Day 12 - Lightning Bolt Strikes Again

Major Highlight - Men's 200m

Usain Bolt (Jamaica) confirmed his standing as the fastest man the world has ever seen by breaking Michael Johnson's world record last night in taking gold in the Men's 200m. In doing so, Bolt became the first man since Carl Lewis in Los Angeles (1984) to take the 100m-200m sprint double at the Olympics. Despite destroying the field by almost 10 metres, there was no showboating at the finish from Bolt, who needed to run out the entire distance in order to break Johnson's herculean world record that had stood since Atlanta (1996). The race was not without controversy with Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) and American Wallace Spearman both disqualified for running outside their respective lanes. This allowed American pair Shawn Crawford, the defending champion from Athens, and Walter Dix to take silver and bronze respectively, although they were no match for the explosive Bolt. Bolt will now look to continue his golden run by anchoring the Jamaican men's 4 x 100m relay team later in the meet.

Gold - Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
Silver - Shawn Crawford (United States)
Bronze - Walter Dix (United States)

Athletics
Craig Mottram will be a shock omission from the Men's 5000m final after failing to qualify when he finished 5th in his heat. It is the first time Mottram, bronze-medallist at the 2005 world championships, has missed a major 5000m final since 2003. His preparation must surely be questioned, having only competed in two 5000m races in the lead up to the games.

Softball
The Australian women's softball team will collect the Bronze medal after losing a marathon preliminary-final game to Japan. The Aussies managed to send the game into extra-innings with a home run when they were down to their last out in the 7th. They took the lead in the 10th but were tied by Japan when a blooper evaded the outstretched glove of the short-stop. Japan rapped the game up in the 11th with a walk-off hit to centre field, and will go on and meet the United States for the Gold.

BMX
Australia has four qualifiers through to the semi-final stage of the inaugural BMX Olympic event. Nicole Callisto and Tanya Bailey will compete in the women's semi's while Jared Graves and the moronically named Kamakazi will compete in the men's semi's.

Basketball
The Boomers were eliminated from medal contention at this years Olympics, after going down to the redeem team from the United States 116-85.

Medal Tally after Day 12:

1 - China - 45-14-20 (79)
2 - United States - 26-28-28 (82)
3 - Great Britain - 16-10-11 (37)

5 - Australia 11-12-13 (36)