Britain's 800-metre Olympic champion Kelly Holmes won a historic second gold medal in tonight's 1500-metres final, dramatically passing the pack of runners in the final stretch to clock the fastest time in the distance this year. She's the first Briton in 84 years to win the middle-distance double. In the men's 5,000-metre final Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj went head-to-head to get their second gold medal here in Athens, with El Guerrouj pulling out ahead to win at the line. Earlier, world record holder Wilson Kipketer of Denmark won bronze in the men's 800-metre final, with Russia's Yiuriy Borzakovskiy claiming gold and South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi winning silver.

Argentina won its first Olympic gold medal in 52 years today, beating Paraguay 1-to-0 in the final of the men's football competition. This is Argentina's first-ever Olympic football title, and the first-ever Olympic medal for Paraguay. Meanwhile, America's women's basketball team beat Australia 74-to-63 to defend their Olympic title. The US beat Australia in the Sydney final four years ago.

Ireland won its first gold of the Games as 24-year-old Cian O'Connor rode to victory in individual show jumping. Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa claimed the silver and America's Chris Kappler won bronze.

Austrian sailors Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher defended their Olympic Tornado title in Athens today, beating the Americans into silver position. And in the Star class, Brazil's multiple medal winners Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira didn't even bother to compete in the final, since they'd won the gold with a race to spare. Canada beat France for the bronze.

Russia retained their Olympic title in group rhythmic gymnastics, leaving the crowd favourites Italy in silver position. And Russia also triumphed in team synchronized swimming, with Japan and the USA in second and third places.

British kayaker Ian Wynne twisted his ankle after falling off a bus yesterday. But he strapped it up and still went on to win the bronze medal in the K1 500-metre final. Canada's Adam van Koeverden won the gold after sneaking up on the race's leader, Australian Nathan Baggaley. And Britain was also celebrating its best ever performance by a female canoeist when Lucy Hardy set a personal best to place 7th in the women's K1 500-metre final. In the final day of canoeing and kayaking, Hungary won three gold medals, Germany took two, and China claimed one.

France's Julien Absalon won the Olympic men's mountain bike gold medal on Mount Parnitha today, pulling clear of his closest competitor Jose Antonio Hermida of Spain with two laps to go. The Netherlands' Bart Brentjens won bronze.

And finally, the 20,000 athletes and support staff from 202 countries have been enjoying specialty cuisine in the Olympic Village cafeteria over the past two weeks. With seats for 6,000 in a space the size of three football pitches (the kitchen is the size of a pitch as well!), the menu specializes in Greek dishes, as well as Asian and international fare. Over the 16 days, 700 chefs have prepared 60,000 dishes, using 225,000 pounds of seafood, 119,610 pounds of beef, 4,700 pounds of garlic and 2,700 gallons of olive oil. Specialty dishes included Greek grilled octopus with honey; chili and vine-leaf pesto; and eggs Benedict on barley rusks with myzithra cheese and lountza sausage.

PERSONAL NOTE: OUT AND ABOUT

I've enjoyed the change to visit venues outside Athens - normally at the Olympics I spend three weeks in the host city and never see any of the surrounding countryside. I couldn't visit all of them - but it was good to see other sides of Athens, as well as some new-to-me Olympic events. I've still never been to a Greek island, but I have to keep something on my wish list, right?

Vougliameni is a town along the coast southeast of Athens - about an hour by bus. It was home to both the road time trial cycling and the triathlon competition, which made use of the small bay and sandy beach, the dramatic coastal roadway and the more leafy roads through the town itself. I loved being there for the triathlon - it's ingeniously designed so all the transitions are in front of the grandstands, and the competitors run past as they compete each lap, while we track them on a big screen in between. This creates a lively and exciting atmosphere, and the press positions were terrific - I watched it from roadside right next to the finish line (I was so close I high-fived the Swiss runner as he crossed the line for the bronze medal!), and I had the chance to chat with several other competitors as well.

Ano Liossia is a northwestern suburb up in the hills with a brand new indoor arena built for the wrestling and judo competition. It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere - the town is in the dusty hills with not much nearby besides a big motorway, 20 minutes into Athens. The Olympic Hall stands out dramatically in the surroundings! Even thought it's a bit tricky to get to and overly complicated to get into, the arena itself is beautiful inside - very nicely designed with a superb press set-up.

Schinias Rowing and Canoeing Centre is a striking broad lake near Marathon - an hour drive from Athens. On one side of the venue is the Olympic "family" stand - with the competitor areas, media zones and seating and lounges for officials. The mixed zone is especially good - right where the competitors leave their boats. Across the lake (a very long walk around one end!) there are temporary grandstands for 10,000 exuberant spectators, including lots of Greeks waving flags, even though there were no Greeks competing the day I was there! The landscape around the venue is pretty desolate, but once the competition starts it's an electric location.

And Faliro is part of the Athens coastal area (the other section, Pireaus, is where the island ferries dock, as well as the world's biggest ocean liner, Queen Mary II, during the Games). There are three venues in Faliro - I didn't get into the revamped Peace & Friendship Stadium (volleyball) or the Sports Pavilion (handball and taekwondo), but I did go to the all-new Beach Volleyball Centre, which is a beautiful amphitheatre (with a circling temporary grandstand) filled with sand. Beach volleyball is a great sport, fun to watch and much more exciting and physical than indoor volleyball I think. But they need to take it a bit more seriously perhaps - the dancing bikini girls during the breaks (complete with flicking Barbie doll hair) seemed extremely tasteless. The Faliro area is a bit of scorched wasteland - the government obviously ran out of time before they could redevelop it properly. The landscaping seems less than half done, and it could be a gorgeous and very badly needed seaside park for Athens. Hopefully it will be!

[by Rich Cline]