Limpix...

Britain: David Beckham, a double-decker bus, Leona Lewis, Jimmy Page and Boris Johnson. Apparently. Yes, the medal haul was impressive. But I fear for the 2012 opening ceremony. Which will undoubtedly feature McFly and Will Young in some capacity, a bunch of Morris dancers and several thousand tubby majorettes. I'll miss the Olympics - can't remember ever being so interested in them as I have been this year, give or take some adolescent dreaming about Nadia Komaneci. Well done China. Free Tibet!

Baton twirling...

I especially enjoyed the slippery, school sports day-style handovers in the men's 4x100 relay today. A nice reminder of how fine the line is between winning, losing and making a complete arse of it.

Best of British...

I shouldn't think for one second that this is the kind of front page news that Christine Ohuruogo expected when she crossed the line first in the women's 400m. Imagine what the Ohuruogo family back in blighty were saying to Christine as she left the Bird's Nest stadium clasping the gold medal. "We'll save you all of the front pages. We'll have them framed and on the wall by the time you get home." Oh Gary, haven't you done enough damage?

A taste of China...

Just as with the Superbowl, when I enter into the spirit of all things crass and American by consuming Budweiser, I stumbled across some Chongqing Beer today, bought some and, naturally, it vastly improved my enjoyment of events in Beijing. It was a very nice, smooth drink - ever so slightly ricey. The Chongqing Brewery Company is, incidently, part-owned by Scottish & Newcastle. I didn't spot any Newcastle Brown influence in the taste.

As for the BBC's coverage of the USA v China basketball, once they'd shown a heavily edited version of the first half they decided that was that, with Sue Barker pointing out that, "China couldn't get back in the game. The Americans won" before we were subjected to yet another repeat of Nicole Cooke crossing the line in a serious downpoar to claim gold in the Women's Road Race cycling. We will be up in the morning to watch little Tom Daley. Got to feel sorry for his synchronised diving partner, who, because of little Tom's high media profile, is only known as Tom Daley's diving partner.

Jia You! Zhong Guo!

What an opening ceremony over in Beijing. Suddenly human rights issues, freeing Tibet and tackling tyranny just don't seem important and Tiananmen Square, well, there's no reason to keep bringing that up, eh? - not when I've watched loads of people circumnavigating a globe via the miracle of invisible wires and drummers lighting up tables. That's the stuff, China! Now go win more gold medals than the US of A and show them who's boss!

"Ultimately, only China can decide what course it will follow. America and our partners are realistic, and we're prepared for any possibility," said Dubya Bush yesterday. Which to me sounds a bit antagonistic. But, of course, George is only thinking of the people, as he has done before in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and his homeland... "We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs." And to buy McDonald's, obviously.