Michael Phelps smashed his own world record in the 400m individual medley to set off on what could be a record-breaking gold medal trail on day two of real action at the 2008 Olympics.

That was early in the morning and it took until late at night before we had a story that even came close to matching it, with the United States overcoming a slightly unconvincing start to beat China by an emphatic 101-70.

Along the way we had Stephanie Rice, one half of Australian swimming’s glam couple, matching Phelps with a world record and a gold medal in the women’s 400m individual medley.

They were fantastic tales, and there were many others, but I think my favourite today came in the shooting, where despite the ongoing strife between their two countries, Georgian Nino Salukvadze hugged Russian rival Natalia Paderina after they took bronze and silver respectively in the 10-metre air pistol.

There was also a classic bright about a name change that brought a great deal of good fortune for Thailand weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon. What’s in a name? 31 letters and a whole lot of luck, in this case. 

I didn’t spot any golden quotes today but there was a decent piece of trivia. Did you know that South Korea’s women have won every women’s Olympic archery gold medal since 1984? They secured their sixth consecutive one on Sunday, beating China 224-215.

I’ll be back on the blog after a short break for sleep. In the mean time, please check out the latest edition of our podcast. I promise you, it’s by far the best yet and well worth checking out. That Linden bloke is a star. Here it is.