The first day of competition finally was upon us today with both China and the UK in contention for medals. The day's events included shooting, weightlifting, badminton, sailing, rowing, Judo and some action from the pool. All eyes were on the women's 10m air rifle event to see where the first medals of the games would end up, especially as there was a strong contender for the China team.

However Du Li was set to disappoint home fans as she finished outside the medals in an unexpected 5^th place. The first gold of the games did in fact go to the Czech Republic's Katerina Emmons. Regardless China had more success in the men's event; with Pang Wei giving the Chinese fans what they wanted. But it was the weightlifting that provided China's first gold.

Chen Xiexia broke the Olympic record to give the home nation its first medal. She then sang the national anthem whilst receiving her 48kg class weightlifting medal.

The day didn't go so well in terms of medals for the UK as contender Craig Fallon went out of the Judo in similar circumstances to Athens. The 25 year old lost one round before a shot at the bronze medal.

The sailing in Qingdao fared much better for England as Ben Ainslie recovered brilliantly after a poor start and the Yngling crew lead after day one. Alongside the rowing this is one of Britain's strongest sports and the signs from day one are encouraging for glory. Meanwhile back in Beijing the men's fours continued a strong tradition of excellence by qualifying for the semi-final. Also the women's double sculls did well to qualify in a heat in which the Chinese pair dominated.

In boxing Britain progressed well as DeGale or ‘chunky' got off to a flyer by defeating Egypt's Mohamed Hikal. The killer men's road race took place today around Beijing and past the great wall. The 245km couldn't be completed by any of either China's or Britain's cyclists, it was left to Spaniard Samuel Sanchez to take the gold.

The first rounds of badminton and dressage were a mixed bag for British competitors today with Hallam and Smith progressing in the badminton but the competitors struggling in Hong Kong in the equestrianism.

The gymnastics saw Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings become the first athletes from Britain to qualify for the finals of an individual event. However it was the Chinese team dominated proceedings by some way in gymnastics.

In the fantastic pool cube Michael Phelps started his herculean pursuit of 8 golds today by setting an Olympic record in one of his heats. Hannah Miley from the UK and Xi Li also qualified for their 400m individual medley final.

And finally the medals table will make pleasing reading for China today as they finished on top with 2 gold medals. Let's hope tomorrow proves to be an even more exciting day.