2008 Olympics Updates

We are finally in Beijing after acclimatising in Macau and we are on to the serious bit - the Games themselves.

My flight from London to Hong Kong was great. I upgraded to business class (or World Traveller Plus, as it is called now) and it was amazing.

I felt like a bit of a muppet though as I had never flown business class before and was a bit out of place, but it was good.

I had my own little area where I could put my feet up and relax. I was most looking forward to the actual sleeping because you can never get comfy on a plane, can you?

I was just grateful I could lie down - I think I had a full eight hours of sleep. I was really pleased about that, because sometimes I don’t even get that at home.

Training has been going great so far. The first two days in Macau we only trained in the afternoon as we were all tired and needed our sleep.

The hotel there is amazing and because we had been there a couple of times already it felt like we had never been away.

I can’t actually believe it was a year since we were last in Macau - there are so many hotels that have been built while we have been away.

Macau is like the Chinese version of Las Vegas. The Chinese aren’t allowed to gamble on the mainland so they come over to Macau to gamble.

I have never been to Vegas but I can imagine that it is just like Macau but on a bigger scale.

The weather has been on the warm side but I don’t want to make anyone jealous as I know we haven’t had much of a summer back in England.

We flew to Beijing on Tuesday ahead of the opening ceremony this Saturday. Because I’m competing the following day, I will not be going.

In the past, there has usually been a day in between the opening ceremony and competing, but this time there is no rest for the wicked!

My fiancé Rik, who is on the GB cycling team, will be over there before I get to Beijing so at least he will be able to get his bearings as well.

I’m starting to get pretty nervous now, as I’m going into this Games as World and Paralympic champion and the pressure is all on me to perform.

My parents and Rik’s parents are coming out too so it will be nice to have a load of support there. Plus I’m sure I’ll be able to hear my dad and my brother shouting.

If not, then I’m sure everyone else will be able to hear them, so I apologise now for any bleeding ears.

Just wanted to say congratulations to the athletes in the Olympics. I was glued to it all the way - it was just amazing, so let’s hope that we can do it too.

I would also like to thank the people who have sent good luck messages to me and Rik - they are much appreciated. Let’s hope we can do you all proud.

And finally, good luck to everyone on the British team - fingers, toes, eyes, legs and mouths crossed!

So, the 2008 Olympics are done and dusted, with over 900 medals dished out to happy sportsmen and women from across the world.

There are some Beijing honours, however, that are yet to be awarded. Let’s make them public without further ado.

Feel free to add a few categories of your own down below. Who knows - Jacques Rogge might be reading over his breakfast croissant and take note.

Most impressive move
Two contenders: Usain Bolt, for his jerky dancehall moves around his golden spikes after those three record-breaking runs, and Usain Bolt, for presenting Yelena Isinbeyeva with the flowers from his 100m victory ceremony. Smooth.

Most widely circulated conspiracy theory
“I swear, I seen the photo - there was no way that Michael Phelps touches the wall before that Serbian bloke in the butterfly final. Honest to God. Massive stitch-up. The Americans is behind it - I read it on the internet. And the Chinese - they’re in this too, cos they wanted the publicity. And Omega. And Speedo. And the CIA…”

Best animals
Chris Boardman’s “secret squirrels” - the British cycling team technicians responsible for the carbon fibre frames, aerodynamic helmets known as the Smurf and the one-piece carbon-fibre handlebars and stem, nicknamed the Cobra. Hundredths of seconds saved, hundreds of medals won.

Worst animal
“Pingping,” thinks Belarus’s Yahor Lapo, when he meets the mount he’s been randomly assigned in the modern pentathlon. “What a fine name for a fine-looking horse. I’m in business.” The business Yahor was in, it transpired, was demolition. If Pingping had ever cleared a fence before, it was a very small one. By accident.

Best job of a bad job
All over Beijing, starch-stiff sentries have been stood on small flat boxes, miles from anywhere, guarding nothing but not moving an inch, all day long. One chap I walked past on a daily basis was stood facing a hedge for the entire duration of the Olympics. And you thought the dressage was a tough watch.

Strangest Mandarin word not understood
After three weeks, I had ni hao, zai jian and xiexie off to a tee. The one word I could never make sense of was the one that sounds like a posh English drunk man saying “arse”. Arsch. Ourshce. Any ideas?

Most unfortunate case of mistaken identity
BBC swimming commentator and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Steve Parry thought it would be a good idea to go for a stroll through Tiananmen Square, carrying a few items of swimming equipment with him. Two minutes later, he’s being mobbed by hundreds of over-excited locals, all desperate to get Michael Phelps’ autograph. I’m not saying you’ve got big ears, Steve, but…

Best stadium
You’d walk down Olympic Green, look to your right and know with complete certainty that the Water Cube was the greatest sports building you’d ever seen. You’d then turn your head 180 degrees and think exactly the same thing about the Bird’s Nest, before jumping on a bus out to Laoshan Velodrome and deciding that the Flying Saucer was the best of the lot. The next day, the process would start all over again. Twenty-one days after arriving in Beijing, I still haven’t made my mind up.

Biggest strop
Saucer of milk to Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian, who after being forced to settle for 84kg Greco-Roman bronze, took the medal from around his neck, stepped off the podium and flung it onto the mat in disgust before storming off. It’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking offence.

Best celebration
When Spain’s Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz took gold in the Tornado class catamarans, did they simply shake hands and wave briefly to their supporters on the shore? Or did they throw themselves overboard while Team Espana came swimming out into the briny to join them, and then thrash about wildly in the waves like a party of drunk Club 18-30 holidaymakers?

Giddiest atmosphere
Who said table tennis was a sport for village halls and maths geeks? The Peking University Gymnasium was like a cross between a cock pit and a cage-fighting tournament when a ping pong ding dong was in progress, with any player from China - or Hong Kong, or Taiwan/Chinese Taipei - roared on until the rafters rattled. Despite having earlier been beaten 21-5 by an 84-year-old man, I had my faith in the great game restored.

Most often-heard song
If you spent most of your time at the velodrome, it was God Save The Queen. Anywhere else and your weeping ears were unable to avoid the horror that was Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan warbling the official song of the Beijing Olympics, “You And Me”. I’ve heard more tuneful pneumatic drills.

Most frequently taken photo
Wherever you went on Olympic Green, you could see people standing with the Bird’s Nest in the background, one arm up raised to the side, their palm curled as if gripping an invisible cup. It was only when you walked in front of them that you realised that this was Beijing’s version of the “holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa” photo - the “holding the Olympic flame”. They never tired of it.

Funniest quote
New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston seemed to sum up the British dominance of the track cycling before his individual pursuit final. “I think anyone is beatable,” he said, “but you have to cut your head off to beat Bradley Wiggins.”

Worst joke not used in a blog until this point
“I’ve had a great tip from Steve Cram and Brendan Foster about the possible winner of the men’s marathon.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They kept banging on about him all evening.”
“What’s his name?”
“He’s a Chinese chap - a fella called Wai-Ai Mann.”

This is getting silly. So dominant is Britain at the Laoshan velodrome that even rowers are winning cycling golds for us now.

Chris Hoy’s story is remarkable enough - taking gold in a completely new discipline after having his favoured event taken off the Olympic schedule.

But at least that was still in the same sport.

Rebecca Romero’s achievement in winning individual pursuit gold four years after taking silver in the quad sculls, and only two years after first cycling round a track, must rank as one of the more remarkable stories in British sporting history.

Only one other woman has ever won Olympic medals in two completely different sports, East Germany’s Roswitha Krause - and both of hers came as part of a team, a handball silver in 1976 following a freestyle relay silver in 1968.

Then again, Romero is a remarkable woman.

Former Olympic pursuit champion Chris Boardman, now a technical advisor to the British cycling team, spotted something special about the girl from Carshalton the first time he met her.

“It was her absolute need to win a gold medal and her commitment to the process that stood out,” he says.

“Rowing had given her good habits, knowing how elite training is done, but there was also something that came from inside her.

“It’s the difference between wanting success and needing it. Rebecca needs it.

“There was only a tenth of a second between her and Wendy (Houvenaghel) coming into this final, but it was hard to bet against Rebecca because of her sheer need.”

As the two Britons lined up on opposite sides of the wooden track, the tension was far more visible on Romero’s face than her team-mate’s.

First she sat down on the banked track, her legs flopped out in front of her, as the seconds ticked down to the gun.

Then, when she climbed on board her bike, she licked her lips and grimaced like someone eating stinging-nettles.

“I said to Victoria Pendleton - this feels like my worst nightmare,” she admitted afterwards. “I felt like I’d been wrongly accused of murder and was about to find out if I was freed for the rest of my life - freed from the demons.”

Romero’s obsession with winning gold was so intense that it often threatened to overwhelm her.

“I’ve never seen anyone who can damage themselves so much in training,” says Boardman.

“It’s her biggest problem, and a common mistake to make - to think that if you do more training it’ll make you better.

“It might not. While one vitamin C tablet is good for you, 10 give you an ulcer. You always have to be mindful of that.

“The last week has been a rather shaky time for her - she slightly over-cooked it in training.

“They took some drastic action a week ago and took her completely out of training. All she’s been doing for the last week is a little rolling on the roads.

“Luckily, she trusts her coach Dan Hunt implicitly, and if he can describe to her how resting is going to improve her performance, then she’ll rest.

“She hates it, but she’ll do it.”

As she powered out of the starting-gate and fought her way up to top speed, Romero was almost roaring with the effort.

With four of the 12 laps gone, she was already a second up on Houvenaghel. With four to go the gap had doubled.

When she flashed across the line, lips stretched back, teeth gritted, she seemed to have no idea how clear-cut her victory was.

Only when she had stared at the scoreboard for almost a full lap did she start to celebrate - waggling a finger skywards like Mick Jagger and snatching a Union flag off a bunch of cavorting British fans perched above the back straight.

“It’s been so hard I can’t explain,” she panted afterwards. “I was facing my demons, but I knew I had it in me.

“To have become an Olympic champion, to have medals in two sports - I’m so proud of myself.”

The British national anthem has been heard so frequently at the velodrome that the organisers must be tempted to just leave it playing throughout the entire day.

There’s been almost no point in detaching the British flag from the highest pole. In the five medal ceremonies so far, British riders have waved from atop the podium in four of them.

When Romero took her turn, still wearing her racing cleats and space-age skinsuit, she looked determined not to blub.

There was much biting of lip as the flag was slowly raised roofwards, much twitching of the nose.

Eventually, as the anthem reached its sluggish crescendo, the waterworks started.

“I was never really good at any sports,” she said later. “I never really thought I was good at riding bikes. It’s just hard work.

“I wanted a gold. I wanted to be a champion. Now I’ve put down my mark to be remembered.”

Olympic Green Archery Field

A bit like the sailors at currently windless Qingdao, Britain’s medal tally has hit the doldrums over the last couple of days.

There was concern this first week was going to be slow, and to be honest, so it has proved.

Apart from the swimmers, who’ve had a great Olympics, and the cycling team who will undoubtedly be Britain’s biggest providers, there’s been disappointment elsewhere.

Nothing out of judo, diving, badminton, tennis, shooting - and now archery, where I’ve been spending my time over the last few days.

Archery had a target of two medals, and managed only a 4th place in the women’s team event.

Let’s add some context to that.

Last year was a particularly good one for the British archers, winning three medals at the World Championships, but it’s here in Beijing where it really counts, where the fruits of their labours, and the £2.8m investment the sport’s had in the past four years should be reaped.

What’s gone wrong?

Alan Wills offered me an insight straight after bowing out in the last 16 this morning.

He told me the head coach, Peter Suk, wasn’t letting him “be himself” out on the target field.

He wanted to feel more aggression, but felt that his personality was being subdued, because Suk wanted a calmer approach.

Team-mate Simon Terry mentioned “issues around the team” the other day, and clearly that’s what he was alluding to.

I’m left to question why wasn’t this resolved before the games?

If Wills wasn’t getting what he personally needed, then why?

After all he’s the bloke out there drawing the bow.

Whether this is a management or a communication issue, I don’t know, but the net result is a flat team, flat performances and a zero in the medals column.

Team leader, Hilda Gibson, said that there’d be a chance to get all this out into the open at a big de-brief post games.

Fine, but forgive me, too late for Terry, who said he’d not got his head around the one-on-one contests yet, or Naomi Folkard who let nervousness get in the way of her talent.

If ever a sport needed a good psychologist to give them strategies for dealing with those things, it’s archery.

Like target shooting, it’s a sport you play as much against yourself as the person standing next to you.

The Grand National Archery Society has some thinking to do, as do the other sports who’ve missed their medal targets here.

UK Sport has a much publicised “no compromise” policy when it comes to funding sport.

Archery will be among those nervously awaiting the outcome of the divvy-up of cash for London 2012.

The British cycling team was out on the track this morning, the riders taking their last opportunity to tread the boards before the competition gets underway on Friday.

All seems well within the camp, Mark Cavendish has now flown in to join the team after his heroics in the Tour de France and everyone is upbeat after the success of Nicole Cooke on Sunday and Emma Pooley’s silver medal in the time trial.

It was another memorable day up on the road course at Juyoungguan with Pooley in such fantastic form that it took an American called Armstrong to deny her the gold.

British Cycling recognised early on that the time trial course would suit Pooley’s climbing skills and armed with a specially designed bike to take her neat 5ft 2ins frame, the 25-year-old attacked the climb and flew down the descent to book a place on the hot seat.

And there she remained until former World Champion Kristen Armstrong stopped the clock 24 seconds faster than Pooley to clinch the gold.

But what a day for the British rider who put in such a huge effort on Sunday to help team-mate Cooke win gold in the road race.

Now our attention turns to the velodrome and perhaps these early medals on the road have eased the pressure on the track team who are strong favourites to dominate proceedings over the next five days.

The pursuit team powered round the track this morning like a runaway train and look in great shape ahead of Sunday’s qualifying round. Bradley Wiggins also looked relaxed and focussed and ready for his first-qualifying round tomorrow afternoon.

As well as the usual coaches and support staff in the British pen in the centre of the track, I could see psychiatrist Steve Peters talking to team members and offering support where needed.

Almost every member of the track team has mentioned the positive influence of Peters and he is recognised as a key part of the team’s preparations.

He’s been involved with British Cycling for almost seven years and is credited with helping some of the team’s biggest names handle the pressure of competition.

His input is indicative of the team’s approach - leave nothing to chance!

Let’s hope we can start to reap the rewards when the track programme kicks off tomorrow.

The finals start at 0930 BST.