The team arrived in Atlanta with hopes of at least three medals, according to team manager Neil Adams, but disaster has followed disaster. Only Nicola Fairbrother, a former world champion, managed to regain a semblance of her past form and get within sniffing distance of a medal - she lost narrowly for a bronze. What has been most disappointing has been not just the fact that they have lost, but the way that they have lost. With the judo competition going into its last session, and bantamweight Nigel Donohue still in the repechage with a chance for a bronze, Britain's judo team faces their worst results of any Olympics since 1964. Fighting, too, are Britain's men: Ben Ainslie has the bit between his teeth after a second and a first in what the team manager and gold medallist, Mike McIntyre, described as "an absolutely fabulous performance" while the chef de mission, Rod Carr, described the way Merricks and Walker came back in their second race as "awesome. Truly world class."They beat the opposition by 1min 44sec, finishing nearly a whole leg ahead and showing the kind of form which has so pulverised the confidence of their competitors over the last couple of years.With the Soling trio of Andy Beadsworth, Barry Parkin and Adrian Stead solidly in third place, their passage through to the six top places and the match racing cut seemingly assured, it is the roll of the weather dice and the ever-present luck factor that is keeping feet firmly on the ground..

"I am confident I can get her [Becker-Dey] now, and there are five races to go," she said yesterday, hoping the weather would be lighter for racing brought forward an hour in the hope of restoring everything to schedule.But Becker-Dey is a fighter and will not give up easily in an American team that is not having everything its own way. It just takes a long time, as the competition is based not on knock-outs with semi-finals and finals, but through the accumulation of results from 11 races which, with rest days in between, are spread over 10 days. But there is both momentum and a sense of purpose within the British squad, helped by some stunning performances from John Merricks and Ian Walker in the men's 470 dinghy and the 19-year old Ben Ainslie in the Laser singlehander, plus some gritty work from Shirley Robertson, sailing her Europe hard in what are not her favourite conditions.Robertson is tied for the bronze medal at the half-way stage with the American Courtney Becker-Dey, as Margriet Matthijsse of the Netherlands and Kristine Roug of Denmark have made their greater height and weight pay in the stormy conditions She is in feisty mood. We thought we'd broken the record and we fancied our chances for a medal.". Savannah is so far away from Atlanta that the British sailing team has been operating in highly focused isolation from their colleagues in other sports, but the realisation is dawning that they may be able to boost Britain's standing in the medal league table. Adam Ruckwood and Martin Harris failed to reach the final of the 200m backstroke and Sue Rolph missed out in the 50m freestyle, coming sixth in her heat in 26.39.The team's frustration was compounded by the disqualification of the 4x100m medley relay squad after they had appeared to break the British record with a time of 3min 40.74sec.

They were disqualified for making a premature changeover.Neil Willey, who had led the quartet off with a blistering backstroke leg of 55.99sec, said: "It's very frustrating. She finished third in 2min 09.91sec, two seconds behind the winner, O'Neill, while a second Australian, Petria Thomas, got the silver.Earlier in the day Smith's parents had both come to the defence of their daughter after Janet Evans, the American quadruple gold medallist, had said questions were being asked as to whether Smith was taking performance- enhancing drugs."The behaviour has been less than good, it has been despicable," Brian Smith said on Radio 5 Live "That of Janet Evans in particular. I would like to say that does not apply to the American people or to the other American swimmers who have expressed their regret and anger at Evans and their swimming association for saying things."Smith's mother, Patricia, added: "Any mother knows her own children and I know without doubt that Michelle didn't have to turn to drugs or anything like that."Britain had another bad day. It is difficult to tell these days, such was her dominance of the medley and 400 metres freestyle events. Last night, ironically, she was pushed more closely than ever before this week.Smith was late to the starting line, arriving a good 30 seconds after the other competitors and she was slow when she got into the water, trailing the Australian Susan O'Neill at the halfway mark.In her past races the surge has come over the final 50 metres, but maybe tiredness had got hold of Smith and when she asked for the acceleration it would not come. The smile of the red-haired, freckly girl from just outside Dublin has become the image of the first week of the Games.Last night's medal came in the 200 metres butterfly, which she describes as her best event.