03:21: We’ll be back tomorrow…

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03:18: Here’s a recap of the day:

In the women’s 200m, Alyssa Conley was fourth in heat three of nine with a time of 23.17 (0.32sec outside her season’s best) and Justine Palframan ended fifth in a time of 23.33 in the next heat. In the men’s triple jump, Khotso Mokoena finished 10th in Group B and did not progress to the final. 

In the men’s 400m hurdles one of three runners – LJ van Zyl – progressed to the semis. Michelle Weber finished 18th in the 10km open water swimming and Bridgette Hartley did not progress from the women’s K1 200m sprint heats. She won bronze in the 500m in London and has always said that the 200m is just a way of testing the waters for the main event. Wenda Nel qualified for the women’s 400m semi-finals tomorrow night at 02:10. At the time of writing, Antonio Alkana’s qualification for the 110m event was up in the air. He had gone through as the fastest loser, but the heats that took place in the rain was due to be rerun, it’s just that nobody knew what time…

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03:16: Nel finishes second in the 400m hurdles, she’s through to the semis.

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02:53: We’re waiting for Wenda Nel in the women’s 400m hurdles. 

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02:43: But we might need to wait to have that make official-official. Sean Ingle on the Guardian said the stadium announcer said the guys who ran in the torrential rain will get another chance later on.

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02:39: Alkana has qualified for the 110m hurdles semi-finals as the fastest loser, by the way.

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02:37: It’s Bolt’s medal ceremony coming up and this just in from Reuters:

“An overhead television camera suspended by cables crashed to the ground in the Olympic Park on Monday, injuring seven people including two children, in the latest of a string of mishaps to hit South America’s first Games.

No one was badly hurt in the accident, which comes as another embarrassment for organizers already facing safety concerns after the armed robbery of U.S. gold medallist swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his team mates at the weekend as well as the robberies of two visiting government ministers.”

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02:25: Alkana finished in fifth place, by the way. He could still go through. Meanwhile, Wilhem Belocian from France has had a false start in heat four and has been given the red card.

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02:20: Long delay to the start of this just as things wait to dry off and athletes ready after that torrential downpour. Alkana had a pretty good race, he knocked most of his hurdles over, but at least he didn’t dive over the line like the Brazillian oke did.

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02:10: Well, just like that, the rain has stopped again… well mostly. It’s drizzling. And it’s miserable conditions. And we’re about to get back on. South Africa’s man Antonio Alkana is about to 110m hurdle.

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01:59: It is hosing down.

They shouldn’t be asked to hurdle in this weather. That’s coming from a Welsh man……who hurdles

— Dai Greene (@DaiGreene) August 15, 2016

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01:53: Yep, confirmed. Suspended animation in Rio.

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01:50: It’s grim out there and the second heat of the men’s 110m hurdles has had hurdles go all over the show. Carter nearly bought some ground, but recovered his composure somehow. He ends seventh. Field events have been suspended…we might have the same on the track…

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01:46: It’s all going to hell in a hand cart in the women’s discus. There have been three netted throws and now the Chinese athlete has thrown it outside of the circle. 

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01:42: Oef, the rain is coming down at Rio. Maybe the skies are crying with pride after Wayde got his medal. Is that too cheesy? Ah well, who cares. 

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00:43: There’s discus, pole vault and some more hurdling coming up shortly. These are the South Africans in action:

01:56 am (Tuesday): Men’s 110m hurdles, heat three, Antonio Alkana
02:54 am (Tuesday): Women’s 400m hurdles, heat four, Wenda Nel

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23:19: It’s gold for Elia Viviani! That was undoubtedly the most fun you can possibly have in lycra. Tour de France legend Cavendish hangs on for silver, leaving Hansen to pocket a bronze for Denmark. Sport that doesn’t require handlebars and saddle sores is coming your way in the near future.

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23:12: In the velodrome, the final event of the men’s omnium is winding up to its finish. No South African interest and no time to explain the many rules, regulations, quirks and oddities but, hey, it’s fun!  Italian Elia Viviani is holding off the charge of Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Lasse Norman Hansen. We’ll keep you posted.

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22:13: Good evening! Will you join us for another night of Olympic delights? The evening track and field session is a little later on in the Maracana and we’ll have the best of it for you right here. But first, the breaking news so far from Rio: Simone Biles is human! The amazing American only managed bronze in the women’s beam, ending her hopes of five golds in the Games. Pah. Any of us could manage that…

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17:30 That’s it from the “morning” session in Rio.  There’s some boxing, tracking cycling, diving, mincing horses (not the meat scandal), gymnastics, hand ball and all sorts of other things to come. We’re going to take a short break from regular coverage, but will ensure a smattering of anything interesting remains.

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17:16: Final heat of hurdles coming up and the final chance for a South African to try and qualify. LJ van Zyl is running and the commentators are calling him Van Zeal.  He goes out hard on the outside and he has some zeal! Finishes second.

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17:03: More hurdling. Hamman was seventh, actually. But he still won’t qualify. Obviously.  Lindsay Hanekom started the race very well, but end up second last. He was off like a shot…just not the shot that tried to start the race. There was an issue at the start when the gun went off first and they had to try again. He won’t qualify for the final either. The world champion – Bett – hit the hurdle with his shin of all things. And suddenly I don’t feel so inadequate of falling over my own feet when merely trying to walk.

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16:58: Le Roux Hamman is up first for South Africa in the hurdles heat. He’s got a fantastic blonde quiff going on. Hamman is in lane three, started well but started to lose just a little bit of steam towards the end. Nozawa from Japan wins in Wayde van Niekerk style. Went charging out and didn’t lose steam. Hamman was sixth, I think, so won’t qualify. But here is a picture of him anyway.

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16:55: We’ve got some hurdling coming up. Because, you know, making people feel inadequate by watching others sprint isn’t enough, there will now be stuff in the way while people run. I can’t even get up off the coach without falling my own feet, so there’s no chance of making it as an Olympian in this event.

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16:52: In the hammer throw, we’ve had a new world record! Anita Wlodarczyk has thrown 82.29. The question of the day is: how were these field events invented? I think hammer throw was invented when people tried to play fetch with dinosaurs. You can email your theories to [email protected] and we might publish them.

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16:18 South Africa’s canoeing bronze medalist from London 2012 will not make it to the final. Her time was beaten in the other semis. To be fair, that was in the 500m and this was in the 200m. So, she might still have a shot.

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16:04: In the 10km open water, Weber has finished 87th. But can we discuss people having the stamina to swim for 10km? I’d just float on a lilo. In the canoe sprint, Hartley has finished third, so we’ll have to wait and see if she makes it through to the final

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15:39: News from the triple jump is that Mokoena has not advanced to the final 12. He’s looked comfortable, but couldn’t hit cruise control. 

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15:34: Conley and Palframan have not made it out of the 200m heats. But Mokoena has put in a tremendous jump of 16:51m. That might be just enough to put him into the final.

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15:13: In the women’s kayak singles 200m, Bridgitte Hartley has qualified for the semi-finals  after finishing  in her heat. That semi-final will be at 16:00. But we’ve got triple jump to look at n the mean time.

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15:09: Update from the 10km open water swimming. Weber is currently in fifth after four laps.  This could take a while, so don’t hold your breath. In the triple jump, Mokoena’s first attempt was  15.13m.

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14:47: Plaframan’s qualification in the 200m coming up. Not her best race. Palframan was way off the pace and ends in fifth. Won’t be good enough.

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14:42: Ahye was just out of this world. Don’t think she’s even pushed herself fully. She wins with 22.50 and will be through to the final. Facey is second, slowing down after her first 60m. Conley finishes fourth with a time. 23.17. She had a good last sprint, but her time might not be enough to make it through as one of the fastest losers.

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14:41: Conley’ 200m qualifying run coming up…

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14:30: In the women’s 200m qualification, Dafne Schippers has cruised to qualification for the semis. She started slowly, allowed the other runners to get away in the first stretch, but pulled it back to win quite comfortably in the end.

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14:28: Van Niekerk’s story is another pretty remarkable one. There are so many of them at these Olympics, but here’s South Africa’s gold medalist’s story.

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14:07: Just while we wait for the action to get going, a quick note on Akani Simbine who finished fifth in the men’s 100m final last night. You have to feel for the lad. Any other night making the final of a 100m at the Olympics would grab all the headlines. Finishing fifth in a race with the likes of Bolt and Gatlin – and breaking the 10 second barrier  twice in one night – would be astounding. That’s not to say that Simbine’s run was ignored, it just didn’t quite grab the headlines. This youngster – he’s only 22 – has a long and very successful career ahead of him. Watch this space.

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14:01: In case you missed it last night, this happened.

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11:30: There’s plenty of South African action to come. Here’s what you have to look forward to. Today’s two main draws are the the men’s 800m final (03:25am) and the women’s 400m final (03:45). Here are the events with South Africans in them today.

Athletics

14:40: Men’s triple jump qualifying, Group B, Khotso Mokoena
14:35 and 14:35: Women’s 200m, Heat three and four, Alyssa Conley and Justine Palframan
16:56 – 17:10: Men’s 400m hurdles heats (four, five and six), Le Roux Hamman, Lindsay Hanekom and LJ van Zyl
01:56 am (Tuesday):  Men’s 110m hurdles, heat three, Antonio Alkana
02:54 am (Tuesday): Women’s 400m hurdles, heat four, Wenda Nel

Canoeing

14:59: Women’s K1 200m, Heat Four, Bridgitte Hartley

Sailing

18:06: Men’s 470 class, Races eight, nine and 10, Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson

Swiming

14:00: Women’s 10km open water event, Michelle Weber

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11:29: Morning. We hope you have recovered from last night’s action. For those who woke up to watch Wayde van Niekerk run, we hope you managed to get to sleep. DM

Photo: Gold medalist Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa is flanked on the podium by silver medalist Kirani James (L) of Grenada and bronze winner Lashawn Merritt of the USA during the medal ceremony for the men’s 400m of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Athletics, Track and Field events at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15 August 2016. EPA/YOAN VALAT