Olympics -Day 2

More golds for China, firstly in the faux-shooting 'air pistol' events, and then in the Women's 10m pairs diving. One of the Chinese pair, Guo JingJing, is a huge celebrity in China, and I thought that after all the adverts she's been in recently she might be tired, but not at all. A British pair were also in this event, and finished 8th - out of 8. Good work, girls. Watching the events with Chinese people means I think I'm going to come in for a lot of stick over the next two weeks.

The afternoon was spent watching the Women's Team Archery, which received full coverage. The bow looked like some sort of futuristic orthopaedic leg rather than something Robin Hood would have used. Bendy piece of wood and string would return the sport to something approaching its origins. In the first semi-final, UK played China, and lost. And to make it even worse, UK lost by 2 points in the bronze medal play-off to France. The Koreans, did, however, beat China and are second in the medal table. The medal table is a permanent feature of the news channel, occupying the corner the screen, and its looking good for China. Everytime someone wins a gold, they're sure to thank the country and government for the support.

Not all was lost, however, as coverage showed a Brit winning the women's outdoor cycling. I think the rain probably made her feel at home. The cameras even showed a rider sliding off the road and careering into a concrete ditch, and we she had fished her bike out, it turned out to she was Chinese. A short piece also showed the gymnasts messing up, most of them in fact Chinese, although looking at the size of them, it appeared that it was past their bedtime, so perhaps understandably tired. Football, diving, and weightlifting are the other events that have featured prominently - not so much the swimming.

The big event of today is at 10.15pm local time - China versus America in basketball. This is huge, and everyone's going to be watching it. Basketball is massive in China, and the 7ft6in Yao Ming, who was purposefully bred by making his two super-tall parents get married, so I've heard, is the star of the team. No medals on offer in this match, but you can already sense the satisfaction that would be produced by a China victory.