From the eventing team's miss on the podium to favoured crews crashing out of the rowing regatta; the men's sevens being overturned by rugby shockmeisters Japan 14-12, compounded by the loss of Sonny Bill Williams to injury, another loss for the men's Black Sticks, the hits just kept coming through the night.
That's sport for you. One day it gives, the next it takes away - and often with a savage pull.
There's joy and there's despondency and New Zealand have had the full spectrum in the space of 72 hours. The women's sevens were tearful, but still medallists; Natalie Rooney couldn't wipe the smile off her face after putting New Zealand, unexpectedly on the medal table. Now this. Williams suffered a partial Achilles tendon rupture and is gone, his place going to Sione Molia.
Almost certainly count Williams out of the forthcoming rugby championship too.
Japan do have form, remember. South Africa certainly do.
The Cherry Blossoms win over the Boks at last year's World Cup stands as the greatest of all rugby upsets. So have Japan now added another sentence to the notion that they are rugby's most notable rising talent?
Mark Todd's despair told its own story.
New Zealand sat nestled in the gold medal spot in the teams' eventing today when the double Olympic champion, five-time medallist Todd entered the arena on Leonidas II.
His horse had dropped only one rail in two years competition. He could afford to knock a rail down and New Zealand would still win gold. You would kind of fancy your chances.
This was to be the crowning achievement in the 60-year-old's glittering career, which has had him named Eventing Rider of the 20th century by the international federation.
Instead it went badly wrong.
The combination knocked four rails down, New Zealand slid to fourth, out of the medals and Todd was left to ponder "one of the biggest lows in my career". Even three rails knocked down would have meant bronze for New Zealand.
Talk to any horseman and they'll tell you: that's horses. Fragile beasts with skittery tendencies. Moments like that show up the skill of the finest riders. It just wasn't Todd's day.
His place is secure in the equestrian pantheon. The shame of it was that having battled back into second place going into the showjumping, after a modest dressage performance, it all went wrong, and of all the riders it could be in the saddle at the time, it was the greatest. That's the game.
Now think of the rowers, of whom a medal splurge has been expected. It could still happen, but two of the crews who were anticipated to, at the least, make their finals and challenge for the podium - the double sculling combinations of Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane, and Robbie Manson and Chris Harris - are gone.
No excuses, after all Mahe Drysdale, Emma Twigg, the lightweight men's four and of course Eric Murray and Hamish Bond had no alarms today. Business as usual. Finals and semifinals beckon.
Rare indeed is the occasion when a Dick Tonks-coached crew falls so early in a major regatta, as did former world champions Stevenson and Macfarlane.
Out of 11 crews in Rio, there have now been eliminated. The odds are still good that New Zealand will bag a bumper crop of medals on the Rodrigo de Freitas course.
The men's Black Sticks stand on the precipice, after conceding the winner to lower-ranked Spain - 11th compared to New Zealand's eighth - in the last 30 seconds. That means they've lost two of their first three games and drawn one.
Wins over lowly Brazil and the tough Belgians are musts if the Black Sticks are to avoid the heartache of an early exit from the Games.
New Zealand's swimmers have had a 'mare so far in the pool. Only backstroker Corey Main has made it as far as a semifinal. Three more missed out today. No real surprises there, but add it into the mix of the day.
Some brighter news. Sam Meech had a fifth placing and a sixth in the Laser to nudge up to third overall.