04:20: That’s were we leave you with our coverage for today.

Here’s a quick recap of the day:

South Africa’s Friday rowers, who had been immense this Olympics, could not replicate the success of Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain and all failed to win a medal.

And in the golf, Jaco van Zyl double bogeyed the last hole to slip to a three-over 74 for the round and a 36-hole total of 145 (three over par). Brandon Stone added a one-over 72 to his first round 75 to be five-over on 147 after two rounds. Australia’s Marcus Fraser leads on 10-under, followed by Belgium’s Thomas Pieters on 9-under and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson on 8-under.

In the sailing, Men’s Laser and 470 classes, Stefano Marcia finds himself in 39th spot of of 46 sailors after eight races in this class. On Friday he ended 44th and 36th and the former race will be his ‘discard’ race. This competition is expected to wrap on Saturday. Meanwhile the 470 class of Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson continue to show steady improvement after opening races of 18th and 24th spots. Their last two races saw them race to 14th and 11th spots which earns them 17th overall.

As the track events got underway, Almaz Ayana from Ethopia smashed the 10 000m record, which had been standing since 1993, by almost 14 seconds.

In the 20km race walk, South Africa’s Lebogang Shange and Wayne Snyman finished in 44th and 58th positions,

But the big one of the day for South Africa was the 400m with Wayde van Niekerk in action. All of the qualifiers in the 400m heats looked exceptionally comfortable and all ran really good qualifying times for he heats. Looks like this event is shaping up to be one of the must watch features of the 2016 Rio Games. The fastest qualifier from the heat – Kirani James – finished with a time of 44.93. Van Niekerk’s time was 45.26 and he was ninth.  The semi-finals are on Sunday morning at 01:30.

In the track event, two of the three of SA’s long jumpers are through to the semis. Stefan Brits is the only one to miss out. Luvo Manyonga and Ruswhwal Samaai qualify in fourth and fifth with distances of 8.12 and 8.03 respectively. China’s Jianan Wang top with 8.24.  

Also on the track, Carina Horn finished second in her heat to qualify for the semis of the women’s 100m. 

Meanwhile, in the pool, Chad le Clos bagged another silver medal for South Africa in the 100m fly final. It was a good race and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling took gold thanks to his exceptional underwater work. Le Clos and Phelps had to play nice and share the podium, putting aside any rivalry, imagined or otherwise and make space for Laszlo Cseh in who also tied for second.

**

03:40: Two of the three of SA’s long jumpers are through to the semis. Stefan Brits is the only one to miss out. Luvo Manyonga and Ruswhwal Samaai qualify in fourth and fifth with distances of 8.12 and 8.03 respectively. China’s Jianan Wang top with 8.24.

**

03:32: I will give anything to see Le Clos shadow box and Michael do a Phelps face when they have to go on that podium to share the silver a bit later.

**

03:28: If you were feeling dozy, that should have woken you right up. There’s more swimming final action to come with Tandy in the pool in the 50m free final. The long jumpers are still in qualifying and the 100m female sprinters will also be in action. 

**

03:21: This is great.

Joseph Schooling frm S’Pore, pictured here w Phelps in ’08, just won the 100m Fly heat beating Phelps. What a story! pic.twitter.com/w5kVlivhsw

— Subash Jayaraman (@thecricketcouch) August 11, 2016

**

03:15: Schooling had an exceptional race and sets a new Olympics record. But the second spot is quite interesting. Le Clos, Phelps and Cseh all end up with a silver. 

**

03:13: Meanwhile, in the tennis, Rafael has won gold for Spain in the doubles. Swimming now on the go. Schooling is right on the world record time. Le Clos behind on the first turn…

**

02:58: Van Niekerk comfortably through to the semis, but those semis are going to be tough. There were some really good qualifying times in those heats. Coming up: a little nit of swimming.

**

02:21 Wayde van Niekerk looked comfortable for most of the way. He was pushed by his competitors just a bit, but won so comfortably, he barely looked like he was jogging towards the end there.

**

02:06: Right. We’re ready for a very late (or very early) session of track, field and swimming fun. Coming up in a bit: Wayde van Niekerk in the 400m heats.

**

21:07: We’ll take a bit of a break now and will be back  from 2:20 when there’s some action on the track. It’s that man Wayde van Niekerk in the 400m heats first up. Luvo Manyonga, Ruswahl Samaai and Stefan Brits will be in the long jump qualifiers and Alyssa Conley and Carina Horn will be running in the first round of the women’s 100m. There is also swimming. Chad le Clos is in the 100m fly at 3:12 and Brad Tandy is in action in the men’s 50m free.

**

21:03: Meanwhile, in the race walk, South Africa’s mincers have been lapped by the leaders. These guys can skoffel, sjoe. They walk faster than what most people jog. 

**

21:01: South Africa ends in seventh spot in the 4 x 100m medley relay. Chad le Clos was supposed to swim in this race. but he pulled out. With an individual fly final coming up tonight, that’s understandable. So South Africa won’t qualify for the finals.

**

19:36: South Africa’s young Michael Meyer finished 7th in his 1500m freestyle heat. He’s an 18 year old kid with a long career ahead, though, so he shouldn’t be too disheartened by this outing.

**

18:39: South Africa has a youngster swimming in he men’s 1500m freestyle in a bit, but before we get there, here’s a quick update from the heptathlon. South Africa doesn’t have a competitor in this event, but the event does have Jessica Ennis-Hill, who is all sort of amazing. However, after two events, it’s another athlete from GB who has taken the lead:

1 Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GB) – 2264 points
2 Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) – 2252 points
3 Jess Ennis-Hill (GB) – 2242 points

**

17:29: This just in from AFP:

Polish 2012 Olympic champion weightlifter Adrian Zielinski has been banned from Rio Games after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone just three days after his brother Tomasz suffered the same fate, Poland’s Anti-doping committee said Friday.

The drug was detected as the 27-year-old was gearing up for Saturday’s 94kg competition in Rio, in which Tomasz, 25, was also registered before the doping scandal broke.

Adrian, a gold medal winner in the 85kg category at the London Olympics, and European champion Tomasz, have denied any wrongdoing

**

17:02: South Africa’s Dominique Scott finished 21st by the way. Also with a personal best of 31:51.47

Ayana ran a 14:30 second half – quicker than Olympic 5000m record & the first half would have won 3 of the 5 previous Olympic 5000m finals

— Athletics Weekly (@AthleticsWeekly) August 12, 2016

**

16:54: All of the women in the top 13 of that 10 000m race set personal bests. Apparently this Rio track is expected to be fast, so there could be some more crazy record busting. Meanwhile, I’m about to attempt the eating of 10 000 crisps in 29 minutes because get a sub 30 5km is obviously pointless.

**

16:48: She’smashed the world record by 14 seconds, by the way. 14! And if you are out there thinking your 5km effort at sub 30 was good, then you should look away now because this woman is still not sweating. 

**

16:44: The commentators are calling it the most incredible performance we have ever seen in the 10 000m. Ayana from Ethiopia has smashed the world record which has stood since 1993 by over ten seconds. She’s smashed it. What makes this so incredible is that she was only running this distance on the track for the second time ever. Absolutely exceptional running. And  now just to make us coach potatoes feel even more inadequate, she is doing a little victory lap jog. She’s not even sweating.

**

16:35: That was a bit of a damp squib, and that’s not because of the gloomy weather. Four South African boats, two with high medal hopes, and no medals. After the excellent racing from the crews, it was a big downer. However, in the context of things, we can probably still say that the South African teams have done well. Considering they have had to fight against very limited funding – their funding was actually cut after the impressive performance at London 2012 – so this is still a victory, in a way. It’s certainly a testament to coach Roger Barrow’s prowess. Give the man the funds and he’ll make magic happen. We’re over to the women’s 10 000m now.  Dominique Scott-Efurd is in action.

**

16:34: And Italy overtook South Africa to take bronze. South Africa finish fourth.

**

16:34: GB have pulled ahead of the Aussies as we head for the final stretch, Australia are trying to keep up but can’t quite make it. Italy are snapping at South Africa’s lead…they overtook them in the semis, but the Italians are head now…

**

16:32: At the halfway mark and there is a solid tussle developing between the Aussies and GB. GB looked relaxed, like they haven’t kicked into high gear just yet. South Africa are in third with Italy not far behind.

**

16:28: Unsurprisingly, favourites GB have come out strongly and quickly take the lead. Australia, South Africa and Italy all challenging for the other spots. We’re 500m in and south Africa are in third. Netherlands have started challenging, but have quite a lot of ground to make up.

**

16:24: Okay, we have one more rowing event to go. It’s the men’s fours final. The only team who had to go into the repechage to qualify for the semis. Can they get some consolation hardware for South Africa?

**

16:13: Great Britain win gold despite a late challenge from New Zealand. Denmark in third and South Africa…well, shame, they end in fifth. Not  Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz’s finest race today, but then again…none of the  South African boats in the finals today have wowed.

**

16:10: We’re at the half way mark and South Africa have dropped into second last place. Great Britain, as expected, is still miles ahead. Three-time world champs have almost a boat and a half’s length between them and second spot. 

**

16:07: At the 500m mark, GB are miles ahead and South Africa come in at fourth. They’ve started quite slowly,  Their stroke rate is slower than anyone else as we head for the 1000m mark.

**

16:04: Over to the women’s pair to see if they can manage a medal on what has been a rather disappointing afternoon in the boats.

**

15:52: No medal for the men either. That was quite a race from all teams. South Africa started slowly and then tried to push in the latter stages of the race, but couldn’t quite find their power. France finish first, Ireland bag silver and Norway finish third. Ireland. Norway dug deep to find that bronze and Ireland were just ridiculous with that finish to take the silver. 

**

15:50: With the final 500m to go, South Africa are in fourth again…

**

15:48: South Africa still in fourth spot at the halfway mark. They’ve been strong in the second 1000m in this event, though. And just as those words are typed, they start their challenge and go into third.

**

15:46: South Africa’s men’s lightweight double sculls not off to a great start. They are fourth at the 500m mark. 

**

15:43: All the runners in that heat were quite slow, actually. Ronzani tried to speed up for that last 200m, he gave it his all, but it wasn’t enough. He ends fifth. That probably won’t be enough to advance.

**

15:41: No time for chilling. We’re onto some more 800m running and then some more rowing with Smith and Thompson in the men’s lightweight double sculls final. But first, Jacob Rozani in the 800m heats. He’s way off the pace at the start of the race, dropping to the back of the pack after the first lap.

**

15:40: Oh no, South Africa lose some of their pace in the last 500m as China and Canada push ahead for second and third place and it’s a tight fight between China and Netherlands. South Africa were looking really good, but they just ran out of steam in that final stretch. That’s a bit of a downer considering how well they’d done to get here. 

**

15:38: The Dutch edge into the lead at the 1500m mark with South Africa still in second. It’s going to be a tight push towards the end here. 

**

15:36: Netherlands just started pushing ahead in that second 500m and as we hit the 1000m mark it’s neck-in-neck between China, South Africa and the Netherlands. South Africa are just ahead.

**

15:32: South Africa’s McCann and Grobler could throw an upset here, they have had a really good outing so far but can expect a tough challenge from China and favourites the Netherlands. At the 500m mark, the South Africans are second. China lead.

**

15:27: Ja neh, Rudisha doesn’t even look like he broke a sweat. He got himself to the front of the group after the first lap and there was a  bit argy bargy from the back of the pack. Rudish is so cool and so unfussed that he decided he’d had quite enough of that and then just ran away from everyone. But South Africa’s Van Rensburg finishes second! Coming up: some rowing.

**

15:24: South Africa’s Rynardt van Rensburg is running against that guy who holds all the records in the third heat of the 800m. No pressure, dude.

**

15:21: This just in from the BBC:

“Nigeria’s players have boycotted a training session in the build-up to their Olympics football quarter-final with Denmark in a dispute over pay.”

In an interview today with Lagos-based radio station Brila FM, coach Samson Siasia said:

“Everything is upside down and the boys don’t want to play anymore. Whatever they want to do, I’m with them. They are right for fighting for their rights.
“I have not received my salary for the past five months; my assistants are also owed for the same number of months – that’s cruel on men who have families to cater for.”

*insert Kremlin sipping his team image here”

**

15:07: Coming up shortly is the men’s 800m heats… then a smorgasbord of rowing with some more men’s 800m qualifying mixed in between. South Africa has two competitors in the 800m heats running at 15:26 ad 15:46 respectively. Oh, and there is also some guy called David Rudisha running. You know, him with the world and Olympic record. Ja, that guy.

**

15:01: We’ve got the heptathlon underway and who else but Jessica Ennis-Hill bossing the hurdles event? She was ahead after the first hurdle and pulled away by quite some distance towards the end. It’s not her quickest time, but it’s quick enough to win the heat. The weather is grim out there today. 

**

13:48: The weather obviously hates rowing at this Olympics. The weather was dodgy this morning, mostly due to rain. The wind has also started to pick up. We might have to reschedule things.

**

13:12: Now for some news that will get you right in the feels. Warning, if you are sleep deprived as a result of all this Olympic watching at silly hours, look away now. Francois Hougaard gave Seabelo Senatla his bronze medal. Olympic regulations state that only the 12 players who play in a medal match can get a medal. Senatla was ruled out with a wrist injury on the final day and replaced by traveling reserve Francois Hougaard. Senatla initially declined the offer, but Hougaard confirmed on social media earlier today that he did indeed give his medal away. All together now: awww.

**

12:17: You’re probably sick of hearing about him by now, but Michael Phelps has won yet another gold medal. That’s his 22nd. He won the 200m IM this morning.

**

12:13: Want to know which South Africans are competing at the Olympics on 12 August? Check this out.

**

11:56: Hello and welcome to the Daily Maverick’s live blog of the Olympic action on 12 August. It’s athletics time, which can only mean that things are about to get even madder and more hectic than they have already been. We’ve got you covered. DM

Photo: Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine making up the winning 4x100m team during the 2016 CAA 20th African Senior Championships at the Kings Park Athletic stadium in Durban, South Africa on June 24, 2016