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.

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.