Olympics live

07:55 If your better half is immersed in Fifty Shades of Grey on this lazy Sunday morning, get your own back with Fifty Shades of Fantastic Sports Writing courtesy of The Telegraph.

Nick Hoult: Louis Smith confirms he's one of the potential stars of the Games
Paul Kelso: Team GB victims of own success, says Cavendish
Duncan White: Ryan Lochte humbles pool king Michael Phelps
Gareth A Davies: Ogogo battles through family agony

07:48 The Olympics will throw up special days for all sorts of athletes; yesterday, Valentina Vezzali attempted to become the first woman to win gold at four consecutive Olympics but just fell short in the fencing.

Today, Alison Williamson makes her sixth Olympics appearance against Russia at 9.40am, and The Telegraph's Tanya Aldred is there at Lord's to witness it:

A beautiful if breezy morning here at Lord's with a 20ft queue already formed by 7.15. A few people wrapped in Union Jacks to support the British women in the team event today. 40-year-old Alison Williamson will be competing in her sixth Olympics and hoping to improve on her bronze at in the individual event in Athens in 2004.

07:43 What do we have in store for you today? Put it this way: if the Olympics were Willy Wonka, then his chocolate factory would be a registered nation at London 2012. It would be the size of Monaco at the very least.

Here's the highlights to look out for:

- The mixed badminton doubles starts proceedings at 8.30am with GB needing a victory over Germany to have any chance of progressing.

- GB men's volleyball team meet Bulgaria at 9.30am.

- Nicole Cook and Elizabeth Armistead look to do what Cav couldn't in the women's road race at 10am.

- Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter begin the defence of their [[blie lightweight double sculls]] Olympic title at 11.20am.

- Swimming galore once more, with the most notable being Rebecca Adlington's defence of her 400m freestyle begins at 11.37am in the third heat of the morning, while Liam Tancock launches off at 11.15am in the 100m backstroke.

Fred Evans fights Ilyas Abbadi of Algeria in the men's welterweight at 4.15pm, while lightweight Josh Taylor meets Brazil's Robson Conceição - complete with squiggly letters - at 8.30pm.

- There's also women's hockey against Japan at 7pm, men's handball against France at 7.30pm and men's football vs. UAE at 7.45pm.

Quiet day, then.

07:18 Not a bad day for Italy either, actually. Men's archery brought gold, while they secured a 1-2-3 in the women's fencing with Elisa di Francisca nabbing gold. Valentina Vezzali, aiming for her fourth consecutive gold, finished with bronze.

Doesn't she look delighted?

07:07 There was plenty to get excited about away from Great Britain's performances, of course. We must remain ever vigilant to the dangers of playing down the achievements of other nations, and smite those who do.

Ryan Lochte was story of the evening, grabbing Michael Phelps by the swimcap and plunging his head into the water - metaphorically speaking, of course. Lochte dethroned his fellow American in the men's 400m individual medley last night, with Phelps not even earning a place on the podium.

It was still not the most impressive performance of the night: China's 16-year-old prodigy Ye Shiwen metamorphosed into a mermaid on the final lap of the women's 400m individual medley to record a world record time. There's no way that girl doesn't have flippers.

Golds were also awarded! More golds than an omnibus of Going for Gold on former UK television channel UK Gold. The first of the Games went to China and Yi Siling in the women's 10m air rifle; in fact, a fair few of the Games' first golds went to china, with the aforementioned Ye Shiwen and women's [[48kg weightlifter]] Wang Mingjuan also collecting, as well as Sun Yang in the men's 400m freestyle, breaking Ian Thorpe's Olympic record in the process.

06:49 After the hope and glory of the opening ceremony, the first day looked set to bring Great Britain back down to earth with an bump bigger than the cauldron itself. GB's male archers were out of the competition by half nine in the morning, and the tone appeared set. Britain's best medal hope on the opening day, Mark Cavendish, paid for the nation's recent success; their effort could not be questioned and only a cruel critic would do so to their performance, but the world ensured Team GB was beaten on its own roads.

Elsewhere, Britain struggled to make a splash in the pool, the Murray brothers said goodbye to Wimbledon in the men's tennis doubles and the women's basketball and handball didn't go to plan.

But there was reason to be optimistic. Britain's best gymnastics performance since 1924, for starters, with the tears of Louis Smith the standout image thus far; the rowing was good on the whole as well, while Anthony Ogogo looked even more impressive in the boxing ring than he does on those Subway advertisements.

And let's be cheerful anyway, hey? The sun is shining and there's some fantastic sport ahead. And as the song goes: who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

Onwards and upwards!