The soggy Olympics: Britain's wet summer is a drop in the ocean compared to China

Thunderstorms and driving rain flooded venues, soaked beach volleyball girls, injured the parents of a British silver medallist – and left a BBC duo looking very silly.

Organisers fear Beijing will be the wettest Games since London in 1948, when the cinders track was deep beneath water.

Brolly good show: Rain falls during the women's preliminary pool D volleyball match

Yesterday the rowing, canoeing, baseball, softball and tennis all had to be delayed or abandoned.

A lightning storm injured the parents of British canoeist David Florence as they sheltered in a tower near the Great Wall, which they had been visiting.

A lightning bolt struck the tower, forcing the terrified couple to flee back down the mountain.

George and Jill Florence and their children Fraser, 23, and Lindsay, 21, who had travelled to Beijing to watch 26-year-old David compete, were said to be suffering from shock and cuts and bruises last night.

Rain men: Sir Steve Redgrave and John Inverdale in their pac-a-macs

Cover-up: Sir Steve Redgrave trudges away after the rowing was called off

At the rowing venue, BBC presenter John Inverdale and five - times gold medal winner Sir Steve Redgrave were squashed into ill- fitting pac-a-macs as they tried to present coverage of an event which had to be cancelled.

Inverdale said: ‘Well, I actually wanted the white one, but Sir Steve insisted – which is why I’ve ended up with the turquoise one.

'But believe me – if you’d been here six hours ago, this place was bathed in sunshine. It was 32 or 33 degrees.

‘It was so hot – since then we’ve had four or five hours of continuous downpour. So they’ve called it quits for the day.’

No weather for bikinis: German volleyball stars Laura Ludwig and Sara Goller play under the heavy rain against Greece

Watter-log: Volunteers dig a channel to drain water around the volleyball court

Ever- cheerful volunteers in the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball areas desperately dug drains in the sand with their hands and spades while the bikini-clad competitors gamely played on.

But despite the workers’ best efforts many events were abandoned or cancelled. For tennis, it was the third round of postponements in the past five days.

In the Fengtai Softball Stadium, the dirt infield turned into a mud bog and archers and shooters complained the weather made their sports a lottery.

Sadly for the organisers, there is more bad weather on the way.

Cloud and rain are forecast for today and showers on Sunday when 34 medals are to be decided, the most in any day. Strong storms are also predicted for Tuesday.

Drown and out: Spectators endure horrid conditions today