KEY POINTS:
21:53: That completes our live updates from Beijing for today. Three medals with the guarantee of a fourth from Hayden Roulston. You can follow NZ's medal propsects Valerie Vili (11.50pm) and Hayden Roulston (10.50pm) with our live Olympic update. Thanks for following our coverage. Goodnight.
21:19: Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen have finished fourth in the men's double sculls, completing NZ's rowing program at the Olympics. The Evers-Swindell twins have the NZ flag and are on the medal podium.
21:12: Brilliant news from the Olympic velodrome. Individual pursuit cyclist Hayden Roulston will race for gold at 10.50pm tonight after posting one of the two fastest times in today's qualifying. By the way Bridgewater and Twaddle have just had their medal ceremony.
21:05: Incredible race! The Evers-Swindell twins were called third on the line, but when they went to the film, they had it! By half a nose .. literally there was millimetres in it .. but enough to make a decision, and the right decision. The Evers-Swindell's put themselves alongside the greats with back-to-back Olympic golds. Amazing.
20:56: Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell have made an excellent start in the double sculls. They are second after 1000m and are trying to chase down leaders Germany. They look good. And they are gaining.
20:46: NZ now with two medals, congratulations to George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle. NZ's best chance of a rowing medal is up at 8.55pm with the Evers-Swindell twins in the women's double sculls.
20:38: Bridgewater and Twaddle still in third through 1500m, they look very good for third. Canada and Australia fighting it out for the gold.
20:34: Bridgewater and Twaddle are away in the men's pair. Through 500m they've made a strong start and are in third place.
20:26: Drysdale recovers sufficiently to take the podium for the medal ceremony. He raises his arm to acknowledge his NZ supporters. He looks absolutely stuffed.
20:22: Romania beats China and Belarus to win the women's pairs final. Juliette Haigh and Nicola Coles finish in fifth place. Up next are George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle in the men's pair at 8.30pm. A good medal chance.
20:14: Juliette Haigh and Nicola Coles are away in the women's pairs final. Through 500m NZ are well back in last place. Not looking good at this stage.
20:08: Drysdale has collapsed after his race. He is throwing up and is being attended to by medical staff. He lost four kilograms due to illness during the past week.
20:00: Drysdale has been pipped for gold, finishing third in rowing's single sculls. He led through 1500m but was reeled in during the final 250m, clearly lacking stamina from a stomach bug he'd been battling all week. Norway finished first, Czech Republic second, NZ third. Drysdale wins NZ's first medal of the Games. Coming up at 8.10pm Juliette Haigh and Nicola Coles in the women's pair's final.
19:57: Drysdale clearing out with 300m to go. Half a length in front. looking good.
19:55: They're off in the single sculls final. Drysdale was fourth through 1000m.
19:40: We're 10 minutes out from Mahe Drysdale's single sculls final. Earlier he told One News he was still battling a stomach bug after his semi final, which caused him to be put on an intravenous drip. Any effects from the illness are expected to hit him in the last 500 metres of the race.
19:16: Good evening, we're taking our live blog right up until 10pm tonight. As we near our first big rowing final at 7.50pm NZT two top NZ results to report. Laser Radial sailor Joe Aleh has moved into first place overall after winning race five this afternoon. Races six and seven are also tonight. And Storm Uru and Peter Taylor in the men's lightweight double sculls have won rowing's 'B' final. Is it a good omen!!? We'll have to wait and see, but two good results to kick-start a huge night for the NZ Olympic team.
18:01: New Zealand's Rebecca Wardell is 25th overall after five disciplines of the heptathlon in Beijing. Wardell recorded a long jump of 5.84 metres to take her total to 4369 points. Ukrainian Nataliia Dobrynska leads with 5045 points.
17:45: Mark Spitz has hailed Michael Phelps as "the greatest racer who ever walked the planet" after his epic come from behind victory in the 100m butterfly today. "It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time," Spitz said. Phelps will break Spitz's record gold hail of seven gold's in one Olympics with a US victory in the 4 x 100m medley relay tomorrow.
17:24: Women's hockey coach Kevin Towns lashed out at his team after they were hammered by USA in falling to their third successive defeat today. NZ conceded two goals in the first five minutes, eventually falling 4-1. "It was a pretty clear game plan and we were miles away from it," a frustrated Towns said."It's pretty disappointing when you can put a fairly complex game plan together to play a (tough) team like Germany, and we step up, and when we play teams that we should beat we fail to respond to them." New Zealand plays their last pool game against unbeaten Argentina on Monday.
16:45: Individual pursuit cyclist Hayden Roulston says keeping calm will be the key to posting a time quick enough to make the last four. Having recovered from a potentially career ending heart condition, Roulston is on the verge of a medal at the Beijing velodrome tonight. He qualified second-fastest behind defending Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins. The top four times from the eight riders go through to the medal phase. Roulston is up at 8.30pm tonight, with the finals just before 11pm.
16:19: The IOC has rejected the Serbian protest. "It was very clear there was no doubt whatsoever that first arrival was Michael Phelps," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu told reporters after a review of the race which the American won by 0.01 second. "The Serbs were satisfied and agree with the comments of the referee."
16:17: BREAKING NEWS: Serbia have launched a protest over Phelps victory in the 100m butterfly. Serbia claims their swimmer Cavic Milorad
won the race but was denied victory because of a malfunction with a sensor which records when a swimmer touches the wall. The swimmers couldn't be separated with the naked eye when they touched the wall, almost simultaneously. We'll keep you updated with this story.
15:49: NZ born US men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon has made a victorious return to his team. McCutcheon's father-in-law, Todd Bachman, was fatally stabbed in the attack one week ago. His mother-in-law, Barbara Bachman, was badly wounded. The Bachmans are the parents of McCutcheon's wife, former volleyball Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman McCutcheon. The US downed China in straight sets to remain undefeated and progress to the last eight.
15:17: New Zealand have five rowing crews in finals tonight starting with Mahe Drysdale in the single sculls at 7.50pm (NZT) and finishing with Rob Wadell and Nathan Cohen in the men's double sculls. Here is the full schedule and times for NZer's in medal contention this weekend.
14:49: Good afternoon, welcome to today's live blog. Plenty of kiwi medal chances tonight. We'll give you the TV schedule shortly, but first to the Water Cube where it's been a dramatic half hour. Michael Phelps has won his seventh gold in a bang, bang finish, lunging at the wall to pip Serb Cavic Milorad in a photo finish.
Then Brit Rebecca Adlington broke Janet Evans 19-year-old record in the women's 800m.
And we've just seen Brazil's Cielo Filho Ceasar cause the big boilover in the men's 50m free, beating our a high class field including world champion Aussie Eamon Sullivan who was back in sixth.
