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Cooke: GB golden girl
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1547: That's a sour note to wind down our Olympic clockwatch on, but tomorrow is another day and there's plenty to look forward to from Beijing.
1537 : And it finishes 5-1 to Germany - thats a real spanking for the GB girls and not the way to start an Olympic tournament!
1520 : China and the USA have tipped off in their high-profile basketball clash - vene president Bush has made the journey from the Water Cube to watch the American all-stars.
1515 : It's five! In a reverse of England's famous football win in Munich, Germany now lead GB 5-1 in the hockey - disaster for the Brits
1507 : Some better news for the gymnasts though, with Becky Downie just sneaking into the all-round final, while Beth Tweddle has qualified for the uneven bars final, but missed out on the floor.
1505 : Germany are now 4-1 up on Britain in the women's hockey, it never rains...
1458 : Great Britain's women gymnasts just fail to qualify for the team event final, as they finish in ninth and just one place outside the top eight teams that go through.The GB team recorded 232.425 but the Brazilian team made 233.8 on their final rotation to edge the Brits out of the top eight.
1450 : Italy go through to the last eight in the men's football with a 3-0 win over South Korea. Holland score a late leveller to draw 2-2 with the USA while its Serbia 2-4 Ivory Coast and China 0-2 Belgium.
1434 : But wait! Eileen Hoffman then slots in unmarked at the back post from a free hit to restore Germany's lead 2-1.
1433 : Crista Cullen hits back for GB in the hockey to make it 1-1.
1433 : Britain's Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg have been knocked out of the badminton in the first round - China's third seeds Zhang Jiewen and Wei Yili proving too strong as they come through 21-19 21-13.
1430 : Germany have taken a 1-0 lead against GB in the women's hockey. A short corner routine did the damage and a soggy British side now need to hit back.
1426 : The USA now lead Holland 2-1 in the men's football - Jose Altidore kneed the ball in from close range and the Dutch are struggling.
1408 : GOLD! Italy's Matteo Tagliariol beat France's Fabrice Jeannet in the final of the men's individual epee in the fencing.
1406 : GB's Donna Kellogg and Gail Emms have lostthe opening game of their first match in the women's doubles badminton - facing the home crowd too as they play Chinese pair, seeded three, Zhang Yawen & Wei Yili.
1400 : Great Britain's women's hockey are just singing the national anthem as they line-up to take on Germany in their opening game - another big surprise for today, not, is that is tipping down with rain...again.
1356 : In the men's fencing - the individual epee bronze goes to Jose Luis Abajo of Spain after he beat Gabor Boczko from Hungary 8-7.
1350 : World Record! The B team for America in the 4x100m freestyle set a new world record and its only the heats! Team USA normally change their teams for the final too, with Michael Phelps to come in - or will he now after that world best time?
1350 : GOLD! A sixth gold for the hosts as Long Qingquan of China takes the men's 56kg weightlifting title.
1348 : Adlington and Jackson have qualified second and fourth in the 400m freestyle final and it is sure to be an exciting race tomorrow in the Water Cube.
1345 : Federica Pellegrini and Rebecca Adlington race away with their heat of the 4oom freestyle. The Italian just touches off the Britain and is just outside her own world record and set a new, surprise surprise Olympic record, but the two Brits in the event will have a big chance in the final.
1339 : Great Britain's Jo Jackson is just touched off by American star Katie Hoff in the women's 400m freestyle heats. Its a lifetime best for Jackson as Hoff sets a new Olympic Games record and the British swimmer is just nine hundredths behind.
1334 : Liverpool's Ryan Babel puts Holland 1-0 up against the USA - hosts China lead Belgium 1-0, Serbia are 2-1 down against Ivory Coast and Italy are 2-0 up against South Korea.
1321 : Britain's Tracey Hallam completes her win 21-18 21-13 to go through to the last 16 in the women's singles badminton.
1320 : Knockout blow from Bradley Saunders as he floors Ghana fighter Samuel Neequaye twice with two hurtful bodyshot and the referee stops the fight and the British man goes through.
1306 : Tancock is sixth fastest in the semi-final line-up, while Tait just sneaks in in 16th place - again the Olympic record is loweredm this time by American Matt Grevers
1305 : Liam Tancock goes like a train in the first 50m of his heat, but struggles in the final stretch and comes third, but is comfortably into the semis - American world record holder Aaron Peirsol paces himself just right to come through and win in.
1303 : Gregor Tait finishes fifth in his 100m backstroke heat, beahind winner Hayden Stoeckel - Tait's in 11th place overall now with one heat left to go and any more than five quicker here will put him out of the semis.
1254 : Britain's Tracey Hallam goes one game up against Kristina Ludikova of the Czech Republic in the badminton - Hallam knocked out a home favourite in the opening round.
1250 : Three-time women's Olympic hockey champions Australia came from 4-1 down at half time to stun South Korea 5-4! Great comeback from the Hockeyroos
1248 : Leisel Jones sets the now regulation Olympic Games record as she wins her 100m breaststroke heat - its a regular occurrence in the pool now and Jones will be tough to beat. And there was a fine swim from Russian youngster Yuliya Efimova.
1245 : Britain's Kate Haywood comes third in her 100m breaststroke heat, behind Chinese winner Sun Ye and Aussie Tarnee White - Kirsty Balfour comes fourth also for GB - both have a shout of the semis.
1239 : An update from the men's basketball, Olympic champions Argentina suffered a surprise 79-75 reverse against Lithuania to get their defence off to a poor start, while Russia beat Iran 71-49.
1234 : Japan get on the gold medal board as Masato Uchishiba wins the men's 66kg judo title by defeating France's Benjamin Darbelet in the final - the bronze medals went to Pak Chol-min of South Korea and Yordanis Arencibia of Cuba.
1229 : Some men's football results for you - Brazil bt New Zealand 5-0 Argentina bt Australia 1-0 Cameroon bt Honduras 1-0 Nigeria bt Japan 2-1.
1225 : Dominik Meichtry beats both morning gold medallists Michael Phelps and Park Tae-Hwan in the 200m freestyle. Phelps didn't look too good there but he's had a busy morning after all. Ross Davenport of Great Britain has made the semis.
1155 : Gemman Spofforth and Elizabeth Simmonds both qualify for the semi-finals with Simmonds setting a new personal best - the Olympic record went three times in all in qualifying, expect more in the semis and final!
1155 : Kirsty Coventry beats World champion Natalie Coughlin in their heat for another Olympic record in the 100m backstroke
1152 : Reiko Nakamura sets a new Olympic record as she wins her heat of the 100m backstroke, it won't be the last time that record will fall this Games.
1145 : It's back to the Water Cube next for more swimming heats - hope man of the moment Phelps hasn't been celebrating his first gold too much - he's up again in the 200m freestyle.
1137 : GOLD! Korea continue their domination of the women's archery continues as they prove too strong for China. A new world record, another Olympic title and they've hardly been pressed either - truly awesome arrows from the Korean women.
1129 : The first rendition of the national anthem as Nicole Cooke receives her gold medal - richly deserved to after her efforts through the driving rain.
1126 : Korea and China are now battling it out for archery gold - Korea open up a five-point lead.
1108 : France get the bronze! In a tight contest the French come out on top by just two points to claim the bronze medal and the British girls have to settle for fourth.
1058 : At the halfway point of the bronze medal match in the women's archery and its tight between Great Britain and France with the French a point ahead, it could go right down to the wire.
1047 : It could be a quick second medal for Great Britain as the females archers have just started their bronze medal match against France after a delay for the bad weather - there have been some shocking conditions in Beijing today.
1046 : Just to give you the full SP on the cycling - Sweden's Emma Johansson won the silver and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy won the bronze.
1046 : What a fantastic victory that was for Cooke. She looked to have fell off the pack around the final corner, but how she battled up the punishing finishing climb and she would not be beaten heading up to the line.
1036 : GB GOLD! Nicole Cook battles through the dreadful rain to out-sprint her rivals up the hill to the finish to land a superb victory and a first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics for Team GB!
1033 : With just 1km to go, Nicole Cook has dropped off the back of the leading pack of riders, but she looks like she has recovered.
1014 : Full result from the wightlifting: Gold - Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon, Silver - Yoon Jin-hee of South Korea, Bronze - Nastassia Novikava the bronze for Belarus.
1010 : GOLD! for Thailand in the 53kg category of the women's weightlifting - and its the barely-pronouncable Thailand's Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon who has taken Olympic gold.
1008 : The US men's volleyball team beat Venezuela 3-2 without coach Hugh McCutcheon, whose father-in-law was tragically killed at a Beijing tourists attraction yesterday.
1007 : The women's weightlifting is heading towards a climax with another gold medal up for grabs.
1006 : Tatiana Guderzo, Emma Pooley and Natalia Boyarskaya are the leading three in the breakway in the cycling as they head up towards the top of the climb for the final time.
1000 : There's been another crash in the race, involving Canadian Alexandra Wrubleski, at the moment its unsure who else was invovled - should be a thrilling end to this race in the rain.
0957 : Just over 20km to go in the cycling as they enter the final lap - Britian's Emma Pooley has made a break from the pack at the foot of the climb to try and catch the Russian leader.
0955 : World champions Argentina are just about to kick-off against Australia in the men's football - elsewhere its Nigeria v Japan, New Zealand v Brazil and Cameroon v Honduras - we'll keep you right up to date with al lthe scores.
0950 : Britain's women's quad sculls make the final after beating Germany in their heat - and they will go head-to-head with fellow big-hitters China in six days time for the gold.
0946 : As expected, the brilliant Koreans archers have made the women's final where they will face China for the gold medal, while France and Team GB go for bronze..dont forget to email me in all your thoughts, predictions, comments and reactions on the Olympic action to paul.higham@bskyb.com
0941 : Emma Pooley and Nicole Cook are right amongst the leaders in the cycling road race, which is still being lashed by the rain, but Russian Natalia Boyarskaya has flown and is almost two minutes ahead after powering up the steep climb.
0932 : South Korean rider Gu Sung-Eun is the one who took the big tumble in the cycling, but she's got right back on her bike again and is carrying on bravely.
0929 : World champions Spain have beaten Greece 81-66 in the men's basketball competition. Later on today the USA stars face the giant Yao Ming and hosts China in what is predicted to be the most watched basketball game ever!
0924 : There's almost a monsoon going on for the female cyclists in the road race, and there's been a big crash which resulted in a Korean rider ending up in an irrigation ditch!
0923 : Great Britain's women archers lose out in the semi-final against the hosts China 208-202. The GB girls can still go for bronze though as they will play the loser between Korea and France, probably France on all known form.
0908 : Britain's lightweight coxless fours make it through to the semi-finals after a tough battle against China. GB are the world champions but China won that title a year before and are unbeaten in 2008 and looked powerful. Roared on by an excitable home crowd the come a length ahead of the Brits.
0855 : British boxer Billy Joe Saunders is set to fight Cuban Carlos Banteaux Suarez on Sunday following his earlier victory over Kilicci.
0844 : The rain in Beijing is heavy. That much is clear when watching the women's road race. Serena Williams has also been forced off the court because of the inclement weather.
0838 : GOLD! The Czech Republic earn their second gold medal of the games, again in the shooting. This time it's in the men's trap shooting.
0834 : A decent few minutes for the Brits. Long gone are the dark memories from 24 hours ago, when Ainslie and Fallon's best efforts went belly up. Mind you, while Fallon's Olympic dream is over, Ainslie has turned it around today and he is second overall in the Finn.
0832 : Over to the rowing, and a comfortable win for Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter in their heat for the lightweight double sculls.
0830 : An excellent performance from Saunders who eases to a 14-3 victory over Kilicci to progress to the next round.
0826 : Don't forget the archery finals at 0900! Great Britain face China in the semis.
0824 : Saunders continues to dominate against Kilicci and he is now 11-2 in front with two rounds to go.
0823 : GOLD! China gain another gold medal thanks to Guo/Wu in the synchronised diving. Russia take the silver medal and Germany edge out the USA for the bronze.
0821 : A late flurry from Saunders gets him another point and he leads 6-1 after round two.
0820 : Saunders is dominating this bout and he's now 5-0 in front of the Turk.
0818 : Saunders follows it up with another and he's 2-0 in front after a solid opening round.
0817 : Saunders gets the first point in the first round.
0813 : Britain's Billy Joe Saunders is about to step into the ring to fight Turkey's Adem Kilicci in the 69kg welterweight division.
0804 : The Chinese girls lead by nearly 13 points after round three of the diving. The host nation are racking up the medals today and they could have another nice shiny gold one in a few minutes time.
0757 : Serena Wiiliams has taken a quick 3-0 lead against Olga Gorvortsova in the tennis. Ringside, there's a hive of activity as the boxing is almost under way. Britain's Billy Joe Saunders will be one of the first to fight.
0755 : Another great dive from the Chinese in round three. They extend their lead and the Gold medal looks theirs for the taking.
0752 : The American girls nail 'the Pike'. Just 51.00. The Chinese still lead. Britain still last.
0744 : Wow. Near perfection from the Chinese duo in the diving. 57.60 for the World Champions.
0742 : Sailing update! Ainslie puts in a solid fourth place in race three. He's up to second overall now with one more race to go today.
0741 : The Germans score 51.00. USA next. Good dive. 52.80 too. So we've three joint-leaders after round one. A fascinating competition. The brave Brits are last.
0736 : Italy score 48.00. It's a tight competition. Tandi Gerrard and Hayley Sage for Britain next. Ooooh they get 46.80. A bit harsh? I've no idea - looked okay to me!
0732 : Solid stuff from the Ukraine. 49.80. Russia were good too. 52.80 - joint level with China.
0731 : Good start from Australia in the synchronised diving. They score 52.20. The red-hot home favourites are up next. 52.80 for the Chinese pair.
0728 : Britain's Nicole Cooke is up with the leaders in the cycling. Over at the Water Cube, the competitors are limbering up for the women's 3m synchronised final. We'll stick with that for a bit, as that's where the next medal winner will be coming from.
0717 : Over at the gymnastics Britain's Beth Tweddle scored 15.630 on the uneven bars.
0709 : Great Britain's Ben Rhodes and Stevie Morrison are leading in the sailing in the early stages. Mind you, things can change quickly. Medal hope Ben Ainslie was 120m clear yesterday before trailing in ninth in the first of his races.
0700 : Now the sailing is under way. The women's cycling road race is about to start too. Three shiny medals up for grabs here. The delayed tennis has now stated aswell. In the boxing, Britain's Billy Joe Saunders takes on Turkey's Adem Kilicci in an hour's time.
0650 : I spoke too soon. The sailing is delayed because of the damn wind. It changed direction. The 49er race two will be under way shortly.
0646 : The sailing is under way - and there is a massive boost for the competitors. There is a breeze! In fact, I'd go as far as calling it wind.
0628 : A sniff of success in the archery and suddenly we've gone mad for the bow and arrow. Apparantly it's more technical than you think. I'm not so sure. I reckon whoever gets closest to the middle of the target the most times wins. If that's not the case I'm confused.
0623 : Georgia won't be pulling out of the Olympics despite the outbreak of war with Russia. The two countries take each other on in the women's beach volleyball on Wednesday. Could be tasty.
0600 : Korea are pretty good at archery. They have just set a new world record and will take some stopping. GB face China in the semi-finals in three hours time.
0530 : GOLD! Another gold for the hosts, this time in the women's 10m air pistol. Guo Wenjun is the sharp shooter. Russia's Natalia Paderina takes silver, Georgia's Nino Salukvadze collects bronze.
0525 : Phew! After all those swimming finals it's time to catch a breath. How good was Phelps? The man's a machine. Can anybody stop him in his quest for eight golds? I think he'll do it. I'd go as far as saying he's nailed on. Next up, as far as medals are concerned, is the women's 10m air pistol final, and the men's trap final in the shooting.
0512 : Team GB have a medal chance in the archery thanks to the women's team who have made the semi-finals.
0450 : There's meant to be some tennis going on in Beijing, but it has been delayed because of the wet weather.
0435 : GOLD! Holland win the gold in the 4x100m women's freestyle. USA get the silver, Australia only bronze. GB were right in the medal hunt for the first two legs but they eventually finished seventh.
0431 : They're off in the 4x100m women's freestyle. GB are in lane eight.
0418 : Nearly another world record, this time in the Men's 100m Breaststroke semi-final. Alexander Dale Oen of Norway wins the heat in 59.16, and that's an Olympic record.
0353 : GOLD! WORLD RECORD! Stephanie Rice of Australia with a huge swim! She lets out a scream as she sees her time and another world record tumbles. Hoff could manage only third. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe was a close second. Miley finished a respectable sixth for GB.
0348 : They're off in the 400m Women's Individual Medley.
0346 : World record holder Katie Hoff, of the USA, is going to take some stopping here.
0345 : Britain's Hannah Miley is going for a medal in the Women's 400m Individual Medley. She was the slowest qualifier, though, and starts from lane eight.
0330 : GOLD! South Korea's Park Taehwan wins the Men's 400m Freestyle.
0321 : After the second heat it is confirmed Lowe makes the final. She did it comfortably, qualifying sixth fastest.
0316 : Jemma Lowe has a chance of making the women's 100m fly final after equalling her British record in the semi - she finished fourth and it could be enough.
0308 : GOLD! WORLD RECORD! Phelps wins the men's 400m individual medley gold for the USA and it's a sensational swim. He breaks his own world record by miles after setting a time of 4:03:84.
0307 : Freestyle now! Phelps leads - and the world record is in sight.
0306 : Breaststroke now. Phelps leads fellow American Lochte.
0305 : Phelps is leading. Now it's the backstroke. It's fast and furious.
0304 : Phelps gets a good start in lane four. Butterfly first.
0301 : Legs are jangling as the swimmers sit above their lanes while being introduced to the crowd. Phelps is in the zone. He is still listening to his MP3.
0259 : George Bush is in the Water Cube wafting around an American flag. Where's Barack? Probably watching at home on prime time US television, being much more dignified.
0254 : Attention now turns to the Water Cube - first up it's the men's 400m individual medley, featuring Michael Phelps who is trying to break all sorts of records.
0246 : Nice performance from Britain's Mary King in the dressage and that brings the team much closer to the Australians.
0238 : Well, it was a tight contest, but the defending champions USA have run away with their beach volleyball clash against Japan in the end. They take the second set 21-15.
0235 : It's raining pretty hard now in Beijing, it's wet and misty and horrid. Probably a good day for the highlights to be in the Water Cube, then, and the swimming gets under way soon.
0230 : It's nip and tuck in the beach volleyball. Cat and mouse stuff. USA lead Japan 12-10. It's not so tight in the basketball - Russia have scored 19 points in a row and they lead Iran 24-5.
0220 : Can't find the hockey, so it's the equestrian and beach volleyball for me. It's an entertaining game on the sand, with Japan's women one set down against the USA. Great rally for the first point in the second set - Japan win it. It looks pretty easy, though. Maybe it's my sport.
0200 : Hope they show the hockey on the tele - I've always had a soft spot for the event since the golden days of Sean Curley.
0155 : Much attention is on American Michael Phelps today. It's been well documented that he's going for a record gold medal haul in the swimming, and he goes for his first at 0300 in the 400m individual medley. That should prove to be the highlight of the early hours, although we've got plenty to keep us occupied before attention diverts to the Water Cube. It's Russia v Iran in the men's basketball at 0200, there's more shooting and beach volleyball, and the women's hockey is already under way with Japan taking on New Zealand.
0130 : Welcome, to day two of the Beijing Games. There's 14 gold medals up for grabs in China today - and we'll bring you news on each and every one of them right here. Don't forget to check out our in-depth schedule for a full run down of the day's events, and our results section to catch up on all that's happened so far.
