A day by day account of how Great Britain's Olympic athletes won 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze over two glorious weeks in Beijing.

Your lead editorial on the West's duty in Afghanistan (22 August) is right to claim that recent advances of the Taliban should be treated as an alarm call.

THE head of China's Olympic delegation said yesterday a new generation of athletes and breakthroughs in unfamiliar sports were behind the country's dominance at the Beijing Games.

Ireland finished joint 62nd on the medals table at the Beijing Olympics, ending up level with Austria and Serbia and just behind Nigeria, while China took the honours at the top.

Two vessels carrying 46 international human rights activists reached the Gaza Strip on Saturday despite Israeli warnings for the flotilla not to breach the blockade.

The bumper medal haul being brought home from Beijing by Team GB provides a perfect springboard for success in London four years from now. But it does create a new problem for the team leadership, who must be thinking: how do we top that?

China claims its first ever boxing gold, Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru wins the men's marathon, with a spectacular closing ceremony to come.

More boxing finals get under way as Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru wins the men's marathon at the Games, which close with a ceremony inside the Bird's Nest stadium at 1300 BST.

The Ocean Springs Yacht Club hosted the Eighth Annual South East Regional Regatta for the sailing portion of the Special Olympics on Thursday and Friday. The event was scheduled to continue today but has been canceled due to the weather.

Great Britain's Tim Brabants claims a bronze in the men's 500m kayak, Tom Daley reaches the platform diving final and Argentina take gold in the men's Olympic football.