David Price will both be in action.

0909 : Taekwondo - A superb win for Cook, who wins 5-2 despite losing a point in the final round for stepping off the mat. He's into the semis and is one win away from a medal.

0906 : Taekwondo - A superb kick to the head there form Cook sees him move 5-1 up. I'm no expert on this sport, but you can tell this boy is good at what he does.

0903 : Taekwondo - A good start for Aaron Cook. He's gone 3-0 up after the first of three rounds and is on course for the semi-finals!

0900 : Athletics - One update we didn't bring you earlier was the decathlon. The pole vault is now finished and Bryan Clay still leads. He's onto 7365 points after clearing 5.20m. Andrei Krauchanka is now second. A PB of 4.90 for Daniel Awde has given the Briton a boost.

0855 : Modern Pentathlon - More news from this and after the third event, Briton Heather Fell has moved up into the silver-medal position. Lena Schoneborn, of Germany, has held onto her lead following the swim. Fell recorded the third-fastest time of all the athletes. Katy Livingston is up to 15th going into the trickiest phase - the showjumping. It can all go wrong here, as we saw yesterday with the men. The athletes are paired off with horses in a random draw.

0848 : Taekwondo - British focus now turns to the mixed martial arts sport with 17-year-old Aaron Cook set for his under-80kg quarter-final against Carlos Vasquez-Carvajal. If you weren't with us earlier, he's from Venezuela

0845 : Canoeing - Going back to that win by Tim Brabants, it was defending champion Larsen who took silver, while Australia's Ken Wallace came through to claim the bronze.

0841 : Boxing - It will be Cuban Correa Bayeaux who will fight James DeGale in the middleweight final. He's just won his semi 8-5.

0836 : Volleyball - USA have beaten Russia 3-2 in the first of the men's semi-finals.

0834 : GOLDCanoeing - Gold for GB and Tim Brabants! A superb paddle from the Briton wins Team GB's first medal of the day - and their 18th gold of the Games. He dominated that race and led from start to finish.

0833 : Canoeing - Larsen is coming back at the two leaders - he has a traditionally strong finish - but Brabants still leads with 250m to go.

0832 : Canoeing - Those two have clear water at halfway and it's still Brabants in front.

0831 : Canoeing - It's Brabants just ahead of Van Koeverden at 250m.

0830 : Canoeing - Off they go. It's a trademark flying start from the Briton.

0828 : Canoeing - World champion Brabants is among the favourites here. His main rivals are reigning Olympic champ Eirik Larsen, of Norway, and Canada's Adam Van Koeverden. Those three occupy the middle lanes.

0825 : Canoeing - Now attention is turning to the Shunyi lake. The first finals take place today - there are six in all coming up. The first of them features Briton TIm Brabants. It's the K1 - that's single kayak - 1000m.

0823 : BRONZEBoxing - Irishman Sutherland still takes home the bronze, of course. In this event the two semi-finalists both take bronze - there is no third-place fight between the pair.

0822 : Boxing - Emilio Correa Bayeaux, of Cuba, or India's Vijender Kumar will now fight in the second semi. We'll bring you the result later.

0821 : Boxing - James DeGale is into the Olympic middleweight final! 10-3 is the score and that was a fine performance. Sutherland did catch him with an excellent right hand in the last round by DeGale stood firm and saw it out.

0818 : Boxing - DeGale is flying. He's moving so well and the Irishman just can't catch him. A superb left hook is the highlight of that round for the Briton who leads 8-2 with one round to go. Sutherland needs a stoppage now surely.

0814 : Boxing - Good news for British fans. DeGale takes the only two points of that round and now leads 3-1. He's beaten Sutherland only once in five previous meetings, but as things stand the Briton is on course for the gold-medal bout.

0811 : Boxing - At the end of the first round it's all square at one point apiece. Four two-minute rounds remember and the judges press a button when they feel a good shot has been landed. If three of the five do it more or less at the same time, a point is scored.

0809 : Boxing - Round one is under way. DeGale in blue today and his Irish opponent in red.

0804 : Boxing - Manus Boonjumnong, another Thai, has just learned he will fight the Dominican Republic's Felix Diaz in the light-welterweight final. The middleweight clash between DeGale and Darren Sutherland is next up.

0800 : Boxing - Briton James DeGale was due in the ring now, but they are running slightly late at the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium. You'll just have to a wait a little longer!

0755 : A story you may have been following is a row about Chinese gymnasts' ages - there have been claims some were under age. However, the IOC says it is satisfied with the answers it has received from the sport's governing body.

0727 : Simon Hill emails to say: "Kudos to Chris Hoy and all the other British competitors, but surely the greatest feat thus far by any of the team is (Rebecca) Adlington's swim in the 800m (freestyle). She broke a world record that has stood for 19 years - she was just six months old when (Janet) Evans set it - which really is quite remarkable when one thinks of all the great names that have tried and failed in that timespan."

0725 : Boxing - France's Khedafi Djelkhir and Vasyl Lomachenko, of Ukraine, will fight in the featherweight final after their respective semi-final wins.

0718 : Coming up later, six gold medals will be decided in the Bird's Nest tonight - including both sprint relays. Three British boxers fight for a place in an Olympic final, GB canoeist TIm Brabants has a real chance in the K1 1000m and teenager Tom Daley is in diving qualifying. Still plenty to look forward to, so stay logged on.

0708 : Baseball - The first men's semi has seen Korea beat Japan 6-2. Baseball is big in the Far East. The second match comes up at 1100 - USA v Cuba.

0659 : Boxing - The flyweight semi-finals are over and it will be Cuba's Andris Laffita Hernandez against Thai Somjit Jongjohor for the gold medal tomorrow. A reminder that Briton Jams DeGale fights in his middleweight semi at 0800.

0645 : Another wag - known only as Dave - emails: "Just thinking out loud but is Miss Reade after a few quid in advertising? She would make a great crash test dummy." For those that didn't hear, Britain's biggest medal hope of the day, Shanaze Reade, crashed out in the final of the BMX cycling earlier.

0642 : I've been wondering for a few days when the Australians were going to come out fighting. Well, Andrew Chilcott has been on to say: "I think that it is a huge compliment that the British are so excited about leading the Australians in the Olympics gold-medal tally. It is a huge compliment to the Australians that the British pay us as much respect. There really has been a turnaround and we are now the mother/leader country." Fighting talk there. And you didn't even mention those population stats!

0630 : An interesting result so far in our microsite poll. Asking which British performance has been the best at the Games so far, it's three-time gold medallist Chris Hoy leading the way, just ahead of swimming star Rebecca Adlington. Do you agree? Well, get on there and vote then! And if you want, email your comments on that particular debate to me: andy.schooler@bskyb.com

0625 : A bit of a quiet period this so feel free to send those emails in to andy.schooler@bskyb.com. Coming up are those boxing semis, while at 0830 the canoeing finals start with TIm Brabants going for Team GB. It's been a rare medal blank so far today for the Brits - can Brabants do the business? He certainly impressed when winning his K1 1000m heat the other day.

0615 : Boxing - The first semi-final session is coming up in 15 minutes. The only British interest in it will come at 0800 with middleweight James DeGale taking on Ireland's Darren Sutherland. The two other Brits fight in the evening session.

0610 : Athletics - As for the decathlon, they are now on their eighth event - the pole vault. With no Dean Macey for Team GB - he retired recently after all his injury problems in case you didn't know - and Bryan Clay way out in front, this is proving to be a bit disappointing.

0608 : Modern Pentathlon - The fencing aspect is now over and Briton Heather Fell has improved her position to fourth in the overall standings. Fell beat 20 of her 35 opponents in the epee fencing. Germany's Lena Schoneborn leads. The other Brit - Katy Livingston - is down in 20th as the competitors head off for their 200m freestyle swim.

0600 : Taekwondo - We don't usually do requests but this one sums up both the power of the internet and the global appeal of the Olympics. Bishnu Poudel emails us from Japan about Nepal's Deepak Bistu and wants info on how he's doing. Well, Bistu has just lost I'm afraid, Bishnu, going down 7-0 to Iran's Hadi Saei.

0536 : Athletics - The decathlon discus is now complete and Briton Daniel Awde managed a best throw of just 37.12m. That's worth 606 points and takes him on to 5350. In comparison, leader Bryan Clay has 6455 - some 385 ahead of closest rival Maurice Smith, of Jamaica.

0529 : Hockey - The final hooter sounds and Australia have beaten Great Britain 2-0. The Aussies finished fifth overall, with GB sixth. A decent effort from Team GB - they only just missed out on a spot in the semis and Australia were always going to be favourites today.

0526 : Hockey - 2-0 Australia. This effort from Munro is allowed. GB, have sacrified their keeper in an attempt to level, are caught out as they try to play the ball out of defence and Munro finds the empty net.

0518 : Hockey - Australia have a second effort chalked off. Following up a parried shot, Hope Munro chipped the ball into the net but the replay shows the ball first hit her leg. It took an eternity, almost four minutes, to sort that out though - a good example of why football doesn't want to use video technology if ever there was one.

0513 : GOLDBeach Volleyball - It's all over. The Americans have taken gold by racing through the final set. The final score is 23-21 17-21 15-4 in the favour of Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser. That's a double for the USA - they won the women's gold yesterday. Brazil have to settle for silver.

0511 : Hockey - This time it's a disallowed goal for the Australians. That slap shot was clearly too high. 12 minutes left for GB to find an equaliser. 1-0.

0505 : Modern Pentathlon - If you are wondering what's happening with this, well the pentathletes are currently fencing. Heather Fell remains the best-placed Briton having won 12 of her 23 contests so far. It's a bit of an epic this section with the competitors taking on one another. We'll update you went this phase is over. Still to come - swimming, showjumping and running.

0500 : Hockey - Staying with this, Jamie Reddihough has emailed to criticise the fact that the teams have to play-off for fifth. "Surely if you didn't make the medals, the last thing you want to do is to have another tough match. You would want to get out of there ASAP." Again it's a fair point, but in hockey the play-offs often decide participation in future tournaments such as the Champions Trophy. However, that's not the case with this particular match which remains 1-0 to the Aussies with 20 minutes to go.

0458 : Hockey - GB have the ball in the net against Australia thorugh Sarah Thomas but it's been disallowed after a lengthy debate between the umpires.

0457 : Beach Volleyball - The comeback is on for Brazil, They've just taken the second set 21-17 so it's into a decider in this final against the USA. It's first to 15 in the final set but the winner must have a two-point advantage.

0454 : Jerry Flay emails: "Did you realise that about a quarter of all the golds the Chinese have ever won at the Olympics - ever - have been won at these Games? Is home advantage such a big thing, or is there another explanation? If it's the home thing, bring on London 2012!" Well, the host nation always does very well traditionally, Jerry. Australia certainly punched above their normal wait in Sydney for example. I haven't got the figures in front of me but that's often been the case down the years. A bit of an extreme example this given it's so long ago, but GB's best-ever gold haul came when they stages the Games in 1908. Team GB won 56 golds that year! They will certainly be looking to get 20 or more in 2012.

0440 : Beach Volleyball - An update on the men's final and the second set is tight. Brazil lead it 8-7 having dropped the opener.

0438 : Hockey - Half time now in Australia v Great Britain and the Aussies still lead 1-0. A reminder that the teams are battling it out for fifth place. The medal matches are later today.

0437 : GOLDOne thing I forgot to mention amid all the excitement is that Italy's Alex Schwazer has won the men's 50km walk. Second was Jared Tallent, of Australia, with Russian Denis Nizhegorodov taking bronze.

0430 : Beach Volleyball - There's been a great fightback from the Americans, Rogers and Dalhausser. They trailed early on but hit back and they've just taken the opening set 23-21 against their Brazilian opponents.

0428 : Hockey - The opening goal of the fifth-place play-off goes to Australia. Madonna Blyth strikes with a first-time shot just before half time. Great Britain trail 1-0.

0426 : If you hadn't heard, GB's big medal hope today, BMX cyclist Shanaze Reade, missed out after crashing in the final. Dene Ef has emailed to say: "I just stayed awake to watch the ladies' BMX (cycling warfare). I just wanted to say well done to Shanaze Reade. If I am feeling so sorry after what happened how the hell must she be feeling? Well done girl, London 2012 is yours and all the worlds between." Well, let's hope so. For those who don't know, Reade is also a world champion on the track - she won the team sprint title alongside Victoria Pendleton earlier this year. However, that event isn't in the Olympics. It may well be we see Reade in the velodrome come 2012 - she will still only be 23 then.

0423 : Taekwondo - Carlos Vasquez-Carvajal, a Venezuelan, is next up for Cook. That quarter-final will be at 0900.

0421 : Taekwondo - It's all over. Cook moves seven points up and that's the point at which a contest is stopped. Cook outclassed Jason there, but we'll keep talk of medal chances on hold. Jason may have been well beaten but, without wanting to sound condascending, I think it's great to see countries like the Marshall Islands just involved. It really is what the Olympics is all about.

0420 : Stephen Oliver is back on and it looks like we might be upsetting some people - or rather Bob is. "Nice pun from Bob, but I have to take exception. I lived in Baton Rouge for six years and it is one of the greatest places on earth. We won National Championships (rugby, soccer), and Louisana State University have two National College Football wins in the last four years. It is a place for the kings of sport. A better pun would be Climax, Pennsylvania, because if you've been there, it isn't!" OK, probably best to stop this now - the people of Climax will be on next!

0418 : Taekwondo - A flying start for Cook and he leads by five points to nil after round one. The highlight was a superb kick to the head which left Jason in trouble. By the way, the Marshall Islands are in the Pacific - east of Papua New Guinea.

0416 : Taekwondo - Team GB have Aaron Cook involved in the men's under-81kg category today and he's about to fight in his first-round bout. Anju Jason is his opponent. He's from the Marshall Islands - and, no, I don't know where they are. In the Pacific I guess. I'll find out!

0415 : Any more emails? Send them to andy.schooler@bskyb.com

0412 : Exiled Brit Steve Solley is out in Ulsan, South Korea, and he says: "Stuck out here has limited my viewing to archery, badminton, more archery or sulking handball players. Thankfully this feed has kept me as up-to-date as possible! Keep up the good work. As for the Aussies 'per capita' argument, surely it should be 'per athlete'? Incidentally, they have 100 more of those than we Brits do." Not a bad point, Steve. The Aussies do seem to like that argument about having a smaller population than us. For those who haven't seen the medal table on our microsite - and please check it out - GB have 17 golds to Australia's 11 so far. Overall it's 40 medals to Britain and 38 to the Aussies, although GB do have at least three more to add to that tally with their boxers in the semi-finals today. The first is up at 0800.

0410 : Back to our relay debate and I like this email from Bob Williams-Findlay. "Exile both teams to...Baton Rouge." Not bad, Bob.

0405 : Beach Volleyball - It's been a flying start to the men's final for Brazil's Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz against Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser. They lead 7-2. In the first set. It's first to 21 for the set and first two sets for gold.

0358 : OK, after that thrilling action on the BMX track, let's take a look at what else is going on around the city. It's women's final day in hockey - Holland play China at 1330 - but just about to start is Great Britain against Australia in the play-off for fifth place. We'll keep you posted. The men's beach volleyball is also about to begin - USA v Brazil.

0350 : Athletics - In the seventh event of the decathlon - the discus - Bryan Clay has again extended his overall lead. A massive throw of 53.79m was almost 3m better than all his rivals in the first pool. He is bang on course for gold. Briton Daniel Awde goes in the second pool in around half an hour.

0343 : GOLDBMX Cycling - The men's final goes largely to plan. Latvian world champion Maris Strombergs takes gold ahead of America's Mike Day. They both stayed away from a spectacular three-man crash further down the field.

0335 : BMX Cycling - Basically Reade gambled all there. She wanted to overtake and went for gold when she had silver in her grasp. She's now up but is holding her wrist. That was the third time in six runs over this Olympic course that Reade had crashed.

0334 : GOLDBMX Cycling - Anne-Caroline Chausson takes gold. Reade led in the early stages but she was passed on the first bend. Reade battled back and tried to overtake on the final turn but only succeeded in clipping the back wheel of the Frenchwoman. That put her on the deck and what seemed certain to be at least a silver turned to nothing.

0333 : BMX Cycling - Another crash for Reade and no medal!

0329 : BMX Cycling - Almost ready to go in the women's final. A reminder that Shanaze Reade, the world champion, goes for Britain.

0322 : Simon Hill emails and thinks he may know what happened to GB in the relay yesterday. "You have to feel for our man (Craig) Pickering - he must be devastated. It's one thing doing yourself out of a medal, but to let a team down must be heart-breaking after all the training they'll have done. I'm convinced he went early because he mistook the runner on the inside lane for our guy. They wore identical outfits. Easily done when one's heartbeat's going 180." Point taken, but either way it was still pretty amateurish. I heard someone make the point that many of us 'normal' people have run a relay at school sports days - I certainly did and we got the baton round. It's pretty basic - unless you get the baton to the finish you can't win. And it's not like this is the first time Team GB have messed up in the relay.

0320 : Paul Wilson in Hong Kong makes a decent point - and dares to make a criticism of Team GB. "Obviously Team GB's medal count is very impressive, but the medal table is based on the golds won, and most of Team GB's golds have come in a limited number of disciplines. So has the team specifically targetted 'niche' sports? I may be wrong, but didn't we used to win the occasional more-obscure gold? (an old man with his pipe in the shooting, a tough cookie in the judo etc). Has Team GB deliberately ignored these 'stand-up' sports?" Well, certainly we've excelled in cycling, rowing and sailing and, yes, these sports have been well funded. Sports are given targets to meet these days in order to qualify for funding so there could be something of a cyclical effect. For example, judo has disappointed here for GB and so that sport's funding may well be cut as a result. That could well have the effect of things getting worse, not better.

0318 : BMX Cycling - World champion Maris Strombergs, of Latvia, is by far and away the top man in the second semi. He's just completed his third staright win in that series and looks the one to beat in the final at 0340.

0315 : BMX Cycling - There's an Australian who has changed his name to simply Kamakazi in the second semi. That sums up how thrilling this sport it - there have been crashes galore today, not just that one involving Reade. The corners on the track are tight and the course is littered with jumps and bumps.

0313 : BMX Cycling - The men's semis have also been taking place and we've just had the final heat of the first. The big news is that American 20-inch (that's wheel size) world champion Kyle Bennett is out. He could finish only sixth in the overall standings. Team-mate Mike Day won that series and looked the most impressive with two race wins.

0307 : BMX Cycling - Reade's time there was the fastest of the day so far and moved her up to third in that semi-final's overall standings. The final is at 0330 but this time it's a one-off race. Another ride like that could see Reade strike gold, although the Frenchwoman Chausson will have something to say about that.

0306 : BMX Cycling - Why did we worry? That was Reade's best ride by far - a race win means she is into the final. She is a very good starter and this time she went flat out and led all the way.

0304 : BMX Cycling - Briton Shanaze Reade is on the start ramp. What we do know is if she wins this race she will be in the final. Anything else leaves things out of her hands.

0302 : BMX Cycling - In the final heat of the first semi, New Zealand's Sarah Walker crosses the line first but only after the very impressive Chausson eased up. The Frenchwoman dominated again - she even had time for some showboating on the jumps - and she looks the one to beat in the final. Even if Reade makes it through in the next race, she'll do well to see of Chausson.

0255 : We're still waiting for Reade's third heat in the BMX so time for another email. Stephen Oliver, a Brit in the USA, hasn't been impressed with the Americans' track and field team. He says: "The US track team has been a shambles compared to Olympics in the past. Before the Olympics started, the consensus was that the US had the strongest team in their history and have failed to deliver. No-one has beaten their personal best (I think) and the medals are not flowing. It seems that they went to some luxury joint before the Olympics and did not gel well as a team. Dropping the baton in two relays sums it up. Did you notice that the USA's logo on the 'shirt' tops were pinned on and written in magic marker, whereas everybody else's was stitched on and 'pre-printed'? The richest nation in the world apparently couldn't find a seamstress!" I did noticed that eactually, Stephen, and it did look amateurish!

0250 : Tom O'Neill - clearly a big David Price fan - emails to say: "GB's athletes have been great. I do hope that they don't just fizzle out now. Lots to fight for. The 'Price' is right. Come on ye big Scouse!" Well, Price fights Roberto Cammarelle in his super-heavyweight semi-final at 1445 and he's one of at least three more medals you can add to the medal table. As for fizzling out, I'm tipping kayak star Tim Brabants to medal for GB today - he goes at 0830 - while in the Bird's Nest I feel the women's 4x400m team will go close to the top three. Anyone got any more GB tips for the final few days? Email me: andy.schooler@bskyb.com

0240 : If you have any comments to make or questions to ask, please feel free to do so. The email address is andy.schooler@bskyb.com. How about telling me your thoughts on the relay shambles of yesterday - neither GB or USA covering themselves in glory did they?

0237 : BMX Cycling - The points standings in Reade's semi now see the Briton fifth overall but just a point behind fourth - the final qualifying position.

0236 : BMX Cycling - Le Corguille wins ahead of Reade who again started well and this time negotiated the first bend. She rode a steady race thereafter to take the runners-up spot. Two points from that and she's back in the shake-up for a final place. Still work to do though in the final heat.

0234 : BMX Cycling - Reade is about to go in what is now a crucial run after her earlier crash. She actually picked up seven points from that first race after remounting as one of her opponents failed to complete the course.

0232 : BMX Cycling - On to heat two of the women's semi-finals and the first semi sees a repeat with Chausson winning easily. She's set for the final.

0230 : Modern Pentathlon - The first shooting phase has just finished and the British news is that Heather Fell lies sixth after hitting 185 out of 200 with her air pistol from 10m. Team-mate Katy Livingston is down in 19th. Switzerland's Belinda Schreiber leads the way heading into the fencing.

0227 : Athletics - Back in the Bird's Nest, the decathletes have just completed their 110m hurdles races and Bryan Clay has stretched his overall lead after winning his heat in 13.93secs. World-record holder Roman Sebrle didn't look well and struggled. Briton Daniel Awde ran 14.69 in his heat to finish second.

0208 : BMX Cycling - Reade gets to her feet and waves to the crowd. Looks like she is OK , although she now has it all to do. With eight points she now needs two good finishes in the last two races. Laetitia Le Corguille won the race. Reade eventually gets back on her bike and finishes. The pressure is on the world champion now though.

0207 : BMX Cycling - Crash! Reade makes a flying start but approaching the first bend she takes a heavy fall. It looks bad and she's still on the track as her rivals finish.

0202 : BMX Cycling - France's Anne-Caroline Chausson takes the first race of the first semi-final. That's no surprise - she was fastest in the seeding race the other day, the only rider ahead of GB's Reade.

0200 : BMX Cycling - OK, they are all set at the BMX course. It's sunny today after yesterday's rain forced a postponement, so good news. It's the semi-final stage and how it works is as follows. Each semi is staged over three races with points awarded to each rider in each race. It's one for the winner, two for second etc. After the series has been completed, the riders with the least points progress. It's four from each semi to go through. Reade goes in the second semi.

0150 : What else is happening today? Well, the morning athletics focuses on the decathlon with Bryan Clay of the USA the overnight leader. That starts at 0200. The finals session at 1200 has the 4x100m relays as the highlight with Jamaica set for more sprint success. Tom Daley returns to the diving pool for the individual prelims at 1200. It's finals day in women's hockey, men's beach volleyball and women's table tennis. There are also two taekwondo gold medals up for grabs - Aaron Cook goes for Team GB.

0145 : Athletics - The men's 50km walk is already under way - the athletes will be back in the Bird's Nest in a couple of hours.

0140 : Welcome to day 14 of the Beijing Games - just three to go now. With rowing, sailing and track cycling now all over, where are Team GB's medals coming from today? Well, Shanaze Reade in the BMX cycling is the regining world champion and will be confident of success. She's due to start at 0200. We also have two modern pentathletes in action - Katy Livingston and Heather Fell have just got under way in their day-long, five-event competition. Three of our boxers already have medals. Today they can update them to at least silver by winning their semi-finals. James DeGale is the first to fight at 0800.