Olympic Thoughts and Awards

Now it's all over, I have some thoughts on the Olympics...

• I’d forgotten how much I enjoy watching athletics.

• The medal table should be done on points, with Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Bronze = 3. We still come 4th.

• I don’t care what anyone says, the athletics are the core of the Olympics – sport at its purest. The athletics matter more than any of the other sports.

• The only sports that should be in the Olympics are those where the Olympic Gold is the biggest thing you can win. Therefore football, for example, should be removed, because the world cup is bigger.

• Rebecca Adlington was brilliant. But she does not deserve to become a Dame.

• What was with the weird pig and monkey on the TV intro?

• The GB performance was very good. However, all we did was fulfil potential. Unexpectedly good performances came in gymnastics, womens 400 hurdles, mens high jump, boxing, sailing, swimming and taekwondo – about 8 medals. Disappointments were: heptathlon, 4 track relays, BMX, mens 800, womens 1500, sailing, mixed doubles badminton, gymnastics, womens javelin, womens marathon – that’s 13 just off the top of my head. We could have done so much better. Which shows the potential is there, it’s just about producing the goods on the day.

• Having said that, we still underperformed in the athletics. Danvers, Mason and Ohurogou were great, but Sotherton, Idowu, Radcliffe, Farah, Rimmer, Sayers, Tomlinson, Pickering, Baddeley, and all 4 relays were below par. This saddens me immensely.

• Horses failed drugs tests – that just makes me laugh.

• The opening ceremony was great, but no-one will EVER beat lighting the torch with a flaming arrow. Ever.

• When were flags invented?

• Volleyball is very cool; I would like to play it sometime.

• Diving commentator Leon Taylor is incredibly annoying.

• Why are records broken much more in swimming than anything else?

• Usain Bolt is a really nice guy.

• Kelly Sotherton made me cry.

• The judging in the boxing, diving and taekwondo was a joke, and clearly biased towards the host nation. Something must be done, though I have no idea what.

• The Jamaican Olympic team was 51-strong. 39 were sprinters. Wow.

• Beth Tweddle was robbed in the high bars. She did four moves which were harder than anything anyone else did, including an original move, and only made one mistake (a step on the landing). She came 4th. Robbed.

• Jake Humphrey is an excellent presenter

• Gabby Logan is a lot better on the BBC than ITV

• Adrian Childs has annoyed me for a long time, but he’s actually quite good as a vice-presenter. But he cannot anchor.

• Hazel Irvine is the greatest – she presented over 100 hours of live action from Beijing.

• Sue Barker is past it. She says ‘er’ too much.

• Lisa Dobriskey should win a gold medal just for being the sweetest person on the planet. However, what an error – she should have won, but got boxed in, twice, and then tried to overtake on the inside. Error.

• We could have got 4 medals in the track relays. We got none. That is not good enough.

• Do not select a heptathlete and an 800m runner in the 4x4 relay. You idiot.

• Michael Johnson is the greatest pundit, in any sport, ever. Fact.

• Sarah Stevenson’s story was crazy, but not the craziest. She was denied 3 points (one head shot and one body shot). But 17-year-old Aaron Cook was denied about 8 in his Bronze playoff. Bit of a sham.

• We compete as Great Britain, but have Northern Irish athletes in our team. Therefore we should really be competing as the UK, which includes GB (England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland. This angers me.

• The British national anthem at the closing ceremony had harmonies, and the second verse! And it sounded like a Christmas carol.

• Why Leona Lewis?! Get someone with a bit of pedigree.

• I think Beckham’s a great guy, but getting him in just to kick a ball is lame. Talk about milking it.

• The symbol of the London 2012 Olympics thus far is an umbrella. Great.

• The anthem should be changed for 2012, to Land of Hope and Glory.


And my Olympic awards...

Best British moment – Rebecca Adlington in the 400m freestyle

Best British overall performance – Chris Hoy. Three Golds, ‘nuff said.

Biggest British disappointment – Kelly Sotherton came 4th. I think this was her big
chance to win

Best British newcomer – Rebecca Adlington

Best international performances – Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, obviously

Biggest farce – Sarah Stevenson and Aaron Cook, and the taekwondo saga

Best commentary – The athletics team. Always.

Worst commentary – Leon Taylor in the diving

Biggest hopes for 2012 – Martyn Rooney, Jason Kenny, Rebecca Adlington, Lisa Dobriskey and Tom Daley

Unluckiest moment – Shanaze Read – crashing in the heats, semis and final

Most jaw-dropping moment – when Sarah Stevenson was originally not given the quarter-final win

Funniest commentary – “Oh, what a dismount! That man deserves a biscuit!”