An opportunity of a lifetime

I've always been interested in the Olympics and one of my lifelong ambitions is to attend one. In 1996, I wrote to the IOC asking for tickets for Atlanta 1996 - they sent me a pin badge commemorating the Olympic centenary. Having failed to make the grade to volunteer for Beijing 2008, I was hoping for better luck for London 2012 as I was born within walking distance of the Olympic Park. So I was rather pleased to discover that I was one of the chosen many aka Gamesmakers.

My role was to chauffeur clients around in one of these.

If G4S seriously underestimated how many security personnel would be needed (that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the armed forces personnel who stepped in to fill the breech impressed everyone with their exemplary professionalism), then LOCOG/IOC seriously overestimated the demand for our service. After all, if you're doing a 10 hour shift, you don't want to have to spend the vast majority of it waiting around - the weekend before the Opening Ceremony, I made two trips from the airport to central London. One of the people I drove on the day of the Opening Ceremony seemed pretty confident that things would pick up from Saturday, but once again it was a case of supply exceeding demand and then some!

I drove ministers, IOC staff, NOC representatives, significant others of IOC and international sports federation officials and it was my great privilege to drive the person who conceived the idea of staging an Olympic games in London nineteen years ago - Kirani James who became Grenada's first Olympic champion when he won the 400m is 19.

The Wednesday before the Opening Ceremony, I was in the Olympic stadium to watch the final dress rehearsal before the main event - the forging of the Olympic rings was one of my standout moments.

It was nice to see the efforts of the Gamesmakers recognised at the Opening and Closing ceremonies and at the celebratory Olympic and Paralympic parade and I suppose when sufficient time has passed, that will probably be my abiding memory of London 2012.

Getting their excuses in early

If you are facing a competitor who has beaten you 8 out of 13 times, do you:

1. complain about the opposition being poor losers thus giving said opposition extra motivation?
2. focus on your game and do your talking on the pitch?

In the run up to the women's 400m Olympic final in Beijing, the fastest runner in the world's preparation consisted of focusing on one of her competitors - needless to say, she did not win the Olympic gold as was expected.

La Albiçeleste, de Mannschaft are running scared.

My Olympic predictions vs the actualities

With less than 72 hours to go before the curtain goes up to mark the start of the XXIX Olympiad, I thought I should gaze into my Olympic rings and pick some winners. So here goes:

Women

100m - Sherone Simpson, Jamaica - right country, wrong athlete
100m hurdles - Susanna Kallur, Sweden****
200m - Allyson Felix, USA SB
400m - Christine Ohuruogu, GB SB
800m - Pamela Jelimo, Kenya WJR and it's goodbye to the legend that is Maria Mutola
5000m - Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopia
10,000m - Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopia OR
4x100m relay - Jamaica DNF
4x400m relay - Kenya******
BMX - Shanaze Reade, GB
Football - Brazil
Heptathlon - Kelly Sotherton, GB - fifth
High Jump - Blanka Vlasic, Croatia
Long Jump - Carolina Kluft, Sweden - ninth
Marathon - Catherine Ndereba, Kenya
Pole Vault - Yelena Isinbaeva, Russia WR
Triple Jump - Françoise Mbango, Cameroon OR

Men

100m - Olusoji Fasuba, Nigeria**
110m hurdles - Liu Xiang, China***
200m - Usain Bolt, Jamaica WR
400m - Jeremy Wariner, USA - right country, wrong athlete
400m hurdles - Kerron Clement, USA - right country, wrong athlete
800m - Abubaker Kaki*****, Sudan
1500m - Bernard Lagat, USA*
3000m steeplechase - Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenya - seventh; right country, wrong athlete
5000m - Bernard Lagat, USA - ninth
10,000m - Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia OR
4x100m - Jamaica WR
4x400m - USA OR
Basketball - USA
Decathlon - Bryan Clay, USA
Football - Argentina with the mercurial Messi and a stellar supporting cast
High Jump - Stefan Holm, Sweden - fourth
Long Jump - Irving Saladino, Panama
Marathon - Sammy Wanjiru, Kenya OR
Tennis - Rafael Nadal, Spain World No 1
Triple Jump - Phillips Idowu, GB

Legend

DNF - Did not finish
OR - Olympic Record
SB - Season's Best
WJR - World Junior Record
WR - World Record

I'm hoping my predictions will epitomise Corinthian ideals in their quest for Olympic glory.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

**REPLACEMENTS**
**Oh well, Olu didn't run as Olu can run, but Usain Bolt sure looked mightily impressive as he jogged his way to 9.92s so I'll plump for Usain to complete a sprint double.
*I reserve the right to nominate someone else as Bernard Lagat did not qualify for the final so I'm putting forward Asbel Kipruto Kiprop, Kenya
***I was hoping Liu Xiang could provide Beijing with a similar moment to the one Cathy Freeman provided in Sydney, but in reality the form guy leading up to the Olympics is the world record holder, the bespectacled Dayron Robles of Cuba so I'm nominating him.
****Lolo Jones, USA - right country, wrong athlete
*****Alfred Kirwa Yego, Kenya - right country, wrong athlete
******GB - fifth SB

Let the Games begin!!

There's been speculation about how much it's costing China to host the Olympic Games, with estimates ranging from US $43bn. The last time I checked, China wasn't embroiled in a 5 year old war which has cost US $3 trillion, according to Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize winner in Economics.

Those countries highlighting China's human rights record should seek to remove the log in their own eyes. How is it possible for a mother of 3 children, with a doctorate from MIT to disappear in Karachi, Pakistan 5 years ago and then reemerge at courthouse in New York to face charges of shooting at US officials - if the Justice Department was looking for a more plausible cover story, couldn't they have hired the writers of 24?! So, after arresting OBL's driver in 2002 and transferring him to the Guantanámo Bay gulag, he was found guilty of associating with Al-Qaeda, in a dubious US military trial, and sentenced to 66 months. Given the time he has already spent in captivity, he should be free in 5 months time, but the US administration have indicated that that won't be the case. France has been accused of complicity in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, BAE with the tacit approval of the British government continues to sell arms to that beacon of democracy that is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and even manages to get the British government to pull an SFO investigation into the biggest BAE arms deal to the Kingdom after it emerged that Prince Bandar (Saudi fixer-in-chief) had been paid US $1bn over a period of 10 years. I could go on, but I won't.

China has recently overtaken the US to become the country with the largest number of internet users. She has also bought up a large amount of US debt which has made certain members of the US administration uneasy. Additionally, China has made significant inroads in Africa bringing their infrastructure expertise in exchange for Africa's natural resources. By not asking too many questions about human rights and democracy, China, has for the most part, been welcomed on the African continent, but China's African adventure has not gone down well with Africa's former colonial masters. Admittedly China's support of Sudan and Zimbabwe is questionable, but then so is the US' unstinting support for Israel.

Wishing China a successful XXIX Olympiad.

Jiayou Zhongguo!!