Olympic Shorts: A medal – and a reunion with her mother

Liam O'Brien, Lewis Smith

The British judo heavyweight Karina Bryant spent half her life pursuing the Olympic dream she realised yesterday with a bronze medal, but it was a reunion with her mother that really got the tears flowing.

After winning the bronze, Bryant and her mother, Nicky, embraced 18 months since last seeing each other. With the judoka training furiously at her base – and so hard up she had to appeal earlier this year for the public to fund her efforts – she was unable to travel to see her mother who lives in Australia. "I have had an amazing career, but this was the one medal I did not have," she said after winning bronze against Ukraine's Iryna Kindzerska.

Our wait for success is over. But in Australia...

It hasn't been the best Games for the Aussies so far. They trail New Zealand in the medal table, and their top swimmer, James "The Missile" Magnussen, has repeatedly failed to deliver. There's much soul-searching under way. As an editorial in Adelaide's Advertiser put it: "What the hell has gone wrong in the past seven days?" Now their drink-happy rower, Joshua Booth, is to make a personal apology to shop owners in Egham, Surrey, after allegedly smashing their windows. It is alleged that the 21-year-old broke the windows in the apparent belief that he was breaking into his own home. He will pay the £1,400 repair bill.

Let's hope for strong chlorine after Lochte admits pool pee

Ryan Lochte has committed the cardinal sin of peeing in the Olympic pool – and admitted it live on radio. Swimmers "always" urinate in the water, he told Ryan Seacrest. He hasn't done it during a race, but "I sure did before in warm-up. There's something about getting into chlorine water that you just automatically go." Spare a thought for Rebecca Adlington, who spent a good eight minutes in the pool for her 800m race last night.

Country of the day: Tuvalu

The Polynesian island of 10 sq miles has a population of 10,619 and has sent three athletes to the Games. Tavevele Noa, 20, will compete in the 100m. The young athlete has "liked" Usain Bolt on Facebook, but he'll have to make it past the preliminaries to get the chance to race his idol. "In Tuvalu we don't have a track," he said. "It's just grass ground."