The Beijing Olympics - Live!

8.18am: Big news at the beach volleyball courts where George Bush has stopped by to ogl… support the US women's team as they practice ahead of their campaign.

8.15am: Oh, hello. A few zingers coming up later today. We've got a shooting medal to be decided in the next few minutes in the 10m air pistol final and the there'll be more slashing than in a horror movie double bill later as the women's sabre medals are decided.

08:08am: It's 8am, which means that it's time for Lutz, Tom Lutz. But before I handover, let me bring you up to date with some of the non-Brit action. In the women's handball Hungary beat Sweden 30-24. In the women's beach volleyball their have been wins for China and Italy. And lastly, but not leastly, China are up in their basketball game with Spain. Should be a close game, that. And now talking you through the last five medals of the first day it's Mr Lutz.

07:56am: The cycling is cracking on - with Stefan Schumacher, a two-stage winner in this year's Tour de France, currently setting the pace. Sadly, there's not going to be a fairy tale for the teenage Brit Johnny Bellis, who's fallen away. From young hopeful to grizzled veteran, William Fotheringham pays tribute to seven-time Olympian Jeannie Longo who rides in the women's race tomorrow.

07:46am: It's second round misery again for Craig Fallon, he's lost his second round match against European champion Ludwig Paischer from Austria. And doubling the unhappy Athens deja vu, Fallon didn't have the rub of the green from the referee either. Bronze is now the best he can do.

07:38am: The wind has dropped again in the sailing, and with it Ben Ainslie's command of the field in this first race. Charismatic Greek, Emilios Papathanassiou, has overhauled both Ben Ainslie and Ivan Kljaković Gašpić to lead by a distance. In fact, a fair few have sailed past our man Ainslie including America, Brazil and Poland. He finished tenth, a dramatic collapse after the wind died.

07:24am: He lost the first round or so, but boxer James DeGale triumphed 13-4 over Mohamed Hikal of Egypt in the end. Welcome good news.

07:20am: Bored by the news that Katerina Emmons won the first Gold in Beijing? Andy Bull follows the first loser, Australian badminton hopeful Erin Carroll, gone in 30 odd minutes.

07:17am: James DeGale, the only Team GB boxer in action today, is going into the fourth round against Egypt's Mohamed Hikal in the opening round of the middleweight division. Sad to say, the Hammersmith boy is in bother. Frankie Gavin debacle aside, you gotta trust John Rawling, that things will turn around for the British boxing team.

07:04am: Lack of wind or no, Ben Ainslie has made a storming start in the dingy and has cut his way through the fleet with only Croatia's Ivan Kljaković Gašpić keeping in touch. Less good news in the Yngling, where the British team were trailing in last, and despite picking up, have it all to do in the downwind half of the first race.

06:47am: Back to the pommel horse. Huntingdon-based hopefuls Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings have finished their routines - both hope to make the individual final but the exciting 19 year-old Smith made several minor errors while teammate Keatings' spoiled a fine effort by losing his balance as he dismounted. Despite all the huff and puff about it being a learning experience for London in four years time, they'll be disappointed if they fail to make the final. Fingers crossed. Better news comes from the cycling, where 19 year-old Brit Johnny Bellis is handily placed as they approach the Great Wall of China.

06:35am: More results and news for your delectation. In the women's beach volleyball the Australians beat the Russians 2-1, while New Zealand eventually closed out Mali in the women's basketball 76-72. Meanwhile, Qingdao is getting gusty and the sailing is starting up.

06:30am: It's not that much of an exaggeration to say that Craig Fallon had no sooner begun his fight with Monaco's unfancied Hann Siccardi, than he beat him. Our Black Country boy is comfortably through to the second round. Good job.

06:20am: More on the lack of the scheduled sailing competition, it's apparently nothing more sinister than a lack of wind. It's just a postponement at Qingdao "one of the most windless places on the planet" and maybe not the first we'll see.

06:18am:Lawrence Donegan reflects on how Katerina Emmons upset the form book and overcame a headache, and the will of a billion odd Chinese people, to beat local hero Du Li, to the first gold of the Games.

06:14am: If you're wondering quite why we haven't had that glimpse of Ben Ainslie going for his third gold in the sailing yet, or why I haven't given you more on Yngling favourites Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, it's because the sailing events have been delayed. Meantime Team GB rower, Richard Chambers shares his experience of preparing for a big Olympic day on the water.

06:05am: One of the nicest stories from out of the left field of the Athens Olympics was the silver medal of photogenic badminton mixed doubles pair Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson. Well, the singles tournament is already underway. Pick of the games so far was Indonesian Maria Kristen Yulianti staging a late fightback to beat German hopeful Juliane Schenk in a superb three setter. The Chinese top seeds Lin Dan (male) and Xie Xingfang (female) play tomorrow. Athens quarter finalist Tracey Hallem and rising male hopeful and world no.20 Andrew Smith provide the home challenge. In Guardian land, I need to beat Phil Passey to stay in the Premier League on Tuesday.

05:50am: In the second women's basketball match New Zealand are following the winning example of neighbors, everybody needs good neighbors Australia, they're leading Mali 42-33 at half-time.

05:41am: To the gymnasium, where the men's teams are locked in qualifying (team and individual) battle. Italian Enrico Pozzo is currently letting loose on the pole horse, people in the know say it was average, but to my eyes it was extraordinary. The Chinese athletes, of course, have always excelled in this area. Anyone else remember this?

05:30am: We've a grappling chance of a medal in the judo, where Black Country judoka Craig Fallon will be competing in the men's 60kg competition, which is just bouting off now. On paper Fallon looks a shoo in. Except that while he was crowned world champion in 2005, and then European champion in 2006, he crashed out in the second round in Athens. After his defeat at the hands of Revazi Zintiridis, his coach blamed the ref, "you're not going to get any favors from the referees" when you're "in Greece fighting a Greek guy". We'll see.

05:09am: Gold medal - women's 48 kg weightlifting: Chen Xiexia (CHN)

Chen Xiexia has taken the first Chinese gold of the Games, she made it look easy, and was a country mile ahead of the rest of the field. Second was Sibel Özkan from Turkey and third was Chen Wei Ling from Taiwan. Next China will get to add to what is certain to be a Midas-ly monstrous haul of golds in the Men's 10m air pistol final.

04:59am: More from the beach volleyball. Bad news for Swiss fans, the women's team lost 0-2 to China, while the men's team were beaten by the same score by the Netherlands. Hey, maybe Roger Federer will make it all right by routing Russia's Dmitry Tursunov later in the tennis.

04:55am: Back to the weightlifting, where we're at the clean & jerk stage. The weights have been disappointing so far - the event kicked off atypically early, around 10.30am Chinese time, and to be blunt you can't just role out of bed and lift one hundred and ten kilos. In the absence of the elephantine weights I was expecting, I've allowed myself to be distracted by the unexpected weightlifting beauty of Melanie Noel. However, now Mademoiselle Noel is out, then the quality of competition is more than making up for the lack of World Record breaking activity. Chinese star Chen Xiexia looks in control but the other medal placings are between Korean Im Jyoung-Hwa, the impressive Taiwanese lifter Chen Wei Ling, the Thai Pensiri Laosirikul and rising Turkish talent Sibel Özkan.

04:35am: Later in the morning, we'll get our first glimpse of several more Brit hopefuls. Rightly-acclaimed poster boy, Ben Ainslie, goes for his third consecutive gold medal in the Heavy Weight Dinghy competition. Also worth following will be Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, who are the criminally unheralded favorites in the Keelboat (Yngling) class.

04:30am: The Olympics is unarguably the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet. For various technological, demographic and political reasons, The Beijing Olympics will probably be the biggest Games ever. Unless you're Sky Sports news, that is. They're focusing on cricket at the Oval (but it's hardly Vic Marks), Arsenal's pre-season victory over Ajax and… Nottingham Forest V Reading. Presumably, because they don't have the rights, The Beijing Olympics have been erased as completely as Trotsky's name in later editions of John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World. Strewth.

04:21am: Women's handball news. France survived a scare to beat Angola 32-31. I mention this partly because Britain is trying to kick start interest in the sport ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. You can find out more here, just be aware that they want women 5ft 11in or taller and men 6ft 3in or taller. And when I say kick start interest (or whatever the handball equivalent is) I mean they want us to start winning, we're not at the Beijing Games.

04:12am: More Beijing beginnings, the men's cycling, featuring Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre of Spain, and runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia, are on their 148.5 mile way. In fact, the whole thing is something of a Tour de China, taking in some of the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.

04:01am: Gold medal - women's 10m air rifle: Katerina Emmons (CZE)

There is disappointment for China in the shooting as Du Li has failed in her attempt to retain the women's 10m air rifle title, instead the competition was dominated by Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic who equaled a world record score of 400 in the qualification round. Lioubov Galkina of Russia took Silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took Bronze. Du Li had to settle for fifth. Better news for China in the weightlifting though, as Chen Xiexia, is taking the opposition to the cleaners.

03:54am: Before the shooting final really warms up, let's have a bit of a results and comment round up. In the women's basketball Australia beat Belarus 83-64. Irish fencer Siobhan Claire Byrne lost to Irena Wieckowska in the first round of the Women's Individual Sabre. Lastly, William Fox-Pitt has blamed his horses nerves, after a last minute judge's inspection on his stomach, for his underwhelming performance. "I'm disappointed," said Fox-Pitt. "He (Parkmore Ed) is capable of a lot better. He seemed very aware of where the exit was and it was hard to keep him concentrated."

03:40am: There's a result in the women's beach volleyball. Norway have beaten Belgium 2-0. I'm struggling to picture beach volleyball in Norway, and in truth both nations count as minnows next to the likes of Cuba, Brazil and the United States. Though, of course, as ever in Beijing you can't discount the Chinese.

03:34am: After the shooting, the second medal up for grabs is in the Women's 48kg weightlifting final - it's a mixture of snatch and clean & jerk lifting methods, with the best total used to determine the final rankings and medal winners. The Turkish phenomenon that is Nurcan Taylan has just entered the competition, failing at 84KG. Astonishing considering that in Athens she set a then world record of 97.5KG. Next we have a strong Thai contingent, with the home favourite, Chen Xiexia, still to come.

03:18am: We don't have a medal yet, but we do have the first athlete to be sent home for failing a drugs test, Greek sprinter Anastasios Gousis, a 200m semi-finalist in Athens four years ago. The Greek Olympic team has already lost 13 members, with 11 weightlifters, a boxer and swimmer Yiannis Drymonakos withdrawn after positive tests in the past three months.

03:10am: Back to the women's basketball. Australia are beating Belarus 44-28 at half-time. The Athens silver medalists are on course for an easy victory. Next up in Group A will be Mali against New Zealand, you'd expect New Zealand to win that equally comfortably.

03:05am: Seven golds are on offer today, indeed, we're not so far away from the first gold medal – the women's 10 meter air rifle. China's Du Li is reigning Olympic champion and the overwhelming favorite – it would mean so much to the Chinese for her to retain her title. IOC President Jacques Rogge is even due at the shooting range hall to present the medals. The whole nation is wanting and willing it... but at the moment she's running fourth but it's too close to call.

Ironically, in Athens, the German favorite, Heiner Gabelmann, buckled under the strain of expectation. will the same happen to Du Li? You simply can't imagine the pressure.

02:58am: You do worry that all this week's political breast-beating about how Britain was due a massive medal haul will come back to bite us. It certainly left a bad taste, as David Mitchell so astutely pointed out, in the mouth. William Fox-Pitt scored 50.20 which puts him in at the medal unhopeful position, at this early stage, of 11th.

02:45am: Equestrian dressage, women's shooting, women's volleyball, basketball and handball are already under way. Indeed, Australia lead Belarus 19-12 at the end of the first quarter in the opening women's basketball pool game. Coming up, we've got bouts of boxing that'll make the fighting in opening ceremony director Yimou's Hero look as menacing as Jimmy Carr. And we've balletically brilliant basketball, swimming, volleyball, fencing, beach volleyball, handball and football, that'll make House of Flying Daggers look like the Friday night lovelies falling out on to the Farringdon Road.

02.35 am. The eventing dressage is already under way and Daisy Dick, she drafted in because of injuries to Zara Phillips and Lucy Wiegersma's horses, has already trotted her way to a highly respectable 51.70. (For the equestrian relatively ignorant, the lower the score the better.) FACT: Daisy Dick went to school with our very own Marina Hyde.

Later Britain's dressage star in the eventing team, and an individual medal hopeful in his own right, 39 year-old William Fox-Pitt, who sounds like a character from Harry Enfield, but won silver in Athens, has a chance to go one better.

At the Beijing Olympics, even the dressage is political. Security officers in Hong Kong removed a university student, Christina Chan, who tried to display the Tibetan flag.

02.15am: This is the place to come for all the live coverage, blogs, comment and instant response to breaking news. You can also find a handy schedule of today's events (in Chinese time) here. No wonder Barney Ronay is welling up already.

01.55am: Well here we are. We've cooed at the 35,000 fireworks. We've watched Li Ning run along a computer-generated unfolding scroll thing. We've admired the Bird's Nest stadium, kind of absorbed the fact that the No8 is lucky in the Chinese calendar and coughed at the pictures of the smog. And now the Zhang Yimou-directed opening ceremony is over, let the Games begin.