Jamaica's Usain Bolt has advanced to the semifinals in the men's 200 meters, finishing his quarterfinal heat in 20.29 seconds and keeping alive his hopes of a first 100-200 meters sprint sweep since 1988. Carl Lewis was the last sprinter to pull off the gold medal double at the 1988 Seoul Games. The 200 meters mens semifinal will start at 1:25am tomorrow with the final scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile the United States basketball team crushed Germany 106-57 to finish top of Group B in the Olympics. The Redeem team, as they have become known, will now face Australia in Thursday's basketball quarterfinals. Australia qualified after beating Lithuania by 106 to 75.

Brazil booked their place in the Olympic women's football final with a 4-1 win over Germany, before defending champions the USA saw off Japan 4-2.

Also the gold medals awarded at the Beijing Olympics are not pure gold and are mostly made of silver. The Games organizing Committee Wang Wei said each medal contains only 6 percent pure gold while the bulk is silver. Wang dismissed as "a joke" claims made by internet bloggers that the medals contained lead.

Now looking at the medal tally with 5 days remain for the close of the Olympics. China maintains a good lead with 39 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze. USA remains in second place with 22 gold, 24 silver and 26 bronze. Great Britain lies in third place with 12 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze.