Great Britain's gold rush stopped abruptly yesterday, the first day in Beijing that the team have not won an event. Four silver and two bronze medals was the meagre haul and China, with 80 golds, have nearly doubled the tally of Britain in second.

The gloom deepened for the athletics team after two competitors with gold-medal chances failed to deliver. There was a thin silver lining for Stephen Miller, who has dominated the men's club for a decade, winning in the previous three Paralympic Games. He had to settle for second with a throw of 25.59 metres. Miller, who was born with cerebral palsy, revolutionised the discipline by introducing the over-the-shoulder throw as opposed to the front-on technique. But the rest have caught up and the 28-year-old was beaten by Mourad Idoudi, of Tunisia, who beat Miller's world record with 35.77 metres.

Danny Greaves took bronze in the discus, which was won by Jeremy Campbell, of the United States, whose final throw of 55.08 metres was comfortably enough. Greaves was consistent over his six throws but well below his best and could not extend his third-round effort of 53.04 metres.

Greaves, who was born with talipes feet - which grow in the wrong direction - became the first Paralympian to represent Britain in an able-bodied event in 2001, when he was selected for the junior team after winning a silver medal at the AAA Under-20 Championships. After winning silver at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 as a 17-year-old, Greaves won gold in Athens four years later with 55.12 metres and set the world record of 55.60 metres a year ago.

Britain's swimming team finished their programme with three silvers and a bronze, reaching the target of 41 medals set by UK Sport.

The wheelchair rugby team completed a disappointing day, losing to the US, the world champions. It has been a fiercely competitive event, with New Zealand, the defending champions, not reaching the semi-finals after losing to Britain and Australia in the pool stage. Britain face Canada, the silver medal-winners in Athens and bronze medal-winners at the World Championships two years ago, in today's bronze-medal match.