Isn’t the Olympic opening ceremony tomorrow? You know, 08/08/08 = money, money, money? (Actually the games start at 8.08pm, which suggests that the first track should be a cover of the Abba tune by 808 State). What I understand the term “Opening Ceremony” to mean is that it takes place before any of the sport starts. So why have the Women’s Football games already started? Yet more proof that the Olympics are rubbish, they can’t even start on time! Of course in the UK we have no interest in the football due to the pesky Scots not allowing us to field a Team GB football team – possibly on the correct assumption that no Scot is good enough to make the team. That said the suggestion of a home nation tournament in 2011 to select a GB team for 2012 I think could be quite good fun. But then it is football, they have their own World Cup and football has never really felt like an Olympic sport to me. Unlike, say, Hitler’s favorite sport Handball – which is as Olympic as they get (pointless silly foreign sport that no-one plays).
On the sad side there has been a spate of British withdrawals from the games, the most notable being Frankie Gavin, lightweight boxer for not being enough of a lightweight. A strange accusation to level at a boxer, and one which in a pub situation would probably earn a punch, but he was a medal hope in a sport we often excel at (its punching people – v.British). Beth Tweddle is still in some of the gymnastics despite having a rib poking out of her chest injury. Injury’s are a sad way to go out, though perhaps its better than being roundly thrashed on the mat, but if our entire England team had to withdraw due to injury, we could spenc the next four years pretending we would have won everything.Which would certainly be the case if we were int he football.