T'Olympics.

What better time for me to write a little something about the Olympic Games in Beijing? (well, before they began would have been good I suppose but...) I am talking of course about the successful weekend for "Team GB" as the press insist on calling our team of athletes. 8 Golds in two days is good going by anyones standards, even more so when you consider that prior to the Games our hopes were been talked down. So, congratulations Team GB, even if yours truly is slightly dubious about the merits of some of the sports we won gold in...

....I'm sorry but i can't help it. It is Monday evening and I have just watched the highlights of the weekend, rowing, cycling and sailing dominated proceedings, seemingly for a Brit to win a medal it helps to be sitting down. In my understanding the Olympics were conceived to test the relative merits of men and women, to find out who was the fastest on their feet, who had the endurance to compete over long distance, and who was the strongest person in the world....at no point did the Ancient Greeks want to find out who was the best BMX rider, or Baseball team, or Trampoliner! Essentially the original events revolved around track and field events, with a bit of wrestling and boxing thrown in for good measure - the Olympic motto is : Citius Altius Fortius, or faster, higher, stronger to you and me. Nowadays it seems that anything can get a time slot in the Games, and in my opinion that cheapens the Games, and also the individual sports and their respective international tournaments. Take Football for example, World Cup every four years, European Championships, African Nations Cup, Confederation Cup, Copa America......all opportunities for countries to test themselves on the world stage. So why bother having football in the Olympics? The same goes for practically all team sports, the Olympics are a test for individuals, not teams.

I know it sounds like I am not entering into the spirit of things much here, but come on, we won a medal in Kayaking the other day!

Another thing that comes to mind with the Olympics is the issue of drugs and doping. Testing is on the increase and there is mounting pressure from within the sports for drugs cheats to be named and shamed, but unfortunately, like the Tour de France, many athletes competing in Beijing will have taken drugs and win medals – whether we catch them remains to be seen. One medallist has already been caught, the guy who took silver in the pistol shooting apparently. Two things spring to mind, 1) what the hell was he taking to help him fire a gun?! 2) why the hell is pistol shooting in the Olympics?!

On a more positive note the Americans are having a decidedly average Olympics, at least according to the rest of the world. The Medal table, which is the accepted measure of success, lists China in first place, the USA in second and Team GB in third. Countries are listed according to the number of Gold medals they have won, this has been the system used for decades……..yet for reasons best known to the American TV network NBC, they have proclaimed their own team the current leader based on total medals won, not just Gold. It remains to be seen if by the same token they will count a 4x100m victory as 1 medal, or 4! To be fair though, the Jamaicans will win that anyway if Usain Bolt manages to actually sprint the full distance for once, rather than cruising the last 30m!


Right, enough for now!