Day 10 - Snowsill Buries Demons

Major Highlight - Women's Triathlon

Australia's triathlon curse is over! Long dominant in the sport, Australia had failed to take Olympic gold in the event since its inception in Sydney. But that drought ended Monday when Emma Snowsill proved her world champion qualities with victory in the Women's triathlon. The win helped Snowsill bury her demons from the past. In 2002 her then boyfriend Luke Harrop, brother of Athens silver medallist Lorreta, was killed in training when he was hit by a car while riding. In 2004 Snowsill, then world champion, had to miss the Athens games when she missed the selection race with stress fractures. The event was a double celebration for Australia with Emma Moffatt taking bronze. World number 1 Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal) split the Aussies to take the bronze. A group of 20 or so riders had ended the bike leg together before Snowsill broke away from the field in the first kilometre of the 10km run. It turned to be the winning move as neither Fernandes nor Moffatt could catch her over the remaining 9 km's.

Gold - Emma Snowsill (Australia)
Silver - Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal)
Bronze - Emma Moffatt (Australia)

Sailing
Australia's charge up the medal tally continued after the Men's and Women's 470 class both took gold in their respective classes. Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson cruised home in 9th in the last race which was more than enough to take the gold overall, while the Men's team of Nathan Wilmot and Malcom Page went out in style, winning their last race, which they did not even have to start. There lead from previous legs was so big that they would have won gold anyway!

Cycling
Track cycling has a new powerhouse - Great Britain! The Brits produced the greatest display of pursuiting ever seen, when their Men took the Team Pursuit gold by defeating Denmark. They smashed their own world record in the process to be the first team to break 3 minutes 54 seconds for the 4 kilometres. In the antipodean battle for the bronze New Zealand easily defeated Australia after another poor performance from Graeme Brown who barely lasted 2.5 kilometres of the event. In the day's other final, world champion and number 1 ranked road race Marianne Vos (Netherlands) took gold in the women's points race by being the only rider to take a lap. Australia's Katie Bates finished 6th. Australia's Anna Meares is into the medal rounds of the Women's sprint after she won her quarter-final 2 heats to 0.

Athletics
Australia has a second finalist in a track event! Sally Mclellan finished 4th in her semi-final to become the first Aussie woman to advance to the 100m hurdles final since Los Angeles (1984). She has qualified sixth fastest, but was only 8/100ths of a second off the second fastest time so a surprise medal is not out of the question. Australia's Youcef Abdi produced his best ever performance to finish 6th in the Men's 3000m steeplechase behind Kenyan Brimin Kiprop Kipruto. And in arguably the most predictable result of these games, Russian superstar Elena Isinbaeva took the gold in the Women's pole vault, breaking her own world record in the process. But perhaps the biggest shock of the day was when Chinese great hope Liu Xiang failed to even start his heat of the Men's 110m Hurdles, in the biggest last-minute withdrawal since Big Philou (or perhaps Wayne Carey?). Liu looked in severe discomfort throughout the warm up and when Marcel van der Westen (Netherlands) false started, he was unable to re-take his position on the blocks. He limped out of the stadium leaving a nation, and an Olympics in shock.

Hockey
The Hockeyroos have failed to make it to the medal rounds for a second straight Olympics after failing to get full points over host nation China. A 2-2 draw means that it is the hosts who will progress to the semi-finals and a shot at the medals.

Basketball
The Boomers have seemingly done the impossible. All but down and out after losing their first 2 group games, the Aussie's made it three wins in a row yesterday with a 106-75 thumping of Lithuania. The prize? A quarter-final match up with the redeem team from the United States. It will take an upset of miracle on ice type proportions to see them progress any further.

Water Polo
The Australian Men's Water Polo team will miss the medal rounds after a heart-breaking 5-5 draw with Montenegro in their last pool game. The Aussies were denied by a dying-second save from the Montenegrin keeper with the Aussies on the power play.

Medal Tally after Day 10:

1 - China - 39-14-14 (67)
2 - United States - 22-24-26 (72)
3 - Great Britain - 12-7-8 (27)

4 - Australia - 11-10-12 (33)

Day 9 - Hackett, Tomkins Say Goodbye

Major Highlight - Men's 1500m Freestyle

Grant Hackett (Australia) was less than a second away from the impossible. Attempting to become the first man in history to win gold in the same event at three consecutive Olympics, Hackett finished a heart-breaking second to take silver behind surprise gold medallist Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia), going down by just 7/1oths of a second. The Aussie gave all he had and could barely walk back to the change rooms after exiting the pool. In one of the great 1500m races of all time, Hackett and Ryan Cochrane (Canada) set the pace (albeit slowly) early, before Mellouli, who had sat in the back half of the field for the first half of the race moved through to take the lead at the 1100m mark. With 100m to go Hackett trailed the Tunisian by over a second and a half. But the Aussie champion dug deep and accelerated over the last two laps. With 50m to go he still trailed by around a second. A late spurt with 25m to go, and a tiring Mellouli had the crowd roaring, but in the end the Tunisian held on to deny Hackett a place no man had ever been before. 19-year-old Cochrane held off fast finishing Yuriy Prilukov (Russia) for the bronze. Questions may (and should!) be asked about Mellouli's performance. He has already served a doping ban and improved his personal best by 9 seconds in the heat and then another 7 seconds in the final! It will be a shame if Grant is denied a place in history by a man who turns out not to be clean some time down the track. While Hackett seemed disappointed to get so close to an elusive third gold in the event, his courage and bravery to take the silver showed his champion qualities and elevated him to the same pedestal as Keiren Perkins as one of the great long-distance swimmers of all time.

Gold - Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia)
Silver - Grant Hackett (Australia)
Bronze - Ryan Cochrane (Canada)

Rowing
James Tomkins rowing career ended in disappointment as Australia's Men's Eight put in one of their worst performances of the season to finish 6th in the final. The Women fared no better with Australia also finishing 6th in the Women's Eight.

Athletics
Jamaica's golden run in the sprints continued as Shelly-Ann Fraser made it a Jamaican trifecta by taking gold in the Women's 100m, becoming the fastest woman on earth. Her countrywomen Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart tied for the silver. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) successfully defended his gold medal in the Men's 10,000m repeating the performance of his hero Haile Gebrselassie who finished 6th in his fourth try at the event.

Cycling
Defending champion Ryan Bayley (Australia) was eliminated in the repercharges of the Men's Sprint and has failed to get to the quarter-final stage. Australia also missed out on a chance for gold in the Men's Team Pursuit. After being on world record pace over the first 3km, losing Brad McGee, a complicated catch of the Dutch team, and a tiring Graeme Brown saw the Aussies finish out of the top 2 places. They will now ride off for bronze against their antipodean rivals from New Zealand.

Gymnastics
In an exciting first night of apparatus finals that saw both thrills and spills, China took two more gold medals. Zou Kai took gold in the Men's floor, although Japan's Kohei Uchimura seemed to be extremely harshly treated by the judges in finishing 5th. World champion Xiao Qin took gold in the Men's Pommel with Filip Ude (Croatia) and Louis Smith (Great Britain) winning their nation's first ever gymnastics medals with silver and bronze respectively.

Water Polo
Australia's women are into the medal rounds after an epic 12-11 win over China. The Austrailan's managed to overcome one of the most biased pro-home nation refereeing performances of all time to hang on for a deserved win, despite being subject to an horrific four double exclusions that gifted the Chinese 4 goals (usually there is no more than one of these a game at most!).

Hockey
The Kookaburra's kept their unbeaten run at this years Olympics intact with a come from behind 2-2 draw to previous silver medalists the Netherlands.

Basketball
The Opals remain undefeated at this years games after a powerful second half display saw them overrun Russia for a 75-55 victory.

Medal Tally after Day 9

1 - China - 35-13-13 (61)
2 - USA - 19-21-25 (65)
3 - Great Britain - 11-6-8 (25)

5 - Australia - 8-10-11 (29)

Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - With the Australian women in a do-or-die quarter final with China, Channel 7 could not resist taking an ad break with Australia cruising to a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter. Apparently, however, there wasn't actually a break in play, because when we returned China had magically managed to snatch two goals (god knows how!) to reduce the deficit to 3-2! The quarters go for 20 minutes (including stoppages) at most, so surely 7 can hang on that long between ad breaks, especially given they seem to throw in ads every five minutes in the prime-time evening session.

Day 7 & Day 8 - Phelps Climbs Mount Spitz

Major Highlight - Men's 100m Buttefly

Michael Phelps (US) tied Mark Spitz record of eight gold medals Saturday with a heart-stopping last stroke win in the Men's 100m Butterfly. Phelps shot at the record looked all but hopeless when he turned in 7th after the first 50 metres of the final. But a great turn had him within striking distance of leader Milorad Cavic (Serbia) with 25 metres to go. Over the last 25 metres Phelps gradually hauled back Cavic inch by inch, but the task always seemed hopeless. However, with Cavic tiring, Phelps through himself at the wall in the final 5 metres. The crowd held its breath as the swimmers hit the wall, but as has been the case 6 times already this games the name Phelps appeared at the top of the leader board. The super-human American had his 7th gold medal, by the merest of margins, one 100th of a second. Phelps now equals Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals at a single Olympics. The was also great news for Australia in the event with Andrew Lauterstein finishing strongly for the Bronze.

Gold - Michael Phelps (US)
Silver - Milorad Cavic (Serbia)
Bronze - Andrew Lauterstein (Australia)

Swimming
In a disappointing couple of days in the pool a couple of Australian favourites had to settle for silver in their respective events. Libby Trickett almost pulled a Kieren Perkins from Lane 8 but collapsed over the last 25 metres to be touched out by Germany's Britta Steffen in the Women's 100m Freestyle. Liesel Jones showed her mental fragility still plagues her. Despite having the 9 fastest times going in to the final of the Women's 200m Breastroke, Jones (again!) left the gold on the table, and allowed Rebecca Soni (US) to take the race and her world record in the process. Michael Phelps (US) won his 6th gold on Friday, cruising to victory in the Men's 200m IM.

Athletics
The world has a new fastest man! Usain Bolt ran faster than any man had run before in taking the gold in the blue ribbon event, the Men's 100m. Bolt treated his rivals with contempt, and despite showboating and easing down in the last 10m he was still able to break his own world record, setting a new time of 9.69. Bolt will go for the sprint double in the 200m. Australia managed its first medal of the track and field program when Jared Tallent taking a bronze in the Men's 20km walk. Australia's Luke Adams finished 6th in the event.

Rowing
Drew Ginn and Duncan Free became Australia's first three-time gold medalists in rowing, taking gold in the Men's Pair. It was a double celebration for Australia with David Crawshay and Scott Brennan taking a surprise gold in the Men's Double Sculls. Australia also grabbed a silver medal in the Men's Four.

Basketball
The Boomers booked their place in the knockout phase of the Men's Basketball tournament with a brilliant with a 95-80 win over Russia. However, they will need to beat Lithuania in the last pool game to avoid a quarter-final match up with the US dream team.

Medal Tally after Day 7

1 - China - 25-9-6 (40)
2 - US - 14-12-18 (44)
3 - Germany - 8-2-4 (14)

7 - Australia - 5-7-8 (20)

Day 6 - Rice Leads Aussie Girls To Relay Gold

Major Highlight - Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay

On a morning that had been disappointing for the Aussie's in the pool, Australia's Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay team produced a performance for the ages to hold off superpowers the US and China and take the gold medal in world record time. The Aussie team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barrat, Kylie Palmer, and Linda Mackenzie shaved over 5 seconds off the world mark to deliver Australia's 5th (and Rice's third!) gold at Beijing so far. Each girl produced a phenomenal splits, with Rice equalling the Australian 200m Freestyle record with her lead off leg. Barrat and Palmer managed to build up a three second lead heading into the last leg where Mackenzie was able to hold off the likes of world record holder Federica Pellegrini (Italy) and Katie Hoff (US) to take the race. The gold medal is redemption for Mackenzie who was part of the Australian relay team that were heartbreakingly robbed of a gold medal in this very race when they were disqualified for jumping into the pool before all participants had finished in the Fukuoka world championships in 2001.

Gold - Australia
Silver - China
Bronze - US

Swimming
Australia suffered a disappointing day in the pool outside the relay. World-record holder Eamon Sullivan was touched out by French rival Alain Bernard in the Men's 100m Freestyle final, while Jess Schipper went down to two remarkably improved Chinese swimmers in the final of the Women's 200m Butterfly. Both Chinese girls broke Schipper's previous world record mark in a performance that raises a lot of questions over the girls rapid improvement. On a brighter note, Brenton Rickard became the first Aussie to win a medal in the Men's 200m Breastroke since Los Angeles (1984), when he took silver behind superstar Kosuke Kitajima (Japan). The biggest shock of the day came from Libby Trickett (Australia), the world record holder in the Women's 100m Freestyle. Trickett had looked like missing the final after being only the 9th fastest qualifier from the semi-finals. But the fastest qualifier, China's Pang Jiayang was disqualified for a false start in the second-semi to allow Trickett to sneak into the field. Trickett will now be looking for a Keirien Perkins type performance to win from lane 8 in today's final.

Hockey
The Hockeyroo's continued their unbeaten run at this years games with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over South Africa.

Judo
Mongolia broke their long-awaited gold medal drought when Tuvshinbayar Naidan won the Men's 100kg class. Mongolia previously held the record for most minor medals (17) without having won a gold. That record now passes to the Philippines who have 9 minor medals (2 silver, 7 bronze) with no gold to their credit. Photo c/o http://www.olympics.com/

Basketball
The Boomers got their first win of this years games with a dominant 106-68 win over Iran.

Water Polo
The Australian men's team kept their hold on the fourth and final qualifying spot in their pool after a come from behind 8-5 victory over Canada.

Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione (Australia) have been knocked out of the Men's Doubles after going down 6-4 6-4 to the Bryan brothers of the US. Australia's participation in the tennis is over after the Women's doubles team also went down to Spain.

Medal Tally after day 6:

1 - China - 22-8-5 (35)
2 - USA - 10-9-15 (34)
3 - Germany - 7-2-3 (12)

6 - Australia 5-4-7 (16)

Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - As if we hadn't seen enough replays of the swimming finals, Channel 7 decided as an added feature we could all sit and watch poor Stephanie Rice watch her gold medal winning performances while being filmed by the Channel 7 cameras. Awkward! I think Rice summed it up perfectly with her comments at the start of the replay of the 400m IM. 'Are we going to watch the whole race?'

Day 5 - Cancellara Banks Gold For Switzerland

Major Highlight - Men's Individual Time Trial

Swiss financiers will have a little bit more gold to add to their bullion stocks after Fabian Cancellara proved himself the most powerful man in road cycling with a much deserved win in the Men's Individual Time Trial. Over two laps of a demanding 23km circuit that had parts for the both the climbers and the strong men, Cancellara was able to make up enough time on the flat to peg back surprise Swede Gustav Larsson who had gotten away from him on the uphill parts of the course. In the end Cancellara, the two-time World Time Trial Champion, had over 30 seconds to spare over Larsson, with Levi Leipheimer (US) over a minute back to take the bronze. Leipheimer was visibly disappointed with his performance, smashing his handlebars as he crossed the line at the finish. The leading Australian performer was Cadel Evans who was fairly consistent throughout to finish 5th. Countryman Michael Rogers ensured there were two Australians in the top 10 with an 8th place finished. But it is Cancellara who must get all the plaudits, taking a much deserved gold after his bronze medal performance lit up the games on Day 1.

Gold - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Silver - Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
Bronze - Levi Leipheimer (US)

Swimming
Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of all time adding two more gold medals to his tally in the pool yesterday. Phelps won his 4th of these particular games with another world-record performance to take the Men's 200m Butterfly, and added his 5th, and his 11th of his career (the all time record) when the US Men's team smashed the world record to take gold in the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. The Australian team managed to pick up the bronze thanks to a strong final leg from Nick Frost. Stepahnie Rice grabbed her second, and Australia's fourth, gold of the games with a barnstorming Freestyle leg to break her own world record in the Women's 200m IM, again pipping Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) who took the silver. The male sprinters were on fire in the Semi-Finals of the Men's 100m Freestyle with Alain Bernard (France) and then Eamon Sullivan (Australia) breaking each other's world record in consecutive races. Today's final looks like a cracker, with the winner likely to be the first man under 47 seconds. Australia also has another gold medal favourite with world record holder Jess Schipper in the Women's 200m Butterfly.

Football
The Olyroos have been eliminated from the Football Tournament of the Olympic Games after a 1-0 defeat to Cote d'Ivoire saw them fail to get out of the group stage.

Rowing
Australian pair Drew Ginn and Duncan Free easily moved through to the final of the Men's Pair and are in a good position to take the gold medal on Saturday. David Crenshaw and Scott Brennan (Australia) are also through to the final of the Double Sculls after winning their semi. Australia's Men's Four and Women's Eight also qualified for their respective finals.

Basketball
The Opals continued their unbeaten run at this years games with a comprehensive 90-62 win over Korea.

Hockey
The Kookaburra's are now 2 and 0 at this years games after slaughtering South Africa 10-0 in their second pool game.

Water Polo
The Australian Women's team threw away a valuable two points conceding a last second goal to Hungary in their 7-7 draw in their second group game.

Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) got some redemption over Rafael Nadal (Spain) by teaming up with Chris Guccione to defeat the Spaniards 6-2 7-6 in their Round 2 doubles encounter.

Gymnastics
The Australian women's team recorded their best ever performance to finish 6th in the Team final. The gold went to China who won the event for the first time.

Medal Tally after Day 5:

1 - China - 17-5-5 (27)
2 - USA - 10-8-11 (29)
3 - Korea - 6-6-1 (13)

6 - Australia - 4-2-6 (12)

Day 4 - Phelps On Track For History

Major Highlight - Men's 200m Freestyle

Supporters of Darwinian evolution must have a smile on their face every time they watch Michael Phelps swim, because surely the American is an evolutionary step above the rest of us mere mortals. Phelps won his third gold of the XXIX Olympiad, and his eighth of his career with a totally dominant display in winning the Men's 200m Freestyle in world record time. Almost a body length in front after only 50 metres, Phelps rivals were no match for him as he powered away to win by almost 2 seconds from 400m Freestyle gold medallist Park Tahewan (Korea) and countrymen Peter Vanderkaay. Phelps shaved almost an entire second off his own world record to be the first man to swim under 1 minute 43 seconds. He now lies just one short of Carl Lewis's record 9 Olympic gold medals, and can better that today with opportunities to win his 9th and 10th gold medals respectively in the 200m Butterfly and Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle relay (the US B team having broken the Olympic record already in the heat!).

Swimming
As expected, Liesel Jones grabbed Australia's third gold of the games, and her first individual gold medal, with an easy victory in the Women's 100m Breastroke. She also cruised through to the semi's of the 200m Breastroke in her heat over night. World record holder Aaron Peirsol (US) became the first man to defend the 100m Backstroke title, setting a new world mark in the process. Australian's Hayden Stoeckel and Ashley Delaney just missed the medals finishing 4th and 5th respectively. Aussie golden girl Stephanie Rice, as well as countrywomen Alicia Coutts both qualified for today's final of the Women's 200m IM, with Rice looking to do the double after taking gold in the 400m IM.

Equestrian
Australia gained a silver in the team 3-day eventing competition, after a near faultless display of showjumping by the Germans allowed them to hold onto their lead following the cross-country, and take the gold.

Diving
The Australian pair of Briony Cole and 16-year old Melissa Wu won silver in the Women's Synchronised 10m Platform competition. The Chinese pair took the gold, making it a clean sweep for China in the 3 diving events contested at the games so far.

Canoe/Kayak - Slalom
Australian Robin Bell avenged his 4th place in Athens with a bronze medal in the Men's Canoe (C1) Slalom. In the Kayak division, Benjamin Boukpeti (Togo) became the first athlete from the tiny African nation to win an Olympic medal when he took bronze.

Rowing
Australia's Men's Eight, including flag-bearer James Tomkins, kept their medal hopes alive, finishing second in their repercharge to move through to the final.

Sailing
Both Australia's Men's and Women's boats in the 470 class lead their respective division after four races.

Water Polo
Australia's Men's Water Polo team slipped to 1-1 from their 2 pool games so far after a close 9-8 loss to Spain yesterday.

Basketball
The Boomers fell to 0-2 at this years Olympics after an 85-68 loss to defending gold-medalists Argentina. They will have to get wins on the board quickly if they are to get out of the group stage (they won't!).

Tennis
Australia's last remaining singles hope, Lleyton Hewitt, was comprehensively beaten by Rafael Nadal (Spain) 6-1, 6-2 in Round 2 of the Olympic Tennis tournament. Hewitt will face Nadal again in the second round of the Men's Doubles, when he teams up with Chris Guccione.

Medal Tally after Day 4:

1 - China - 13-3-4 (20)
2 - USA - 7-7-8 (22)
3 - Korea - 5-6-1 (12)

6 - Australia 3-2-5 (10)

Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - In Cole and Wu's post silver medal presentation interview with Channel 7, the interviewer suggested that Briony Cole must be especially appreciative of winning silver given the hardships she has gone through with injuries in recent years. Cole was quite shocked and replied that she had never really suffered from any serious injury. I guess that's the kind of journalism you get when you get stale old Channel 7 lackey's reporting rather than experts in the particular field.

Day 3 - Libby Lights Up The Pool

Major Highlight - Women's 100m Butterfly

Four years on from her disappointment in Athens, Libby Trickett won her first individual Olympic gold medal, and Australia's second gold of the games, with a dominant display in the Women's 100m Butterfly. Trickett recorded a personal best time, and just missed the world record, to hold off the fast finishing Christine Magnuson (US) to add gold to the bronze medal she won in the 4 x 100m Freestyle relay on Day 2. It was a double success for Australia with Jess Schipper taking the bronze. It was Trickett's dynamic speed off the blocks that won her the race. She gained an early lead and was ahead of world record pace for most of the race before fading slightly in the final 10m as her early effort told. The victory suggests Trickett is in great form, and will be hard to beat in the 100m Freestyle later in the meet.

Gold - Libby Tricket (Australia)
Silver - Christine Magnuson (US)
Bronze - Jess Schipper (Australia)

Swimming
Michael Phelps grabbed his second gold of the games by just 8/100ths of a second as the United States came from the clouds to win the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay in world record time. However, it was more a case of a massive choke in the final leg from world record holder Alain Bernard of France, who somehow managed to lose a body length lead in the final 50 metres. The Aussies took the bronze and actually broke the old world record mark themselves! A similar collapse from American Katie Hoff in the Women's 400m Freestyle allowed Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain) to take an unexpected gold medal. Kosuke Kitajima (Japan) became the first man to defend the Men's 100m Breastroke, taking the gold in world record time. Leisel Jones (Australia) cruised to victory in her Women's 100m Breastroke semi and would need to fall off the blocks to lose the gold in today's final. There was also a surprise for Australia in the Men's 100m Backstroke semi's with unheralded Hayden Stoeckel breaking the Olympic record to qualify fastest for today's final. In overnight heats both Stephanie Rice (Australia) and Alicia Coutts (Australia) qualified easily for today's semis in the Women's 200m IM.

Hockey
The Kookaburra's got their gold medal defence off to a flying start with a 6-1 demolition job over Canada in their first group game.

Basketball
The Opals are now 2 for 2 at this years Olympics after a comfortable 80-65 victory over Brazil.

Water Polo
Australia's women's water polo team (the stingers?! please!) got their Olympic campaign off to an excellent start with a 8-6 win over Greece.

Judo
Australia's Maria Pelki finished a heart-breaking 4th in the Women's 57kg class after losing her bronze medal match to Ketleyn Quadros (Brazil) in extra time.

Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) is through to the second round of the Men's Tennis after defeating Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-5 7-6. He will meet Rafael Nadal in round 2 (Spain), and be eliminated, joining Alicia Molik (Australia) who crashed out in straight sets in the first round.

Equestrian
Australia lies in second place overall after the cross-country stage of the Team Equestrian. However, they trail Germany by only 4 penalty points which is the equivalent of dislodging 1 bar in the final show jumping round. The battle for the medals should go right down to the wire.

Medal Tally after Day 3:

1 - China - 9-3-2 (14)
2 - Korea - 4-4-0 (8)
3 - USA - 3-4-5 (12)

5 - Australia - 2-0-3 (5)

Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Despite showing the Australian girls water polo opener against Greece delayed, Channel 7 had the bright idea of showing the last quarter and a half of a game they already new would finish 8-6 Australia's way. The score when they started their delayed coverage halfway through the third quarter...8-5!!!! Thirteen goals had been scored in the first 25 minutes yet the geniuses at 7 thought we'd like to see the last 15 minutes which involved 1 goal to Greece from a penalty.