China topped the overall medals table with 30 golds, overtaking the United States on 28 in a two-way tussle for bragging rights come the end of the Games on August 12.
Also grabbing headlines at home and beyond has been Team GB, third overall with 16 golds including two on Sunday as Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer in tennis at Wimbledon and Ben Ainslie became the most successful Olympic sailor ever.
But their achievements were temporarily forgotten at the main Games stage, and Bolt will now bid to complete an unprecedented double-double by retaining his 200 metre title.
GO GB!
Games chief Sebastian Coe described Saturday as “the greatest day in sport I have ever witnessed” after Britain took three athletics golds in less than an hour before a roaring crowd, plus two in rowing and one in the velodrome.
The home run continued on Sunday when Ainslie won the Finn class in the waters off Weymouth on England’s south coast to make it one silver and four straight golds.
Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen won the men’s multidisciplinary omnium on the cycling track, pushing Britain’s Ed Clancy into third. It was only the second time in six events in the velodrome so far where Britain has not won gold.
Hungary’s double world champion Krisztian Berki broke British hearts as he dramatically snatched the Olympic pommel horse gold on a tie break ahead of home favourite Louis Smith.
And in sailing, Sweden’s Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen sailed a perfect medal race to beat Britain’s defending champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the two-man Star class.
REELING IN
On the track on Sunday during the build-up to the 100 dash, Sanya Richards-Ross of the United States won the 400 title at the third time of asking, ahead of British defending champion Christine Ohuruogu who snatched silver on the line.
In the men’s steeplechase, 2004 champion Ezekiel Kemboi regained his Olympic title to extend Kenya’s dominance in the race where it has won gold at every Games since 1984.
And Kazakhstan’s Olga Rypakova leaped to gold in the women’s triple jump with a best mark of 14.98 metres.
But Oscar Pistorius, the first double-amputee to run in the Games, failed to reach the 400 final when the South African finished last in his semi, despite being roared on by an appreciative crowd.
Elsewhere at London 2012, China made history by claiming an unprecedented sweep of all five Olympic badminton golds as Lin Dan defeated Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei to win the men’s singles title, and Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng won the men’s doubles.
In the boxing ring, Russia‘s Elena Savelyeva won the first women’s Olympic boxing bout in front of a packed crowd, bringing an end to the last all-male preserve at the Games.
Rejected in the past because of a perceived lack of global interest, women boxers were give a warm welcome in London when Savelyeva and North Korea’s Kim Hye-song were enthusiastically clapped into the ring for the first of Sunday’s 12 fights.
After winning a bout as fearsome as any of the men’s fights over the first eight days, India’s five-time world champion Mary Kom, one of the pioneers of women’s boxing, welled up with tears of pride and relief when she left the ring.
“I have been boxing for 12 years, I have been trying to play in the Olympic Games,” she said.
“Today is very emotional, today is my twins’ birthday, their fifth birthday, and I can’t celebrate their birthday. But I am fighting in the ring and winning, that will be a gift for them.”
The first gold of the 23 up for grabs on Day Nine was taken by Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia, who won a women’s marathon that started and finished in torrential rain on a course that took in many of London’s biggest tourist attractions.
“I love running in the rain,” said the 23-year-old after leaving her Kenyan rivals Priscah Jeptoo and race favourite Mary Keitany trailing in second and fourth.
“The rain makes it very interesting. As soon as the race started, I said to myself ‘thank God’ … I have been doing that since I was a small child.”
