There are fans, and there are fans

I made it down the Velodrome on Tuesday, to see a bit more of Britain's all-conquering team. The British fans have been excellent there, but it was interesting to see some well-known faces in the best seats, with the best view, tonight to catch the 'Vicksen' and the 'Real McHoy' making the headlines.

Tony 'I've always been a huge cycling fan' Blair was there, with, surprise, surprise, his wife Cherie, cheering, applauding and generally looking very happy with life. During the rather odd madison race, I received a text from a friend back home in England asking me if there was anybody at the velodrome who had any idea what was happening. I should have handed the phone over to Tony. I'm sure he could have put my friend straight! Gordon Brown is due out for the closing ceremony on Sunday. I'm sure he must have been quietly seething if he was watching back at No10.

Another unexpected sight was of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo, who could be seen peering over the seat in front of him absorbed by the spectacle of slighly slower machines than he's used to. Cycling's been the story of these Games for Britain, but I doubt even Bernie can turn the sport into a multi-billion business. Can he?

I managed to take a day out of Beijing yesterday to take a walk on a certain wall with a couple of colleagues. A Chinese guide called Bill joined us to show us the sights, give us all the information, and lead the way. He'd made this trip ten times before, was 12 years younger than the rest of us, and proclaimed himself fit.

Six hours, some 15 kilometres and 42 towers on the Great Wall later, Bill was, by his own admission, a 'broken man'. Britain took gold, silver and bronze in the Great Wall trek, with China a distant fourth. I know it's pathetic, but at a Games where China have dominated in so many events, it was nice to fly the flag on the wall, as well as in the velodrome, the sailing regatta and the rowing lake.

But it is still raining gold for Britain. Four more on Tuesday, and this is becoming a daily ritual. At the velodrome Hoy and Pendleton made it seven golds for the British track cyclists, while sailor Paul Goodison in the Laser and Christine Ohuruogu in the 400 metres claimed gold.

I've done the math, as our American colleagues say, and it is just possible that, with Phillips Idowu in the triple jump, Tim Brabants in the canoeing, David Davies in the open water swimming, Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw in the wind-surfing, and Shanaze Reade in the BMX , that Britain could rise to 22 Olympic gold medals.

Never mind looking over our shoulders at the Aussies, the Russians, the Germans, Italians and French, we're beginning to breath down America's neck! The British Olympic Association said their aim for London 2012 was to finish fourth in the medals table, a goal that was announced before Beijing. They're going to have revise their that. But if we do finish third this time, could we really match that in London, with home-town advantage? Anything less would feel like an anti-climax.

Well done, Team GB, but your work has only just begun

It is now Sunday evening in Beijing and Britain has just enjoyed the most wonderful weekend in its Olympic history as its athletes continue to grab gold medals with both hands. We are now into double figures and there are still plenty more to come over the next few days. Rightly, we are lauding the efforts of British sport, and the effect of Lottery funding. At this rate, London 2012 could be a glorious fortnight of British sporting success.

But a word of warning. Look where virtually all the medals are being won - cycling, rowing and sailing. With the honourable exception of double champion Rebecca Adlington and bronze winner Jo Jackson in the pool, the rest, as I write, have all been captured by what have been our strongest Olympic sports for many Games now. It seems to me that our strongest sports have become stronger, too. Look at cycling. The sport had a pretty good time of it in Athens but, four years on, Britain is dominating the sport here in Beijing, not only on the track, where the likes of Chris Hoy (below) and Bradley Wiggins appear imperious, but now also on the road with Nicole Cooke and, shortly, in BMX with Shanaze Reade.

Look at rowing, too, a sport which has relied so heavily on Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matt Pinsent in recent times. The rowers have upped the ante, not fallen away with the retirement of these two knights of the realm, and new heroes have emerged in the shape of the men's fours and the men's lightweight double sculls. And sailing, not to be outplayed, have just notched up two golds today and promise many more medals before the week is out.

But British Olympic chiefs must not rest on their laurels just because they will return home with the best Games results post-war. If any of less successful sports want to discover how to become the best in the world, their management and coaches should take a trip down to the velodrome and watch the British cycling team - on and off the track - intimidate the world. The work does not stop next Sunday at the closing ceremony. The work only just begins.

And so to the Water Cube: Yep, Phelps did it, and no, Grant Hackett didn't, but something else caught my eye which may have gone largely unnoticed. Did you see Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli (above) immediately after he touched first to beat Hackett in the 1500 metres freestyle final? I can appreciate he was excited, but was it really in the Olympic spirit to launch himself out of the water and on to the side while the eighth placed swimmer from China still had to finish the race? And shouldn't he have at least shaken Hackett by the hand, having beaten him and robbed the Australian of a history-making third, consecutive gold in three Games? It seemed more than a bit off to me.

The cracks begin: I had my first real strop with a local yesterday. My bus was leaving for the main Press centre and here in China, when it says the bus will leave at 8.0am, it means exactly that. I would have caught it had the security guards at my accommodation block not insisted I chew a piece of gum in front of them from my packet, just to show that it was not poisonous, nor explosive. I pointed out that my bus was about to go, but they refused to let me leave until I chewed my gum. The bus departed with an English writer chasing after it to no avail. Cue the strop! I'm just beginning to miss the fact that back home buses, or indeed any kind of transport, never leave on time.

How's that for flying the flag - Foster lasts 22.35sec and he's out of the Games

SO THANK YOU and goodnight, Mark Foster, proud flag bearer for the British team whose Olympics have just ended after precisely 22.35 seconds’ work.

The winner of 47 major  championship medals over his illustrious career, the 38-year-old swimmer (below) in his fifth Games will now never win any colour of medal at the Olympics after failing to qualify for the 50 metres freestyle semi-finals.

Being the athlete who leads Britain out at the opening ceremony should be one of the highest honours an Olympian can have. Sir Steve Redgrave (twice) and Sir Matthew Pinsent have both done it. But I’m not so sure it is helpful to the athlete.

Four years ago in Athens judo player Kate Howey had the honour, and promptly finished nowhere.
This time the British team went through a list of athletes, starting by making enquiries to sailor Ben Ainslie, then moving on to the cyclists, where both Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy were in with a shout.

All politely refused due to competitive reasons. And so it fell to Foster. Now that’s not his fault, but wouldn't it have been a bit better if our flag-bearer lasted longer than 22.35 secs in these Olympics?

With four years to go before the London Olympics I'll be the first to wager that Ainslie, second time round, will be asked to bear the British flag and will not refuse the honour, even if, as is this time, he is due to compete the next day. The good thing about the sailor is that there's every chance he'll win again, too, which will be a vast improvement on our two most recent flag-bearers.

Meanwhile, Michael Phelps, odds-on already to be America's flag-bearer come London 2012, has five golds from five finals, achieving his latest Olympic title and customary world record blinded after his goggles slipped at the start.

It's some contrast, isn't it?

Phelps can't call himself the greatest yet

FIVE down and three to go. The incredible Michael Phelps continues to be the story of these Olympic Games, and with five gold medals already in the bag (all with new world records) who would bet against him making it six on Friday, seven on Saturday (thus equalling Mark Spitz's record haul of seven in 1972), and eight on Sunday to break the record?

He already is, statistically speaking, what the Americans would call 'the winningest' Olympian of all time with 11 gold medals so far, beating the nine held by four of his predecessors. But does this really make him the greatest?

Consider this. A swimmer like Phelps (above) has eight opportunities to win a medal at the Games. Some of these chances are remarkably similar, such as the 200 and 400 metres individual medley, or the 100 and 200 metres butterfly, and three are relays. Of course, his feat is still extraordinary, and he deserves all the plaudits he will continue to receive.

But may I bring your attention to a certain British Olympian called Sir Steve Redgrave, who not only won five gold medals, in what is regarded as one of the most gruelling sports of them all, both in training and competition, but achieved this in five, consecutive Games over a period stretching from 1984 to 2000?

That's 16 years of preparing and competing at the Olympics, 16 years of physical agony in the circuits room, on the rowing machine and out on the Thames in January where he would often have to row through ice.

I'm not necessarily saying Redgrave (right) is the greatest of all time, and I'm not suggesting for a moment that Phelps is not producing a super-human display of athletic dominance, but the American says he will come to the 2012 Games in London, and if he wins a few more golds then, thus showing a degree of dominance in three successive Games, then the debate will be over. But for my money he sits right now at the top table alongside Nurmi and Owens, Blankers-Koen and Zatopek, Latynina, Lewis and, dare I say it, Redgrave.

You may be surprised to hear that you can get a good Chinese meal in Beijing. You may be even more surprised to be told that the curry restaurants in this town are known for their quality, too. A small group of us had an Italian meal, for a change, the other night, and I was pleased to see that the waiters and management - all Chinese - did not pretend to be anything else but Chinese. I say this because, last year in Shanghai, I met a contact in an Austrian-themed restaurant and discovered that not only were Wiener Schnitzel and Steins of beer on the menu, as you might expect, but that all the waiters and management - all Chinese - were dressed in lederhosen while the Sound of Music provided the background music.

Following on from the likes of George W Bush and Vladimir Putin, we hear that Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon will soon be gracing the Beijing Olympics with his presence. Now, as we all know, Chelsea are into year three of their five-year plan for world domination, as announced by Kenyon. He may therefore be taken aback to discover that out here in China, a country that sports the world's biggest population, three English clubs rule: Manchester United, Liverpool and, er, Arsenal. Two years to go, Peter, just two years.

Britain's golden start comes from taking a lesson from Australia's past masters

DAY FOUR, and Britain are two unexpected gold medals to the good. We suspected Team GB may have a good Games in Beijing, and we wait with baited breath for Super Saturday when golds may be raining down on Britain from the velodrome, rowing lake, Water Cube and Yellow Sea, like never before, but it seems we are now winning Olympic titles when we're not even favoured to do so (such as Rebecca Adlington, below right).

So how has this happened? Is it down to pure luck, a sudden gathering of talent that has delivered at the right time, and in the right place? Well, no, not exactly. Twenty years ago Australia created the Australian Institute of Sport and the government started to fund their athletes. Add this to the general Aussie outlook on life - the great outdoors, playing sport to win, and beating the Poms -  and it created a potent and highly successful winning cocktail.

Meanwhile in Britain one of the biggest cliches used when writing about a successful sportsman and woman was the phrase: 'Despite the system.' The revolution began before London was awarded the 2012 Olympics, but what a carrot this has proved to both athletes and Government. No longer are our finest training at dawn in poor facilities before going to their day jobs.

Today they are paid by lottery funding to train and compete, and the results are already here to see. Guess what? It's going to get a whole load better, too, by 2012. It really isn't rocket science, is it?

Talking of the Aussies, John Coates, the Australian chef de mission, no less, here in Beijing, put his large foot in his mouth today when, in responding to a press conference question about why the British swimmers are suddenly faring so well, he responded by referring to the fact that the Brits don't use soap.

Now, the Poms and the Aussies like a bit of banter, but it's usually confined to the bar or the sports stand, not in a globally broadcast conference at the highest-profile sporting event in the world. The 2000 Games was a magnificent success story for Sydney and Australia (capped by Cathy Freeman's 400m victory, see above). Suddenly Australians weren't needing to go out to the world. The world was coming to Australia. It made all those who rankle at the Rolf Harris and Crocodile Dundee imagery smile.

And then Coates (left) comes along, with his perfectly balanced chip on each shoulder. The soap he refers to should be planted very firmly in his mouth.

But don't take it from me, a whingeing Pom who can't see a joke. Take it from all the Australian media I have spoken to who are sharpening their knives as I write ready to plunge them straight into Mr Coates. The fact that even the Aussie media feel Coats is an idiot tells you everything you need to know.

Pressure's on Phelps' relay partners not to mess up his gold rush

SO MICHAEL PHELPS is off and running with his first gold medal on day two
after his victory in the 400metres individual medley final in the early
hours of Sunday morning UK time. One down, seven to go and then Olympic
immortality inside the 'Water Cube', otherwise known as the Olympic
Aquatics Centre.

That, in itself, is impressive enough, but consider the way Phelps (above) made
notice of his intentions. In the heat - the heat - he broke the Olympic
record. In the final he broke the world record (his own) and, in the
process, beat the Hungarian runner-up by two and half seconds. The 400
metres IM was supposed to be the individual event Phelps was most
vulnerable in, but if that's vulnerable then heaven help the rest of the
world's swimmers in the other four individual events. The pressure will be
on America's other top swimmers to ensure they do not muck it up for the
Baltimore Bullet' in the three relay events Phelps has entered. You
wouldn't want to be the guy responsible for Phelps missing out on seven
golds and Mark Spitz's record, let alone eight golds and a new Olympic
record by making a premature dive into the pool. To cap it all, Phelps was
not even in his full, high-tech gear in the heat. Mind you, he could have
turned up in Bermuda shorts, sporting a few days' growth on his chin, and a
raging hangover and still won.

THE mother of all storms has just hit the Chinese capital. Lightning,
thunder claps and heavy rain has sent everyone scurrying indoors. That
said, most of the Brits are celebrating. Maybe, just maybe, the storm will
clear the leaden, smoggy skies and I can get to see the sun for the first
time since arriving here last Wednesday. I live in hope. Meanwhile, in the
Media Press Centre (MPC) at the Olympic Green the seeds of cultural
revolution have been sown. So incensed were the Chinese media by the price
of the food being served in the refectory, that they made their anger known
to the authorities. The result is now all rice is free! It may not seem
much to you, but governments have been overthrown by movements that begun
with less of a spark than this.

ONE step closer to winning a bet: A well-known and respected British sports journalist had a wager with me last night. He bet £50 than Great Britain would not reach double figures in terms of gold medals. If GB manage to win 10 or more the money is mine. This is how I worked it out. Being conservative, I gave Wiggins (right) and Hoy four golds between them, plus Pendleton in the velodrome, and Reade in the BMX. Add two golds for Ainslie and the Yngling girls in the sailing, Purchase and Hunter in the men's double sculls, and that's nine golds already.

Then bear in mind that both Wiggins and Hoy could win three golds each,
Romero could add another in the track cycling, the men's fours stand a good
chance of gold in the rowing, as do Morrison and Rhodes in the sailing
49ers, Idowu and Sotherton on the track, and maybe even Ohuruogu, as well
as more sailors, a canoeist, a triathlete, and so on and so on.

What helps, though, is an unexpected gold medal and that has duly arrived
with Nicole Cooke winning in the women's road race. We knew she stood a
decent chance of a medal, but few predicted it would be gold. It will
kick-start the British Olympic surge of medals and, just as important, it
takes me to within nine golds of winning my bet. Wish I'd put £100 on it
now!

Surely not, could that be the sun poking through the yellow haze over Beijing?

PLEASE advise. Yesterday, at about 3pm Beijing time, I saw something round and yellow in the sky. It was faint, and it appeared for just a few seconds, before being enclosed by the swirl of what the locals refer to as 'summer haze'.

In the more remote parts of Cornwall or the Lake District such a sighting would have prompted calls to both the police and whatever society spends its days on the look-out for UFOs, but here in the Chinese capital I am not so sure.

I've seen something like it in England before, although it was much clearer and brighter, and seemed to pump out heat. Over here, everything seems to pump out heat, a sticky, sweaty version that would kill off the sauna business and make Flat racing jockeys happy at least. The fact that British gold medal hope Frankie Gavin had to return home after failing to lose just three pounds appears even more absurd when all he had to do was take a 10-minute walk outside.

Officials here insist Beijing has no smog at all. The poor visibility is down to summer heat haze. Ex-pats tell you the current smog is a huge improvement on the norm, which, if true, would leave Beijing after the Games more like the London of Victorian England, when top-hatted 'gentlemen' roamed around the alleyways of the East End shrouded by a pea-souper.

We will find out just how bad it is for the Olympic competitors soon enough. I am half expecting one of the road racers in the cycling this weekend to crash into the Great Wall of China. 'What wall?' he/she will ask, in their defence. 'I never saw it!'

A True Story: I lost my English mobile phone the other day. I discovered this unhappy fact at a VISA function in downtown Beijing 45 minutes after arriving. Luckily, I had my Chinese mobile with me and called my English number. The taxi driver answered and, after I handed my phone over to an English-speaking Chinese lady, he agreed to drive back to return it. This is where the differences in culture kicked in.

Having driven his taxi a good half hour to return to the venue, the impressive Prince Juan Palace, he refused flatly to hand over my phone. My Chinese friend explained that he thought I had left it for him as a gift, a friendly offering from the west to the east. Even when he was told that my fare would suffice, he kept the phone clenched firmly in his hand, refusing to accept that I was the same person he had initially dropped off. His reason, according to my translator, makes you realise that the world really is the same wherever you go. 'These Westerners,' he said, with his hands out wide in exasperation. 'They all look the same.'