Rio Olympics 2016: Simone Biles, green pools, giant rodents, robberies, fish

Simone Biles has won two gold medals at the Olympic Games. So far...

Thursday, 11 August

Last updated 00:00 BST

American gymnast Simone Biles is one of the stars of the Games and is targeting five gold medals in Rio. She'll make history if she achieves the feat although it seems like her focus isn't always on her sport...

Biles tweeted this before heading to the women's all-around final where, predictably, she took the gold

Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones was there to see Biles win her second gold medal. It's fair to say that she enjoyed the experience. (Twitter)

USA soccer player Alex Morgan was left (virtually) speechless by the performances of compatriots Biles and Aly Raisman

Hollywood star Efron tweeted Biles earlier in the week but she made it clear she wouldn't be chasing him

You won't be surprised to find out which sport four-time Olympic gold-medal winning sprinter Michael Johnson is looking forward to starting on Friday. (Twitter)

American taxi driver Ellis Hill didn't think he'd get the chance to see his son Darrell compete in the shot put. That was until a passenger heard his story and set up a fundraising page to get him to Rio. Not only will Hill now get to see his son in action but he'll also be with him for his 23rd birthday. (Today)

Britain's Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley took silver in the double sculls as Poland's Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj won gold. However, all four rowers were upstaged by a fish.

Gold-medal winning skeleton racer Lizzy Yarnold spotted the flying fish's bid for Olympic stardom

Did you know that when Michael Phelps was preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he swam 80,000m per week? Well, you do now. (Buzzfeed)

If you hit a birdie in golf you are one under par for a hole, an eagle is two under and an albatross is three under. But what if you hit an owl? Well, it'll probably be pretty cross...

This owl was looking to get a good spot to see Justin Rose hit the first hole-in-one

The Olympic Games so far: Great action, disappointing crowds. That's the view of International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates.

USA rugby sevens man Nate Ebner is returning to the day job after his side's ninth-place finish in the competition. Ebner is heading back to the States to resume his NFL career with the New England Patriots. (ESPN)

What's the happiest you've ever seen anyone? Whatever it was there's a good chance German rifle shooter Barbara Engleder has just gazumped it after winning Olympic gold at the fourth attempt.

Not again! After the Rio diving pool turned green, the nearby pool used for water polo and synchronised swimming went from aqua blue to swamp green. Olympic officials said they had pinpointed the reason - a chemical imbalance caused by too many people using the water. (New York Times)

The pools are not the only things turning green. American swimmer Ryan Lochte dyed his hair platinum before Rio but he must have not read the small print on the bottle about avoiding chlorine. His silver locks have now started to go green as well.

Leeds Civic Hall will be lit up by special golden lights to mark the Olympic success of divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears, but BBC Radio 5 live commentator Steve Parry said the city should turn its pools green instead as a tribute.

It wasn't all praise for the diving duo, with Laugher told his post-competition urine sample was "not good enough". He told BBC Radio 5 live: "That is a kick in the teeth after getting a gold medal... being told you're not good enough at weeing!"

• Rio gold medallist Chris Mears' double life as a dance DJ (Newsbeat)

• Is the #RioProblems hashtag a fair reflection of #Rio2016? (News)

Anyone struggling to sleep in the athletes village might be worth following the lead of Australian decathlete Cedric Dubler, who has packed his lucky teddy bear. "We've heard a lot of stuff about how the beds might not be ready, the village might not be ready," he told reporters. "I figured if I have the teddy I can sleep wherever and deal with it."

You know when you get to the end of one of those American high school movies and the underdog prevails with the last-second basket/puck/home run? You can't help but start chanting USA. Well, it happens in real life too, even if you are on the receiving end of another Simone Biles masterclass. Watch the Japanese athlete get carried away...

Australian teenager and new 100m freestyle Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers is barely out of PE class. His former school got very excited by his gold medal in this video.

The world's largest rodents are making the themselves at home on the Olympic Golf Course, which was built on wetlands. The semi-aquatic capybara, which can grow to between three to four feet long, up to two feet tall, and weigh between 60 to 174 pounds, have been roaming the fairways. (CBS New York)

Capybara, the world's largest rodents, have been roaming the Rio Olympic Golf Course

USA's one-man gold-medal factory Michael Phelps goes for more glory on Thursday - and even his rivals bow in his presence, as this video shows.

It seems everyone wants a piece of Phelps, who is competing in his last Olympics, with American basketball star Kevin Durant requesting a picture with the 31-year-old - complete with a photobomb from team-mate Klay Thompson. (ESPN)

And there is still mileage in the #Phelpsface trend, with some of the BBC Sport audience doing their best impressions here. The 21-time medallist is so dedicated he even studies his own game face. (NBC Twitter)

Ryan Seacrest, the host of talent show American Idol, baked - or, most probably, bought - a cake for US cycling gold medallist Kristin Armstrong. A day before her 43rd birthday, Armstrong won the Olympic time trial for the third time in her career.

Evgeny Korotyshkin was robbed by youths near Ipanema Beach. He said his muggers allowed him to take a photo "for posterity"

Russian swimmer Evgeny Korotyshkin posted the image above to his Instagram account, saying he had been robbed in Rio. Korotyshkin said he emptied his pockets for the boys before they left him unharmed in what he described as an "amicable" parting of ways - bizarrely even allowing him a photo of the incident.

• Read more: BBC Three's Viral Olympics

• Read more: Brazil football stars Neymar and Marta in 'battle of the jerseys' (BBC Magazine)

"That's coming down with snow on it"... nobody in Rio said.

Italian beach volleyball Adrian Carambula has invented a new serve, and is using the biggest stage to show it off. He's even given it a name: "Skyball is pretty much a serve I use to get people off rhythm," said Carambula (UK Business Insider)

Our friends at Google Trends list the questions most people are asking around the Olympics. And a spike in interest in canoeing after Joe Clarke's gold had newcomers asking: "How is a canoe course fed with water?" (Google Trends) Do you want to tell them...

Quotes of the day

"In two days when we play Spain we will give it our heart, our brain and our balls - we will give it everything" - French water polo player Ugo Crousillat says his team will be sacrificing pretty much everything in their do-or-die match with Spain on Friday.

"Lucas tucked his head into my armpit and said: 'Why are you crying mom, you won?' It's another life lesson to teach him, why we cry when we're overwhelmed with happiness. He has already learned about dedication and sacrifice. He gets it. He calls me Kristin Armstrong, not momma, when I'm on the bike" - individual time trial gold medallist Kristin Armstrong, of the USA, on teaching her son Lucas about the emotions of winning.

"At one stage when you play your sport where you make a lot of money I think there is a good chance that you lose a little bit of that passion. I think that's very sad, but it was a massive realisation for me this week" - German golfer Martin Kaymer on what it means to be an Olympian.

"It's official, I'm an Olympian! Couldn't be happier and my shot on the last kind of helped too! Love the @Olympics!!" - Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia is also loving his Rio experience.

Tuesday & Wednesday's Rio Gossip

Keith Richards, Leonidas of Rhodes, the Iron Lady, Zac Efron. Read more here