• We've been very slow to start winning medals, haven't we? This is not entirely surprising, given that there are only three medals in each event and we are one of over 200 competing countries, but for some reason it always amazes the media who seem to think we have a God-given right to win everything. Prepare for even more 'Olympic hopes dashed' headlines in week 2. We may not be as far up the medals table as we' like but, when you have less than 1% of the world's population, lying just outside the top 10 isn't at all bad.
• We only seem to be able to win medals in watersports and the really obscure. Had you ever heard of synchronised diving or yngling before this week? I think not. And this is probably the last time badminton and kayaking will appear on prime time BBC1, for the next four years at least. No sign at all of TV's usual sporting fare - football - but then Great Britain hasn't got a team in that.
• Winning a medal at the Olympics seems to be less about being excellent and more about not buggering up by transgressing one of the obscure laws by which each competition is run. Don't kick illegally on the turn, don't take more than 45 seconds to start, don't stray a millimetre into the wrong lane and don't whatever you do drop the baton. One tiny mistake at the wrong moment and years of preparation are wasted. The best athlete doesn't always win, but then whoever said sport was fair?
• Have you seen the white-haired bloke and the mystical brunette by his side playing at being the gods of Olympus in those epic BBCi promotional adverts? Is it just me, or do they look like the couple pictured on a 1970s Mastermind game box?
• Never mind, Paula's along tomorrow.
The Olympics so far
