I Should Be Studying But ...

... I am watching television.  Having seen the men building the stand for the celebrations for the Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes, I was considering going up to town to see it, but common sense dictated that although the atmosphere would be fantastic, I would be warmer and more comfortable watching it on television at home. So that is what I am doing.

The reception that they are receiving along the route is fantastic, and with the first of the floats just arriving in Trafalgar Square the cheers of the crowd are growing louder.  And as the last float is travelling the route many of those in the streets are following them towards Trafalgar Square.

It is heartwarming to see the crowds have not forgotten the exploits of the summer.  And what is more important is that Olympic and Paralympic athletes are celebrating together.  If the teams can achieve so much when they have travelled half way round the world to compete, let us hope that they can achieve even more when the Games are on home turf in 2012.

Well done boys and girls, we are all so proud of you. 

Goodbye Beijing, Roll On London 2012

The last gold medal has been awarded after 16 days of competition and the Closing Ceremony is now taking place. For Team GB this has been a spectacular games for they have won more medals than anyone expected, and have finished fourth on the medal table. Shortly the Olympic flag will be passed to Boris Johnson and will reside in London for the next four years.

Now we have to wonder what sort of games we are going to see in London 2012. Personally, I would like to see something along the lines of the Commonwealth Games, known by all who partake as the Friendly Games, for the nations taking part have a common bond. Lavish and spectacular as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies have been in Beijing, I would like to see something a little simpler and that places more emphasis on the athletes who are taking part. I don't care if our sporting facilities don't look as spectacular as those in Beijing, as long as they are fit for purpose and ready in time. I don't want them to cost more than any others in the past, and we already know that they won't, because we cannot afford it and what we really need is infrastructure that can be realistically used in the future.

For me, however, the most important thing is that tickets for all the events are realistically priced so that ordinary members of the public in this country can afford to attend the greatest sporting event to take place here during their lifetime, if they so desire. And if tickets are realistically priced, then there need be no empty seats as there have been at numerous events and venues in Beijing.

And when the Closing Ceremony of the London Games takes place, I hope that everyone can say that we knew how to put on a good Olympics.

In The Middle Of The Night

It's a ridiculous time to be writing a post for my blog, but I'm having one of those bad nights. I managed to get to sleep relatively easily, but then woke up a couple of hours later and I can't get back to sleep again.

I watched the Men's Olympic Marathon, which was run in horrendously hot conditions, and which was run at a ridiculously fast pace for the first half of the race. Some runners had to drop out, and comments were made by Steve Cram and Brendan Foster about some of the runners becoming so dehydrated that they were no longer sweating in what was becoming an increasingly hot day.

I don't think that there will be the same problems at London 2012. It is exceedingly unlikely that the temperatures will rise to the level that they have been in Beijing over the last couple of weeks, not do I think it likely, even allowing for the terrible summer that we have had this year, that any rain that there is will be quite so torrential as that which has been seen on a couple occasions in Beijing. The sailors can be pretty sure that a lack of wind is unlikely to cause races to be cancelled; in fact the reverse is more likely, races being cancelled because of too much wind.

The British climate may not be the best in the world, but it is ours, and if we didn't have it what would we all talk about? It is probably the best climate that there is for the majority of sports; not too hot, not too cool, not too wet, and not too dry. Let's hope that everything, including the weather, comes together nicely and allows Britain to put on an Olympics of which we can be proud, and that the participants will talk about for years to come.

What A Shambles!

It was like sports day at the local primary school. All that the runners had to do was a quarter of a lap each, and pass a baton between runners as they did it. But it proved far too difficult for an incredible number of countries.

What am I talking about? The Men's and Women's 4x100m relays, of course. Today was semifinals day, and some teams that should have been contesting medals in the finals will not be there due to gross incompetence.

In the Men's races a total of four teams from the two races dropped the baton, including the US team, and two teams were disqualified for passing the baton out of the box. Unfortunately one of these teams was the GB team who were the defending Olympic champions. Truth to tell they had no chance of repeating that feat if the Jamaicans manage to pass the baton safely in the final, but it would have been nice to be there to try for a silver or bronze medal.

The Women's semifinals weren't quite so bad. Two teams dropped the baton, France and Trinidad and Tobago. Three teams were disqualified, and one of those was again the team from the US. Can you believe it? No US teams in the 4x100m finals. But one has to say that Jamaica have to be favourites for the Women's gold medal and again if they manage to pass the baton safely in the final, the gold will be theirs. The one ray of sunshine for Team GB is that our Women's team qualified easily, and could well be there in the hunt for silver and bronze come the final.

If someone told you what had happened, and there was no video footage to prove it, you wouldn't believe it possible. But there is, so you can see it for yourselves. It was a real shambles!

Feeling ......... ?

I'm having a bit of a weird day today. I'm not feeling brilliant, but I can't really put my finger on what is wrong with me. I'm having one of those periods where my body is telling me that I need to get some sleep (that's mainly as a result of me watching the Olympics at ridiculous hours of the night) so last night I had an early night. I went to sleep fairly quickly, and I've spent a lot of time since then sleeping, which probably means that I won't sleep tonight.

But I also keep coming over dizzy, even when I am sitting down, so that is why I say I am feeling strange. It's not like how I feel when I have labyrinthitis, so I am pretty sure it's not that, but trying to actually describe how I am feeling is rather difficult.

Never mind, I am sure that I will have days when I feel a lot worse, and at least I have caught up on some of my missed sleep. Watching the Olympics and seeing how well our boys and girls are doing has been excellent therapy for a depressive armchair athlete (actually I do exercise, but my days of doing really energetic things are long passed).

They say that exercise is good for helping to lift you out of depression; when someone else is doing the exercise and it is still having a beneficial effect on how you feel, so much the better.

The Olympics Will Be The Death Of Me

I've said before that I love the Olympics, but this year I seem to be watching more sports than I ever have before. It is, in part, because Team GB are doing so well having already won one gold medal this morning at the sailing, and they are assured at least one gold and two silver, although it could be two golds, and one silver, in the velodrome. I got addicted to cycling when the British team dominated at the World Championships in Manchester earlier this year, and it seems that a number of British VIPs have also arrived in the velodrome to see how the team are doing and to cheer them on. It is hardly surprising that HRH the Princess Royal is there because she is a member of the IOC and is a keen supporter of British sport, but I have also seen Tony Blair, and David Hemery, our 400m hurdles gold medallist from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

As I write this post, the Men's Madison, the most incomprehensible of all the cycling events for outsiders, is taking place. The race is very long, and involves two team members from each of the participating countries racing a sort of relay race, while also racing sprints after a set number of laps, and at the same time trying to make up laps on the other competitors. I told you it was complicated, and for me it is impossible to follow.

So why is the Olympics going to be the death of me? Well I seem to find myself being constantly drawn to the television to see how we are doing, and I really am supposed to be completing my OU assignment. But there are only a few more days of competition, and then things will return to normal and I can get things done in a more timely manner. It's just as well the Olympics are once every four years!

Have You Noticed......

.......how all the television cameramen at the Olympics are called Bob?

Sunday at the Olympics

We still have many hours of competition left today, but Team GB have already won three gold medals, two for sailing, and one for rowing, and there are going to be more to follow. There could be more medals at the rowing, we are guaranteed at least two medals in the cycling, one gold and one silver, and our cyclists are performing as well as they did in Manchester earlier in the year, so there is a likelihood of more medals to come.

The medals won so far have moved GB to third in the medal table, and though it is not likely that they will be there at the end of the Olympics, it is obvious that our athletes are trying to do the best that they possibly can.

It is unfortunate that Paula Radcliffe had such a terrible time before the Olympics, and some may question her decision to run at all if they were watching her in the early hours of this morning. Paula may not have won a medal, she may have finished in 23rd position and you may not consider that to be very good, but Paula was on crutches a matter of weeks ago, and the reason she decided that she had to run was to lay the ghost of Athens. This time Paula finished the race, bitterly disappointed with her performance, but she has told us that she plans to be there for London 2012. One thing that she knows already is that she will be supported every step of the way on the streets of London, and if our cheers could do the running for her, she would be guaranteed that Olympic medal that she so dearly craves.

Team GB Go From Strength to Strength

It is not going to be quite such a Super Saturday as was predicted because as has happened so often at this games, the wind has failed again at the Olympic Sailing and Ben Ainslie and the three Blondes in a Boat will have to wait for tomorrow to find out what colour their medals are going to be.

Our medal haul from the rowing today was one gold medal and two bronze, and hearty congratulations should go to all our medal winners, but also to our other finalists who were not lucky enough to get a medal. To qualify for an Olympic final is a magnificent feat in its own right.

We are already assured another gold medal in the cycling, and at least two silver medals (although one of these may be gold), so our track cyclists are performing well and reproducing the form that they showed at the World Championships in Manchester earlier this year.

At some Olympic Games we wonder whether we will win any medals; in fact we wonder whether we will get anyone into a final. Beijing is proving to be a successful games for Team GB; we are eighth in the medal table as I write this post, and we are likely to climb higher over the next few days.

Team GB are doing this country proud. They should get a hero's welcome when they come home, and we should remember that so many of them have gone to Beijing to get experience of what it is like to compete at a major games, and successes achieved can help to provide a strong core to build on for London 2012.

Was It Worth It?

My answer to this question has to be a resounding yes.

The action alternated between the Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. I watched history being made by Michael Phelps, when he won his seventh gold medal of these games, equalling the seven golds at one games by Mark Spitz, and the joy of it is, I am old enough to have watched Spitz create the record that we thought would never be matched. The race was so close that it was literally won by Phelps continuing to race until he touched the wall. A race that he came so close to losing, but because he followed the instruction that all competitive swimmers are taught from the start of their training, allowed him to beat the Serbian swimmer who was leading but who chose to coast to the wall rather than swim an extra stroke.

Shortly afterwards, Becky Adlington swam in the Women's 800m freestyle and showed the rest of the competitors what a truly superb competitor that she is. She took the lead shortly after the first turn, and gradually pulled away from the rest of the field. Swimming at her own pace she continued to churn through the water, and it was not long before it was obvious that the oldest Women's Swimming World Record was going to be beaten. The record was set when Becky was six months old, and the 19-year old beat it by more than two seconds, and it is obvious that she could have swum faster if she had been pushed. Becky went to these games for experience, she was not expected to win medals this time, that would come in London. Instead she became the first British swimmer to win two gold medals at one Olympic Games since the London Games of 1908.

I watched a little bit of the action from the Bird's Nest Stadium, but then I dozed off, and have just woken up, ready for the action that is to come. The medal race for the Finn Class has been delayed because the wind is insufficient again, so Ben Ainslie has to wait a little longer to see whether he is going to win a gold or a silver medal. But the rowing will be starting soon, and that does not rely on wind-power; it is the oarsmen and women who will provide the power necessary.

Could this truly be Team GB's Golden Saturday? I really hope so.

I'm Getting Excited

I'm supposed to be asleep in preparation for my alarm going off at the ridiculous hour of 1.45am. Why am I intending to be awake at this time? Well, I need to get myself awake to switch the television on to watch what promises to be a very exciting day at the Olympics. We are guaranteed at least two silver medals in the sailing, we have a very good chance of a gold medal in the swimming at the Water Cube, our cyclists look likely to to add to the gold medal that they won in the velodrome yesterday, and we have crews in five of the finals at the rowing regatta. All of this and I haven't even mentioned what is happening in the Bird's Nest Stadium.

With luck it will be a very good day for all our athletes at the Olympics tomorrow, no matter what their sport, and the battle for medals looks set to continue on Sunday, with more chances in the cycling, and five more crews in the finals of the rowing. But our biggest wish for success should go to Paula Radcliffe as she takes on the Marathon and races for that elusive Olympic Medal. Paula has been a magnificent representative for this country for many years, but she always seemed to be the bridesmaid, never the bride. She ran her heart out at all manner of competitions and major games, but never had the speed to allow her to win a medal.

This all changed for Paula at the Manchester Commonwealth Games; at long last she managed to win a major title, and she won it in style. Suddenly she had found that extra bit of determination, and an unbelievable ability to set a punishing speed that others could not follow. She became a World Champion. She ran a marathon and set the fastest time ever run by a woman, and then she repeated it at more major city marathons. Everything was set fair for the Athens Olympics, but it was not to be. Paula was fit, but feeling unwell, and she had to retire from the race, heartbroken. After the disappointment in Athens she then went on to break her own fastest time for a marathon; she was determined to keep going and to try to be fit and ready for Beijing. She did take a little bit of time away from the running though; time enough to have a daughter, and yes she got back to work with the training in order to prepare herself for the Olympics.

But fate was ready to deal Paula another cruel blow. When she should have been working to get herself in perfect condition for the race that could give her the thing that she wanted m ost, an Olympic medal, and preferably a gold one, she was found to have a stress fracture of the femurd. We have probably never had an athlete who has represented our counhtry for so long at the highest level, who has things happen to her that were beyond her control, at the times when she was most likely to achieve her dreams. Paula didn't give up; she has prepared herself as best she could, the fracture has healed, she seems to be fit and is going to run on Sunday in the Olympic Marathon. If they were to give Olympic gold medals for sheer determination, Paula would surely be worthy of one, but I am quite sure that she would rather win won for herself by running the race and showing the world what a truly great athlete she is.

So let Sunday be Paula's day, let us all cross our fingers, and even though the race is due to start in the early hours of Sunday morning, we should be there willing her on so that she can win the gold medal she so richly deserves.

That is why I am getting excited. I know that I need some sleep, but that can wait; I know that I could watch the repeats of the events at some later hour, but that would not be as exciting. I suffer from depression, but the Olympics give me a thrill, and to see the events as they happen, be they good or bad, will give me more enjoyment than getting a few hours sleep. After all, there are only 11 more days of the Olympics, then I will have to wait for another four years to get this excited again, and four years is plenty of time to catch up on my missed sleep.

A Ridiculous Time to be Blogging

This is a ridiculous time in the morning to be writing something on my blog, but after a long nap yesterday afternoon, and an early night (very early really) where I fell asleep almost immediately, I have woken up just in time for the start of today's Olympics on the television. This is the time when the Olympics programme starts to get really busy because not only do we still have a few more days of exciting swimming to watch, but the athletics is about to begin. One of our real medal hopes, Kelly Sotherton is shortly to start her bid for gold in the Heptathlon; she is due to start her bid in Heat 5 of the Hurdles. Depending on how long this post is, she may actually have begun before I can publish it.

The programme started by showing the inside of the Bird's Nest Stadium, and like so many other occasions during these games there were many empty seats. We then went to the studio that the BBC are using for linking the whole of their coverage of the games, which has a wonderful view of the stadium as a backdrop, and it was possible to see why there were so many empty seats. There were literally hundreds of people making their way across the somewhat strangely named Olympic Green, towards the stadium entrances. It seems that before long the 91,000-seater stadium will indeed be full.

Filling stadia should really not be a problem for the Chinese for they are, after all, the most populous nation on Earth, but it has been remarked at how often there have been empty seats at these games, and this is something that the organisers of London 2012 must ensure does not happen. There is a very fine balancing act to be managed; prices should be high enough to ensure recouping at least a major proportion of the costs of running the games, while at the same time ensuring that the cost of seats at the various sporting venues does not mean that they are priced beyond the reach of the interested population in Britain.

Since the start of the programme, a little over half an hour ago, the number of empty seats has reduced. There are now significantly fewer patches of empty red seats and more spectators can be seen finding their way through the stadium. And as the heats of the Heptathlon hurdles progress, Kelly Sotherton has just run a life-time best for the hurdles and is lying in fourth place after the first event. Producing your best time ever shows that you are committed to performing well, and Kelly is obviously keen to improve on the bronze medal she won at the Athens Olympics and has shown this from the start. We now have to hope that she continues in this vein and produces a performance of which she can be truly proud and without the heartbreak that getting an injury would bring. After all, if Kelly is in with a chance when the 800m, the last event, is run tomorrow, there can be no doubt that she will do all she can to ensure that a medal, hopefully the gold, is her reward.

Back to the Days of Agincourt and Crecy

Yes, I have been watching the Olympics again; this morning it was one of the British women archers against a competitor from Japan. Unfortunately, our archer had trouble finding the gold area of the target with her early arrows, so even though she managed better with her final six arrows, the archer from Japan built up an early lead that was to prove unassailable.

In the middle ages, the longbow was the weapon of choice for foot soldiers serving in battles fought by English and Scottish kings. In those days there was no standing army, so many British monarchs from that time made archery practice compulsory for all males between the ages of 16 and 60 after church on Sundays. These men were all expected to have their own longbow equivalent in length to their height. The bows were made of yew, elm or ash, and the British archers were an extremely dangerous force to encounter.

At that time, the ranges, known as butts, were generally 200 yards in length and there would be a level area set aside for the purpose in every settlement of any size. The butts for modern archery competitions are 80 yards in length. The power of the longbow was such that the arrows could regularly travel 400 yards, a distance far greater than that possible with the crossbows that were generally used by the archers of Europe. The rate of fire from a longbow was also significantly greater than that possible with the crossbow because of the manner of priming the weapon to fire the arrow.

During the reign of Henry VIII, the use of the longbow for war was replaced by the introduction of the musket. However, the longbow did not disappear completely, for even at this time archery clubs, where archery was a sport, were being formed in England. Many of the rich enjoyed pursuing archery for sporting purposes, and Henry even passed a law that ensured that if someone was accidentally killed by an arrow during these sporting affairs, the perpetrator would not be accused of murder.

Maybe we could win some medals for archery in the Olympics if we were to reintroduce the compulsory Sunday archery training that took place in this country in medieval times.

Lack Of Sleep And The Olympics

I haven't slept very well for the last couple of nights, and I'm not quite sure whether it was knowing that the Olympics were on television which kept me awake, or getting hooked on watching the Olympics.

I really did mean to lie down and go to sleep last night, but unfortunately I had dozed off for a couple of hours in the early evening while I was lying on the settee reading a book. It's my own fault, I know, but sleep is one of those things that I take whenever I can get it because I know that my sleep pattern can be very erratic.

Several times I switched the box off got myself into a comfortable position in bed, only to start fidgeting and tossing and turning, so that I was wide awake again. In the end, I just gave up all attempts at sleep and lay in bed watching the fare from Beijing. First of all it was the cross country phase of the three-day eventing, which somewhat perversely was taking place over four days, that held my attention, but after a while it can get a bit boring watching various horses and their riders going round what was obviously a golf course given a face-lift for the occasion. Just as this was starting to pall, the BBC moved to the Water Cube for the swimming. This was a bit more exciting.

There were various semi-finals and a number of finals to watch and it's always more interesting when you know that medals are going to be won. British swimmers had done quite well getting into a number of the finals, and two events stand out as being exceptional examples of what the Olympics are all about. The first was the Men's 4x100m Freestyle relay which was a race and a half. Not only did the winning US team knock a huge margin off the world record, but every team in the final set a national record with their swim. It must be a very rare occasion indeed, that such a race will take place. The second event was the Women's 400m Freestyle, where the commentators all agreed that Britain had a real chance of a medal. Becky Adlington swam a perfect race to win the gold medal, the first by a British lady swimmer for 48 years, and Jo Jackson won the bronze. And what was Becky's reaction to the win? "I didn't swim as fast as I should have."

I have to admit that I was silently "screaming" as the race entered its final stages. I always feel as if I am there when our sportsmen and women are in the fray, so even though I was tired I was glad that I had seen this incredible race live.

After that, I seemed to relax in a way that had not been possible before, and I fell asleep for a couple of hours without any trouble at all. Things will be so much easier when the Olympics are in London and events occur at normal hours for me.

Well Done Nicole

A short while ago Nicole Cooke won Britain's first medal of the Beijing Olympics, and to ensure she did it in style, she won gold. Having watched some of the race on BBC television earlier this morning, I can tell you that you would never get me riding up those hills, but what was more interesting was the weather. After fears about the heat and the humidity in Beijing, today was very definitely a wet day, but because of torrential rain rather than humidity. It is possible that British weather being what it is, was the perfect preparation for today's conditions, and was instrumental in helping Nicole to win.

On the other hand, it may have been skill, determination, hard work, perfect positioning as the race neared its end, and her well-known blistering sprint finish that did it. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Nicole has achieved her dream of Olympic Gold, and has undoubtedly forgotten the heartaches caused by injury in the past.

Well done, Nicole.

It's The Olympics. Hooray.

I see that The Junior Doctor is a fan of the Olympics. So am I. I have to be honest and say that I do not watch very much sport on television, but if there is a major games on I start to get glued to the box.

The last Olympics were not too much of a problem because Greece is only a couple of hours ahead of us, so I could rearrange my working hours a little if there was something that I particularly wanted to watch, although most of the best stuff was during the hours that I was at home anyway (or at the weekends). But with the time difference between here and Beijing being much greater it means that things are happening when I should be asleep, or when I should be getting up and doing whatever it is that I need to do during the day. It looks as though my sleeping pattern may be seriously disturbed for the next couple of weeks.

Cycling has never been a sport which attracted me in any way, after all a bicycle is just an object that gets you from Point A to Point B quicker than if you had to walk. However, when the Cycling World Championships were held in Manchester earlier this year, I was going through a bad period for sleep and consequently I became hooked on the late night programmes covering the event. As it happened, Team GB were absolute stars and wiped the floor with the other nations, winning almost every gold medal that they could. This meant that the cyclists from Great Britain were going to be a force to be reckoned with when it became time for the Olympics. Although some of the events in which we won medals in Manchester are not going to be be included in Beijing, our boys and girls are still favourites for most events. So I would like to wish then good luck and tell them that I will be shouting for them. Only please don't always leave it to the last possible second to take the lead because my poor old nerves can't stand it.

I have only once tried my hand at sailing, I was about 16 at the time, and I found it a very confusing thing to do. I think that this was partly due to the fact that I have enough problems being able to work out my right from my left, so when things suddenly became port and starboard, it was too much for me to cope with. I'm not counting my day spent cruising around Corfu in a yacht as part of my sailing adventures; I was very much a passenger on that occasion and spent much of my time indulging in beverages from the large supply in the cool boxes on board. Sailing must be difficult when it is very windy, but the almost calm conditions that faced our sailors this morning must make sailing almost impossible. How on earth do you get a boat to move when there doesn't even seem to be enough wind to mess up your hair?

Our rowers have also started their battle to win as many medals as possible. Team GB has had a good record in the rowing for a number of years and it seems that this year we may even have a stronger team than ever before. I expect that many of us rowing as a somewhat elitist sport, although it gained more support and probably more fans as a result of the exploits of Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent. They have nine Olympic gold medals between them and that is more than we sometimes manage to get in a particular games. Food for thought, indeed.

Gymnastics and Judo have also started, although our fortunes have been somewhat mixed so far. But for me the games will be really underway, when first the swimming, and then the athletics, begin. But, one thing that has saddened me a little is that a nation, other than the host, can dictate when events will be held. I am sure that the television rights for the USA will bring in a great deal of money, but is it right that the way in which the swimming events have been timetabled should rely on when it is convenient for the Americans to watch. Instead of having the heats in the morning and finals in the evening (Beijing time) as would be the norm at major swimming events around the world, in order to fit in with American TV schedules the heats will be held in the evening and the finals in the morning Beijing time.

I sincerely hope that when the Olympic Games are held in London in four years time, which I hope I am able to enjoy, that we don't change the timings of things to suit another nation other than ourselves. Many of the sports that form part of the Olympic Games will not be shown in the US, they are really only interested in a few, so it is wrong that they should be able to affect the way in which things are timetabled, just because they are a large, rich nation. Why can't they get up in the early hours, or have a very late night, like the rest of us mortals? Just because they are the USA, and will probably win more medals than any other country (although China will be making a determined effort to see that this doesn't happen) doesn't mean that they have the right to dictate how things are run.

Ranting over; it's time to get a nap so that I can be fresh for when things get going again in the early hours of the morning! Oh, and lots of luck and best wishes to all our athletes, whatever their sport. If you just do your best, we will be proud of you all.