Tom Fordyce
Chief sports writer in Rio

Heating up down on Copacabana as the minutes tick by until the hooter goes. It's a wonderful course - sea swim, eight laps up a steep and technical bike course, a fast flat run along the sea front. And from all accounts the Brownlee brothers are in great shape too - fresh off a five-week block of training in St Moritz, relaxed, confident, ready to race for Olympic gold once again.

Great Britain's Jade Jones is ready to start her 57kg division defence.

Opposite here will be Naima Bakkal of Morocco, who made the second round of the world championships last year, but is the definite underdog here.

They are called together to get their instructions and press the flesh.

Image source, Getty Images

GB'sMarcus Ellis and Chris Langridge are on court for their men's doubles bronze medal against China's Biao Chai and Wei Hong. 

The boys have defied the odds already and could today become the first British men's doubles to ever win an Olympic medal. 

Did you know the shuttlecock can travel faster than a Formula 1 car with speeds of up to 250 miles per hour... you do now.

The first dives are done and Tonia Couch has some work to do. She's currently in 16th place after scoring 45.00 points.

Image source, Getty Images

Aimee Lewis
BBC Sport in Rio

I've seen bigger crowds watching a Wales over 60s cricket match (yes, I have watched Wales over 60s play cricket). It's a glorious morning at the Olympic Stadium, however. Not quite the atmosphere of the Olympic Park - very few in fancy dress, no singing.

On the track, the women's high jump is about to start. Can Britain's Morgan Lake -  a heptathlete by trade but, at 19, getting valuable international experience - reach the high jump final? 

Image source, .

These boys look like they have headed out for a trot from their Yorkshire base, got a little lost and found themselves at the Olympics.

The Brownlees two-pronged assault on the Rio triathlon course begins at 15:00 BST. 

Great Britain's Rachel Cawthorn finishes well down in seventh in the B final of the single kayak 500m.

Now, though time for the medals to be divvied up in the A final.

Lisa Carrington is aiming to overtake shot-put legend Valerie Adams as New Zealand's most successful female Olympian.

Image source, AP

Flintshire's Jade Jones was the "teenage kicking superstar" who burst onto the world taekwondo scene when she won gold in the -57kg at London 2012. 

Now no longer a teenager at the ripe old age of 23, she is a marked woman. 

She has admitted the pressure of being Olympic champion has been tough but will not let it affect her performance.  Jones faces Morocco’s Naima Bakkal in the first round at 14:30 BST, with the final, should she make it, later in the evening.

World and European champion Bianca Walkden must wait until Saturday to get her Olympic campaign under way in the over 67kg division. 

The women's 10m semi-finals have got underway at the Maria Lenk Centre, with Great Britain's Tonia Couch the 14th to perform. There are 18 divers to be whittled down to 12 before tonight's final at 8pm.

Have you ever seen a human skipping rope?published at 14:07 British Summer Time 18 August 2016

14:07 BST 18 August 2016

Gymnastics

No?

Not sure I want to see it again after this if I'm honest... 

...And before you ask, no this is not an Olympic sport. These are the Chinese acrobatic team performing at the post-Games gala event taking place in Rio on Wednesday. 

You will not be surprised to hear they are the current World champions.

Britain's Joshua Buatsi has been reflecting on his bronze medal in boxing's light-heavyweight competition.

Speaking to Natalie Pirks on BBC One, the 23-year-old admitted he was sad not to have won but that having a day to think about his achievement has improved things.

"I feel much better now, it’s sinking in slowly that I’ve got a medal. That’s why we came here, it wasn’t gold but I’m grateful we got a medal.

"It was only August two years ago I joined the team, and I have got to give credit to the coaches, who really knew what they were doing with me, and the people who did the Lottery because that’s what has led me to where we have got to."

Image source, Getty Images

He is probably the nearest that the Olympics comes to a superhero and Ashton Eaton looked a little like X-Men's Magneto last night as he took on the decathlon high jump in some extraordinary headwear.

The American was second quickest in this morning's 110m hurdles, extending his lead in the overall standings to over 100 points.

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

While some countries asked yesterday why Great Britain had won so many medals in Rio, today's papers in the Arab world lament that the region wins so few.

Sahr Nasr of Qatar’s pro-government Al-Arab daily , externalcalculated that all Arab countries together had so far won 10 medals. She said this was “equal to the number of medals achieved by one country like New Zealand “.

The reason, she said, was that “Arab society lacks a sports culture". Children were taught to say that they will not play sports "because this will not feed them,” she added.

In Egypt, Ibrahim el-Minesy of the state-run Al-Akhbar daily said that psychological “pressures” on Egyptian athletes had "killed a lot of our dreams".

Writing in the same paper Sherif Hanafe said that Egyptian athletes lost in Rio "because they did not enjoy emotional stability” as the result of a lack of "scientific planning and psychological preparedness".

Looking for solutions, Khaled al-Sulayman in Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan daily, external called for more attention to be devoted to sports which win gold medals, as opposed to football.

Image source, Getty Images

Charley Hull and Catriona Matthew are back out on day two of the women's golf competition. 

Matthew, the most experienced in the field, finished Wednesday's round on par - Hull, just 20 years old, three under. 

The greens looking resplendent, the light breeze and the sun beaming down makes for perfect golfing conditions... 

They also have the benefit of Justin Rose's course notes which he left with them after becoming Olympic champion earlier this week. 

We will let you know how they are getting on in a few holes time...

Liam Heath: "We gave it a bit of a lunge for the line. We hit it as hard as we can."

Jon Schofield: "It is so satisfying. This guy has been on fire in training. I don't want to let this guy down."

Their's is the 51st medal of Team GB's Rio 2016 campaign.

Jon Schofield and Liam Heath edged out Lithuania by a mere 0.03 seconds in the final timing sheet.

It looks like the British pair's perfectly timed lunge for the line, might have made all the difference.

They are in lane three in the image above. 

Jon Schofield and Liam Heath had silver snatched from their grasp on the line four years ago in London by fast-finishing Belarusians Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu.

Looks like they learned that lesson.

They dish out the same medicine to pip Lithuania.

Silver for Great Britain!

Great Britain's Jon Schofield and Liam Heath are in a photo finish for silver...