Brief Olympic Review

So the Olympics have come to a close after a fascinating two weeks. Say what you like about the overly or underly political nature of the coverage, about the arbitrariness of the sports included, and the morality of spending £20bn on a single sporting event instead of on more deserving causes, but the fact is that the games were a great success.

The logistics and security were seemingly expertly handled, and the coverage by the BBC was amongst the best and most comprehensive I can remember. Short of providing constant video of every single event, the BBC coverage did everything it could have to showcase the best examples of modern sporting achievement. The massive amount of video now archived on the BBC website, alone, is a fantastic resource, allowing anyone to relive moments of drama and achievement, whenever and wherever. This, combined with the live streams online and via television made accessing Olympic action easier and more rewarding than ever, and the BBC deserve massive congratulations for doing so.

Aside from the obvious highlights of Bolt's three and Phelps' eight golds, my highlights of the games were:

- The GB men winning the coxless fours for the third time in a row with a brilliantly timed surge.
- Matthias Steiner winning a hugely emotional weightlifting gold for Germany.
- The taekwondo judges go against massive local pressure to reverse a decision and reinstate GB's Sarah Stevenson, at the cost of a Chinese athlete.