Olympic Fever

I've been really enjoying the Olympics this past week. It may be because I've been unwell and so have had more time to actually watch the games. It may be because what I saw of the opening ceremony (other than the CGI-enhanced fireworks!) was incredible and made me question how on earth London could possibly surpass it in 2012.

It may also be because of the incredible hype surrounding Michael Phelps' extraordinary quest for 8 gold medals in 8 days, that I have admittedly been completely caught up in. The photo finish for the 100m Butterfly may have been controversial, but it was thrilling to watch. Even better was the 4 x 100m Freestyle relay, where Jason Lezak made an incredible come back in the last 25m of the race to steal the gold back from France, bringing home another gold for the USA and keeping Phelps' dream alive.

My enjoyment could also be due to the fact that Great Britain have been surprisingly successful in the medal table so far, claiming more medals than at any previous Olympics, including 17 over this weekend alone. We've claimed golds in swimming (including our best female swimmer ever, breaking a 20-year-old world record in the 800m freestyle), cycling (all that Lottery money paid off - invest in our atheletes!), sailing and rowing, as well as our first ever Olympic medal in gymnastics with a bronze for Louis Smith.

It may even have something to do with the outstanding performance in the men's 100m by Usain Bolt, where the last 10 metres were more a celebration than a sprint.

At about the half-way mark, he just shot out of nowhere and proceeded to break the world record, despite the incredible fact that one of his shoelaces was untied the whole time!

I've both giggled at and been moved by the overwhelming emotion of various athletes at their tremendous achievements or disappointments - the 'Gazza' moment had by Brazil's Cesar Cielo Filho, when he started sobbing, primary school-style, after receiving his gold medal for the 50m freestyle in swimming; Purchase and Hunter shedding a tear after rowing their way to gold for Great Britain in the men's lightweight double sculls; Team GB's women's quad sculls being unable to hide their bitter disappointment at getting silver yet again after being narrowly beaten by China; Paula Radcliffe's grit and determination to finish the marathon even though she was quite clearly in pain and had been desperate to get a medal after her problems with injury.

Whatever it is, I've been completely swept up in the excitement and emotion of it all. And there are still several days to go!