Day 4

Another day, another medal for the BBC’s Phelpsometer. A third Beijing gold – and ninth lifetime gold – for the boy dubbed the Baltimore Bullet, a moniker that harks back to the black-and-white Babe Ruth days of American sporting heroism.

Still much debate about the skin suits, from praise to accusations of ‘technological doping’, but no closer to enlightenment on the double hats.

A bronze medal for the event team: well-deserved as they focused in after changes to the line-up close to the Games. Tina Cook was one such late call-up, and made it all worthwhile with her individual bronze on Miners Frolic. A long time coming: I first heard of Kristina Gifford, as was, back in 1987 when she won team gold at junior level on Song and Dance Man, along with one William Fox-Pitt on Steadfast. Not overnight successes, but proof of hard work and perseverance.

Out of the medals but still of note was Mark Todd for New Zealand, coming out of retirement to show quite a few how it’s done. Another comeback kid, swimmer Dara Torres won silver for the US – her career has interested me since I read Gold in the Water by P. H. Mullen.

On the rowing front, finals berths are filling up and my predictions are a little askew. I had tipped Canada for gold and the US for silver in the women’s pairs, but neither made the A final, while in the women’s quad Russia finished last in the rep so won’t be getting the silver I’d allocated them