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

Day 3

It seems that British women swimmers are back: they won the first gold medal since 1960, and underlined the fact by taking bronze in the same event, while the American Katie Hoff’s six-gold challenge was thwarted for the second time in two days as she had to settle for silver. Michael Phelps – curiously the only man ever to look more attractive when wearing a swimming hat – is well on his way. The 4 x 100 relay was quite extraordinary, not necessarily in outcome but in the way in which it was won - almost the whole field above world-record pace, and the incredible final length by Jason Lezak. You know it's good when even Michael Phelps has someone to look up to.

Phelps, along with a couple of other Americans, wears two swimming hats at once (why?). Aside from double hats, it’s all about the suits in swimming, with the vast majority in the new long-leg speed suit that looks almost like a wetsuit. All are seeking the advantage, so it has inadvertently levels the playing field. Not very stylish, though, given the odd grey patches, though the US have made an effort, and full marks to the guy in the bright orange one. At least he stood out.

In other tales of the unexpected, Andy Murray crashed out in the first round of the men's singles, and the synchro divers trailed in last despite the hype. Made worse by the rather unseemly spat afterwards, a huff that made one wonder which was the teenager and which the grown man.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the GB men's eight winning their heat and going straight through to the final, beating the much-fancied USA while they were about it. No upsets in the men's and women's singles, though. That said, while the medals will be shared by the usual band, the likely finishing order is by no means a done deal.

Much hard work is still to be done, but there is the greatest sense of enjoyment at these Olympics, that the athletes are just thrilled to be there. Witness Mary King and Call Again Cavalier at the end of the cross-country: he had his ears pricked and was full of running, she was beaming and wiping away tears of joy.