The Olympics

I thought that the Points race in cycling made no sense, but that was until I saw the Madison.

I'm guessing that whoever invented this sport was very, very stoned at the time...

I know! I just don't understand either of those at all. I tried to follow the explanation, but it didn't sink in, so I decided to watch gymnastics instead. Who won the Madison?

Gold medal for the Laser! Apparently, it's some kind of sailing race. I kind of love the way we're getting golds in such random, random sports.

Argentina won it in the end. Apparently this is about the only track cycling event where Britain won't win a medal.

Oh well, at least we have at least 2 guaranteed silvers and a guaranteed gold in the next couple of races.

The women's sprint is against a Chinese woman so I daresay she'll get gold even if she falls off her bike. Not that I think the Chinese are in any way acting dishonestly, of course.

Not to worry: these things have a way of coming to light. It took years for Marion Jones to get nailed for her cheating at the Sydney Olympics, but it happened. I believe a number of other track athletes were recently stripped of ill-gotten medals.

Mind you, Carl Lewis, who was caught doping by his own federation (who then covered for him) still has his 100 M medal from 1988. I can forgive him for his ill-gotten medal an awful lot more easily than I can forgive him for his hypocritical, holier-than-thou reaction to Ben Johnson getting caught on drugs.

There are an awful lot of medals I would remove from my personal medal count if I was pressed on the matter.

The Chinese woman didn't make the final - during the semis she used her elbows, so the Australian woman made it through.

Oooo, really!? That's great. I went for a shower doing their semifinal and when I came back, I thought the commentator said the Chinese girl had got through.

I really hope something is done about the Chinese gymnasts being blatantly underage, but since they've got falsified passports, I don't see what the IOC will be able to do. Poor Nastia and Shawn, I bet they don't even know why they've bothered turning up.

Just as the men's sprint final started we seemed to lose the internet connection - presumably because everyone was trying to see the same thing. After a few seconds of panic, we remembered that we have a tv in the office, so all rushed to watch it on that. Being in Edinburgh, most of my colleagues were supporting Hoy, but I don't really care who wins.

And Pendleton wins the women's race! Woohoo!

Yay, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin! Gold and silver on the beam! Suck on that, China! Suck on that! (Though I do think Nastia should have beaten Shawn, but whatever).

Hooray for Pendleton in the sprint! I can't believe how well we're doing.

Even though I wanted her to win gold, I am so happy for Anna Meares. She had a really horrific accident earlier this year that nearly saw her only two millimetres away from either dead or being paralysed for life, so for her to be racing to silver is amazing.

QUOTE

I thought that the Points race in cycling made no sense, but that was until I saw the Madison.

Heh. I watched a Points race on Saturday, and I think I may have sprained something in my brain. No one told me there'd be MATH!

I can't believe GB just won a silver in the high jump! Amazing. I love these surprise medals we've managed to get this time in gymnastics, swimming etc. It just shows the confidence in the team right now.

If someone had said to me a couple of weeks ago that Britain would have 15 gold medals by the end of the Olympics I would've been overjoyed. The fact that there are still 4/5 days of competing to go and the prospect of many more medals is just mind blowing.