Forget the protest, it's a dream come true, says Louis Smith

Louis Smith described it as "crazy" to consider Great Britain as the third best team in the world after their artistic gymnastics men’s team bronze medal last night.

The 23-year-old Huntingdon Gymnastics Club member got the team off to a flying start with his pommel horse routine, which hinted at more to come in the individual final on Sunday.

And then he provided the guiding hand as his team-mates contested the remaining apparatus.

"Everything we have done in the last four years – all the positives and all the negatives – has been towards this," said team captain Smith.

"We had to pick ourselves up after Japan and not qualifying (for the Olympic Games). We had to keep pushing through Christmas, which isn’t easy – I defin

Michael Phelps wins record 19th Olympic medal with gold in 4x200 relay.

  It was a coronation, but also a dethroning. Michael Phelps secured the two medals he needed to become the most decorated Olympian of all time as he took his career tally to 19 Games medals, beating the 48-year-old record of 18 held by former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.                                                                    But the colour of one of those medals on Tuesday night — silver in Phelps’s signature 200 metres butterfly event — was also proof that his pre-eminence in the pool is now well and truly over as he gets ready for retirement immediately after events in London.

Phelps did not do silver in Beijing four years ago. Gold was the only metal he was interested in and it was hung around his neck a record eight times, adding to the six golds he won in Athens in 2004.

He added another on Tuesday when he anchored his United States team-mates to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay in the final race of the evening programme, though his contribution was purely a lap of honour after his compatriots had already established an unassailable lead by the time he dived in.

The American victory brought the 17,000 crowd to its feet to salute Phelps’s moment of history, though the celebrations were tinged with slight disappointment that he was unable to make it a double triumph.

A victory in the event he has owned for 11 years would have made him the first man in history to win three consecutive 200m butterfly titles.                                                               

STEPH HOUGHTON got Britain off to a great Olympic start — 48 hours before the flame was due to be lit in London.

Houghton, whose superb free-kick gave the Team GB women’s football team a 1-0 win over New Zealand in Cardiff, said: “This is the highlight of my career. I don’t think it is going to sink in for a while.

“I don’t score that many goals, so it was a really special moment for me.

“Being an Olympian has a special feeling. We all felt the same and just couldn’t wait to get started.”

Coach Hope Powell said: “The fans were fantastic. I almost found myself singing along with them at one stage.”

London 2012 live blog
Latest Olympics updates throughout the Games

London 2012 live Olympic blog.

Come here throughout the games to see the latest news, best pictures and quirky stories from the big event.

                                            Opening Ceremoney

After months of torch-bearing, stadium building and arguably tenuous Olympics-based TV programmes, the Games have reached London.

London 2012 got underway with an Opening Ceremony featuring a cast of 15,000, a simultaneously bucolic and pyrotechnic display called Isles Of Wonder that was designed to show off the best of Britain - its history, its countryside, its inhabitants, its athletes, even its farmyard animals. 

It saw reenactments of British history, performances from the Arctic Monkeys and Paul McCartney, colourful displays of dance and even a few celebrity came.

Mr. Bean At Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremonies

The Olympics are a serious time for serious athletes to… seriously compete. So inviting the extremely goofy Mr. Bean to be apart of the opening ceremonies may not be the best idea.

Of course, Mr. Bean was invited and it was for fun. Some real life comedy relief to cut some of the extreme tension. During the playing of Vangelis’ nearly obligatory Chariots of Fire, Bean appeared on camera as a part of the performance being very Mr. Bean-like.