KEY POINTS:
20:28: Well thanks for tuning in to today's live updates from the Olympics. We'll be doing it again from 2pm tomorrow so please join us then. A couple of late results to hand. In rowing the NZ women's pair of Juliette Haigh and Nicola Coles have finished second in their heat. And in the men's cycling road race Julian Dean was struggling in 57th place after 197 of 243km. Goodnight everyone, see you tomorrow.
19:31: And Mahe Drysdale has washed away concerns of fatigue after the opening ceremony with a convincing win in his single sculls heat. He's through to the quarter finals. Great result. The women's pair are next away at around 7.50pm.
19:29: Finn class sailor Dan Slater has finished 18th in his opening race at the Olympic regatta in Qingdao. Medal favourite Ben Ainslie finished 10th.
18:30: A quick check of the road race placings makes no mention of Julian Dean or the other Kiwis in the top 25 after 102 of 243.5km. Hmm.
18:23: GREAT NEWS!!!!!!! An excellent start to our rowing campaign! Kiwi single sculls Emma Twigg has won her heat and is straight through to the quarter finals - so well done Emma, awesome stuff.
18:20: We have an update on the progress of Kiwi shooter Graeme Ede. Not so good, he's 32nd after three qualifying rounds of the men's trap in Beijing. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist managed 20 out of a possible 25 in his third round to drop to 32nd, after sitting 24th after two rounds.
18:01: Mahe Drysdale and his rowing compadres are preparing for their heats. Their are seven Kiwi rowing crews in action tonight, including Rob Waddell in the men's pair and the Ever-Swindells.
17:55: Julian Dean and the New Zealand road cycling team are struggling in sweltering conditions, four minutes off the lead early into their 243km race. Many of the competitors raced in the Tour de France. Dean had problems with his breathing in training, conditions are no easier today. He is currently in the main peloton.
17:14: The Tall Ferns have made a winning start to their Olympic campaign, downing Mali 76-72. The scores were tied at 71-71 late but NZ hung on to make the ideal start. So well done to them.
Elsewhere the 'peaceful' Tibet protests have started. AP is reporting five activists breached heavy security in Tiananmen Square and draped themselves in Tibetan flags. It's not clear what happened to them after that. But the protests are underway on day one!
16:11: Good news for the host nation, they've broken their duck. Chen Xiexia has won gold in the women's 48kg weightlifting.
16:00: The first gold medal has been decided!! That great TV sport 10-metre air rifle has been taken out by the Czechs. Well, well.. Du Li of China was the favourite but could only manage fifth place.
Meanwhile Kiwi Julian Dean is underway in the men's road race, and good news in the basketball with the NZ women's team leading Mali 42-33.
15:36: The New Zealand women's basketball side are in action in their first game, trailing 11-6 in the first quarter against Mali. NZ were hot favourites at the TAB, I'll update for you at the end of the first quarter.
15:05: A quick update from the equestrian, Todd is in fact in 7th place, about two-thirds of the way through the dressage, so in reasonable position. Now if you're at home watching the Olympics on TV or online, drop us a line on anything to do with the Olympics - from TV coverage to athletes in action and anything in between. You can send your emails here and we'll post them in this blog for other readers to see.
14.41: NZ dressage competitor Heelan Tomkins has recorded a score of 55.6 penalty points to put her in 12th place overall. Meanwhile Todd says he could not have hoped for a better performance from his 10-year-old horse, so that's optimistic. But it's very early days in that event.
14.20: Mark Todd has made the best start of the NZ equestrian team.
The dressage began early this morning and Todd scored 49.40 penalty points to lie in ninth spot midway through the dressage.
14.08: Well after last night's grand opening reality has kicked back in this morning, with Greek sprinter Tassos Gousis testing positive for drugs. WADA say they will conduct 4500 drug tests during the games. IOC President Jacque Rogge reckons they'll be upwards of 40 positive tests. Here's hoping none of them are Kiwis.
14.00: Welcome to our day one Olympics blog, where we'll endeavour to bring you all the latest news from on and off the fields of competition from now until 8pm. Here is the schedule of kiwis in action today.
