CheshireTom

Aye. It took our 1992 Olympians 3 years to finish!

Then there's also the 15 year-old bird from Plymouth.

There again, maybe not. Not quite. I'll give you a 5.8 for artistic performance, but only 4.1 for technical merit.

Not trying to undermine the achievements of the folk who have competed, but the number of aquatics events is a bit of a joke. Imagine if athletics had the 100m run, 100m hop, 100m backwards and 100m sideways - and repeat for 200m, 400m etc etc. Chuck in the synchronised shit and we could have synchronised long jump, synchronised javelin etc. As an aside, what do folk think of all those "dodgy" records set by the Joyner clan et al in 1985-1996? Should they be scrubbed from the record books, or what? Oh, and well done to Ms Ennis et al. IIRC, Denise Lewis didn't win the BBC Sports Personality thing in 2000 after winning the Gold medal (not to mention no Dame Denise either). Will the same fate befall Jennifer? Will Mo double up in the 5k?

There's not much about the events that I haven't liked but whoever had the idea to employ moronic DJ's to supplement world class athletics' events needs shooting. It might work between sets at the beach volleball etc, but as a distraction when athletes are actually competing is a disgrace. I'm sure when Mo Farrah is running his 10k m tonight, he doesn't need the assistance of Bowie, Morrisey or some techno crap to help him along. The accompanying twaddle and music to last night's women's 10k was an absolute disgrace and an insult to the world class athletes who were competing. Rant over. Back to the sport. Quick one for the Yanks ... Is there any reason why Michael Johnson is part of the BBC's commentary team rather than a US network? It's not just the Olympics, he's been a regular for years and years and is very good in his role.

Well, Paradorn married Miss Universe! If he was a moto-sai taxi driver sat outside BigC, I doubt whether he would have got a sniff.

I think that would be the sensible option - retire with her reputation intact. As an aside, Frankel went 12/12 in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood - probably two more races for him before he starts earning the real money at stud.

I was sorry to see the 17 year-old Thai World Junior Champion, Intanon Ratchanok, go out in the badminton to the Chinese No 1. That said, her official profile should make you smile ... only a Thai could come up with it.

A couple of possibilities in the shooting tomorrow - we're pretty good at the synchronised shotgun and individual drive-past.

I worked on the Asian Games in Qatar in 2006 and for various reasons I became friendly with the anti-doping people ... they seemed to be mainly from Australia and New Zealand (maybe that was a throwback to the Sidney Olympic and Melbourne Commonwealth Games). They used to explain the science of it all to me, but it was a constant game of catch-up for them - it could take forever just to get a test or testing procedure approved. We had a test athletics event before the actual Games where Gatlin broke the world record but the medics just shrugged. A couple of weeks later it was revealed he had already tested positive. I'm sure I read recently that he'd just run a new personal best - not bad for a man over 30. That said, it would be unfair to just highlight Gatlin - IMHO, it's a disgrace that Chambers and Millar are part of the GB team. Back to the sport - Wiggins, Froome et al are on the go soon ... You'll enjoy (if that's the right word) this vid .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIR3d2wVgtQ

I think it's a bit easy to get carried away ... Lot's of press reports have picked up on the 16 year-old Chinese girl who has big hands and feet that apparently assist her in water sports. I recall a 14 year old who had been identified at the age of 8 as having similar attributes being sent to Beijing to compete in aquatic events by Team GB - nobody kicked up a fuss then. As it is, UK Sport have put together a well established talent identification programme, right down to hormonal markers and saliva screening. Imagine being rejected as a six year-old for no other reason than your spit ain't up to scratch - it's frightening! Sports science has developed hugely in the last 10 years or so, it would be naive to think that the Chinese haven't got their finger on the pulse, so to speak. It's a huge subject, probably worthy of its own thread ... personally I reckon that if Chinese swimmers have a dodgy history, where does that leave Jamaican sprinters? I was reading earlier today about gene doping ... scary stuff! As an aside ... this had me in stitches ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Hw5dWgfOM

Thu is a Public Holiday (Asalha Puja Day). Fri isn't a Public holiday but it is a Buddhist Religous Day (Wan Khao Phansa - the beginning of the Rains Retreat). Alcohol sales are prohibited on both days except in hotels that own/operate their own bars/restaurants.

Congrats to Thailand on their first medal - Pimsiri Sirikaew in the weightlifting. A dainty little spinner from Khon Kaen I'm led to believe. Dr. Mick will be over the moon ... Err ...

I caught it too. The Japanese girl was funny as fuck! I'd love to know what it was that they were shouting before they got down for the lift.

Unfortunately they got stuffed in the Olympic qualifying the previous month. That said, their game against China was great - probably the best of the whole tournament. If you were around in 1996, you might remember the televised national volleyball championships and the team from Lampang ... great stuff! press cc (the caption button) for English subtitles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHFKX05nhP4

I've got to say that Brit sports fans have a certain je ne sais quoi that the French just don't understand.

Great stuff!

Oops! Really bad news for the French Cycling Team .... Olympic Cycling - French Team Quarters Raided By Karolos Grohmann and Paul Casciato LONDON, July 29 | Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:52am BST (Reuters) - Olympic organisers scrambled on Sunday to quell a growing scandal over reported illegal substances being found in the French Cycling Team's training accommodation in the Olympic Athletes' Village. The Metropolitan Police have raided their accommodation and found 3 substances which have apparently been banned in France since the 1950's. The soap, deodorant and toothpaste have all been taken away for further examination. The Brits going for Gold in the Synchronised Sarcasm!

Good to see Cavendish moaning because the Aussie's didn't help him to win. How daft is that? "It seems like most teams are happy not to win as long as we don't win," Cavendish said. “It's the story of our lives in cycling. It shows what a strong nation we are. We've got to take the positives from that and take it as a compliment." "No-one wants to help us. The Australians sit there. They always just ride negatively - they're happy to see us lose. It's bitterly disappointing. There's 70 guys in our group at the finish, I don't understand why there's (only) three guys riding. It doesn't make sense.” The Telegraph also observed ... "Cavendish was hugely disappointed and blamed the rest of a group of around 70 riders for failing to help chase down Viokourov, a controversial winner after he served a two-year ban following a failed drugs test." Surely he can't be any more controversial than GB's own David Millar?

I think you're confused ... but an easy mistake to make. NOT Danny Boyle ....

Still trying to decipher exactly what some of the ceremony referred to. I presume the birds on bikes bit was reference to the "They shall mount up with wings as eagles" as spoken by Ian Charleson (Eric Liddell) in Chariots of Fire (at 1'30" in the youtube clip). But why were they playing U2 when the Thai team was entering the stadium? What was that all about? [media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlRfyjPWAMc[/media]

Their 777ER product is one of the few offerings where economy class is bearable. For me, they are currently offering 1,440 SGD from Singapore to Manchester return - that's a comparatively decent 36k Baht in real money.

They can't afford to lose the landing slot(s) at LHR and it's a case of use them, or loose them.

Sam, I've never been to Poj Spa Karn, but this is an excellent site to bookmark for BKK dining and/or drinking options that you would otherwise never hear about.

Whereas the economy class 3-3-3 is a real sardine job ...