A stupendous night of athletics here produced the result that most people wanted to see as Usain Bolt beat Justin Gatlin to earn a third consecutive Olympic 100 metres title in 9.80sec, but even that huge feat was overshadowed by the performance of South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk as he won 400m gold from lane eight in a world record of 43.03, breaking Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old mark.

Jemima Sumgong delivered Kenya its first Olympic women’s Marathon title in scorching conditions as she clocked 2hr 24min 04sec at the Sambodromo, home to the world-famous Carnival parade - and according to her the result was never in doubt.

Almaz Ayana's world record in the 10,000 metres on the opening day of the Olympic athletics programme here has been questioned by Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan, the woman affected more than anyone by the performances of the Chinese, whose performance the Ethiopian eclipsed.

British hopes for a re-run of "Super Saturday" from London 2012 fell short here tonight, but gold for Mo Farah in the 10,000 metres, silver for Jessica Ennis-Hill in the heptathlon and bronze for Greg Rutherford in the long jump surely constituted a "Satisfactory Saturday" at the least.

Russian long jumper Darya Klishina has been "withdrawn" from the Olympic Games by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) based on "new information" they have received, it was revealed today. 

This is the way athletics at the Olympic Games is supposed to feel.  

An extraordinary opening morning session of athletics here which included a huge world 10,000 metres record by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana and the best high-jumping ever seen within a heptathlon competition took place in a 60,000-capacity Olympic Stadium that appeared less than half full.

An American record effort from Michelle Carter with her last throw tipped the women’s shot put final on its head here tonight and denied New Zealand's Valerie Adams a third consecutive Olympic victory.

A Kenyan coach expelled from the Olympic Games here for impersonating an athlete claimed he was only attempting to have a "decent and free meal". 

Almaz Ayana provided the opening session of the Rio 2016 athletics programme here with a historic flourish as she took more than 14 seconds off the world 10,000 metres record which has stood, apparently invulnerable, since 1993, claiming the first track and field gold of the Olympics in a time of 29min 17.45sec.

Will the Rio 2016 athletics programme, which gets underway tomorrow, become part of the Usain Bolt Narrative in the way that Beijing and London have already been?

Kenya have suffered a further blow on the eve of the Olympic athletics competition as coach John Anzrah has been sent home from Rio 2016 for impersonating an athlete and providing a urine sample.

As South Africa’s Caster Semenya heads towards what could be a controversial victory in the women’s 800m final at these Olympic Games,International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe has underlined his organisation’s intention to challenge the ruling which suspended the monitoring of female athletes with higher than usual levels of testosterone.

Italy's Alex Schwazer, who is here in Rio ahead of the men’s 20 kiloemtres walk on the first day of the athletics programme on Friday (August 12), has had his appeal against an eight-year ban for a second doping violation turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Major changes to the governance of world athletics, approved here today by the International Association of Athletics Federations Council, will make “a massive difference” to the sport, according to its President Sebastian Coe.