Welcome to the seventh day of our live coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games, where we'll keep you right up to date with allthe major happenings throughout the day, with the main focus around the swimming and athletics. We'll keep it light and informal, and we invite your tweets and Facebook comments throughout the day, so keep them coming. A couple of points:

- don't forget you can watch the Games live on the website if you are a DStv subscriber in sub-Saharan Africa. Click on the LIVE TODAY tab above the spotlights on the home page

- to send us comments, and we'll add the best on this page, use the Facebook comments at the base of this page, or be sure to include #SSOlympics in your tweets

So follow all the action below, and we look forward to your company over the next two weeks and a bit. Enjoy!

11pm - stunning performance in the women's 10 000m, with Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia bursting away with about 500m to go to win by an embarrassing margin. Nearly six seconds back was Sally Kipyego of Kenya, and another four further back another Kenyan in Vivian Cheruiyot. Ethiopians Kidane and Oljira were fourth and fifth.

Both gold medallists tonight, by the way, were defending champions. What that means is, um, well, no new Olympic athletics champions just yet. Moving on...

See you tomorrow for another joint day of swimming and athletics - make sure you don't miss the bowing out of the greatest swimmer and Olympian the world has ever seen. Good night....

10:50pm - another good performance from the SA men's hockey team, going down 3-2 to Spain after taking the lead in the 26th minute through Reid-Ross but then conceding three before Norris-Jones pulled one back in the 63rd minute.

10:45pm - the first athletics gold medal of London 2012 has been won, and it was a very polished put of the shot that won it. Tomasz Majewski of Poland won the men's shot put with an effort of 21.89, just three centimetres ahead of German youngster David Storl. Reese Hoffa of the US was third with 21.23.

10:40pm - good news for SA in the men's long jump qualification, although medium jump is probably the best way to describe tonight's efforts. Only two men Mauro Da Silva of Brazil and Marquise Goodwin of the States managed the automatic qualifying mark of 8.10, with SA's Khotso Mokoena - the Beijing silver medallist - through in 7th after an 8.02m third and final jump.

The final is tomorrow night, starting just before 9pm.

9:55pm - looking at the men's first round in the 1 500m, and plenty of Africans going through there. The top three times were Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria in 3:35.15, Mekonnen Gebremedhin of Ethiopia and Asbel Kiprop of Kenya, all from the first heat.

9:45pm - right. I've just run from the Aquatics Centre and into the Olympic Stadium, so let me just get my breath back........

Women's 100m first round is over, with America's Carmelita Jeter (still working on a car, litre, Jetta pun...) the fastest in 10.83. Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria was second, with Ahoure (Ivory Coast, 6th), Asumnu (Nigeria, 16th) and Zang Milama (Gabon, T17th) also through to the semis tomorrow. Those races and the final on Saturday.

9:34pm - final events of the evening as the women complete the 50m freestyle semis. Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands predictably the fastest in 24.07, with Herasimenia of Bulgaria second and Veldhuis - also from the Land of Nether - third quickest.

That's the swimming for tonight, will bring you an update on the athletics asap.

9:30pm - a few of your tweets tonight, picked up using #SSOlympics. Keep them coming

9:25pm - Phelps receives his 17th gold medal, with Le Clos looking far more comfortable on the podium as he collects his silver than he did the other night! Here's hoping it's a sight we'll become accustomed to - CLC on the podium for all the major championships.

9:13pm - the white-water dash for the men is over, with France's Florent Manaudou clinching the men's 50m freestyle title in 21.34. The US's Cullen Jones was second, with Cesar Cielo of Brazil in third. Roland Schoeman was sixth in 21.80.

8:55pm - magic performance in the women's 800m freestyle, as 15-year-old Katie Ledecky of the US finished just outside the world record in 8:14.10, with Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia second and defending champion Rebecca Adlington third.

8:42pm - Gold for Phelps - Le Clos tied for silver. Both turned with a lot of work to do, but it was the American legend who charged hardest, with Le Clos able to pass all but Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin, with whom he tied in 51.44, and the man who picked up his 17th Olympic gold and 21st medal overall.

Not exactly revenge over Le Clos, but I'm sure sweet enough for Phelps anyway. The man he famosly touched out four years ago, Milorad Cavic of Serbia, was fourth.

8:35pm - What a start to the evening! The latest US superstar, Missy Franklin, smashed the world record in the women's 200m backstroke, completing the 100/200 double at these Games. Her time was 2:04.06, well inside the old mark of 2:04.81. Anastasia Zueva of Russia was second, the US's Elizabeth Beisel was third. Two-time defending champion Kirsty Coventry was sixth.

Time for the BIG ONE!!

8:15pm - just about time for the swimming to start, so here's what's in store for us tonight, with African interest noted, including the big one - Le Clos v Phelps, Round 2. Ding, ding...

20:30 - Women's 200m Backstroke final (Kirsty Coventry)
20:38 - Men's 100m Butterfly final (Le Clos v Phelps)
20:45 - Women's 800m Freestyle final
21:09 - Men's 50m Freestyle final (Roland Schoeman)
21:27 - Women's 50m Freestyle semifinals

In athletics, the women's heats in the 100m are under way, and there's also action in the men's long jump qualifying, the men's 1 500m heats, the men's shot put final, and to top it all off the women's 10 000m final. Fasten your seatbelts....

Guess who's excited about tonight:

6:30pm - about two hours until the start of the swimming and athletics, so a quick 'what happened' from this afternoon.

- in women's football quarterfinals, it was France 2 Sweden 1, and US 2 New Zealand 0
- in men's hockey, Germany 5 India 2; Australia 2 Australia 2; Netherlands 5, New Zealand 1
- in sailing, gold medals for Germany - men's quadruple sculls; New Zealand - men's pairs AND single sculls (they've matched SA's three golds...), and Great Britain - women's double sculls
- Federer has played another epic set of tennis, edging out Del Potro 19-17 in the third set after winning the second set in a tie-break. On the women's side, Sharapova made short work of Kirilenko, 2 and 3.

2:45pm - as expected, there will be plenty of African participation in the men's 3 000m steeplechase final. Six of the 11 through from the heats are from the continent, and they are Abel Kiprop Mutai and Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya; Nahom Mesfin and Roba Gari of Ethiopia; Benjamin Kiplagat of Uganda and Hamid Ezzine of Morocco.

1:55pm - final results through from the women's 400m heats, and Botswana's Amantle Montsho was the fastest qualifier in 50.40. Also through to the three semis are Nigeria's Regina George and Omolara Omotosho, as well as Namibia's Tjipekapora Herunga and Kenya's Joy Nakhumicha Sakari.

1:20pm - swimming heats over for the morning, and not much joy for SA but at least we already have some swimmers through to tonight's programme. Chad le Clos will face Michael Phelps in the final of the men's 100m butterfly at 8:38pm, with Roland Schoeman going 'bos' at at 9:09pm in the men's 50m freestyle final.

1:09pm - comfortable for Botswana's Amantle Montsho, winning her 400m heat in 50.41 to progress through to tomorrow's semifinals.

1:02pm - not enough to have Chad and Cameron in the team, as the SA men's 4x100m medley relay team finished seventh in heat 2 of the semifinals, nearly three seconds behind winners the US. So that's the end of Van der Burgh's Olympics, so I'm sure there will be a few beers sunk tonight...

1pm - a quick look at the tennis matches for today. It's semifinal time, and plenty of big names adding sparkle to the draws. The men start things off with Federer v Del Potro any minute now, followed by Murray v Djokovic. The women start at 3pm with Sharapova v Kirilenko, followed by Azarenka v Williams.

12:46pm - looks like all the rumblings around LJ's preparations for the Olympics were true, as he could only finish 6th in his heat for the men's 400m hurdles. His time of 50.31 compared with winner Angelo Taylor's 49.29. So that's both our 400m hurdlists out in two quick shots. Bit of an early come down from the swimming!

12:32pm - poor run for SA's Cornel Fredericks, finishing 8th of 9 in Heat 3 of the men's 400m hurdles, with home favourite David Greene winning in 48.98 to Cornel's 52.29. LJ van Zyl up in a few minutes.

12pm - SA's Heerdan Herman finished 6th in Heat 2 (of 4) in the men's 1 500m freestyle, with his time of 15:25.71 some 35 seconds slower than heat-winner Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy.

11:35am - not a good start for SA in the pool, with Trudi Maree just 36th fastest in the women's 50 freestyle heats. Her time of 25.78 was over a second slower than the Netherlands's Kromowidjoj in 24.51, the 100m champion, and she was followed home by fellow Dutchie Veldhuis. Britain's Francesca Halsall was third quickest going into tonight's semis.

10:45am - Good morning, and welcome to the day that athletics joins the London 2012 party. Going to make my life a lot tougher trying to keep you all in the loop, but hey, that's why I get paid the big bucks.....

On the swimming front, here's the best of the heats to look forward to this morning:

11:14 - Women's 50m freestyle heats - Trudi Maree
11:42 - Men's 1 500m freestyle heats Heerden Herman
12:55 - Men's 4x100m medley heats SA (with Van der Burgh and Le Clos)

Tonight's swimming:

20:30 - Women's 200m Backstroke final
20:38 - Men's 100m Butterfly final (Le Clos v Phelps)
20:45 - Women's 800m Freestyle final
21:09 - Men's 50m Freestyle final (Roland Schoeman)
21:27 - Women's 50m Freestyle semifinals (Trudi Maree?)

Elsewhere, the athletes take to Olympic Stadium for the first time, and there's plenty of African interest. There is only one final tonight - the women's 10 000m final - with loads of Kenyan and Ethiopian competitors, but a few big names that may attract your interest.

We have SA's LJ van Zyl in the men's 400m hurdles heats and Khotso Mokoena in the long jump qualifying; Botswana medal hopeful Amantle Montsho in the women's 400m; lots of interest in the men's 3 00m steeplechase, with a whole host of Africans trying to deny Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot gold in the 10 000m from 10:25pm tonight.

The men's hockey team is in action against Spain at 8pm, SA's Siphiwe Lusizi features in the Round of 16 in boxing's 69kg (welterweight) category around 11pm and the women take to the field for the football quarterfinals.

So if you don't have a TV or live streaming to hand - hey, even if you do, keep it right here and send through those Twitter comments with #SSOlympics included.

CLICK HERE for today's full schedule

- Day 6's full coverage
- Day 5's full coverage
- Day 4's full coverage
- Day 3's full coverage
- Day 2's full coverage
- Day 1's full coverage