Loving the Limpics

Like the rest of the country, I've turned into a Limpic Couch Potato.  I haven't been for a swim all week, the dog has had shorter than normal walks and I'm even struggling to tear myself away from the TV for long enough to get a cup of tea.  I worry about what will happen when it's all over.  Will there be mass depression, the whole Country so lethargic they need to be surgically removed from their couches?  The organisers of the Olympics think that it will inspire everyone to go out and train.  They think we will be inspired to go and sculpt ourselves a stomach like Jessica Ennis.

The last time I was this interested in the Olympics was when Nadia Comaneci was getting perfect tens in the gymnastics.  That was the Summer of 1976, it was hot, you could only have a bath once a week and then you were limited to the amount of water you could have in it.  My Dad was looking after a small Telephone Exchange in a village about 7 miles from where we lived and we would cycle to see him, stopping on the way at the Ford to fish for Sticklebacks and paddle and to talk to the Tramp that lived under the bridge in the next village. The Telephone Exchange had a huge kitchen with a television in  and I remember spending hours there watching this brilliant gymnast.  This was the age when I spent most of my life upside down.

This passion for watching is how my son is with the Weightlifting.  It's so much easier for him, though.  We had one channel and could only watch what Aunty Beeb thought we'd be interested in.  Luckily, with the perfect tens flying around there was no question of not showing the gymnastics.

By the time the next Olympics arrived, I was a moody teenager who couldn't care less about sport.  Even the Steve Ovett and Seb Coe 'Clash of the Titans' barely caused me to raise an eyebrow.  I do remember it but for some reason, in my mind, it is linked with the Christmas when my Grandad drank too much, tried to walk along the kerb to prove he was sober, fell off and broke his arm.  

This year has been so exciting.  Bradley Wiggins and his sideburns, the gymnasts including the sweet little Nerdfighter gymnast, who nearly spliced herself in two on the beam, Tom Daley and his brilliant diving, rowing, sailing, horsey stuff.  I've watched it all.

But it is the names that really make me smile.  The Chinese athletes are wonderful for a laugh.  There are Yus, Haos, Dings, Pings Dongs and Wangs.  Dong Dong made me chuckle in the trampolining today.  If only he was Ding Dong and competed in the Ping Pong.

The long distance runner from the Seychelles must find it hard to be taken seriously in this country, no matter how well he does.

Gaylord Silly

But my absolutely favourite competed today.  A German diver called Katja Deickow (pronounced Kat Ya Dik Ov)