The end to a wonderful two weeks

By George Ross

As most of you saw it was the closing ceremony last night, what a show! But that was nothing compared to all of the action during this amazing spectacle with team GB winning 29 Gold, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze medals.

The way the games opened was nothing short of amazing it totally blew away the expectations, we were never going to be as big as the Beijing opening ceremony but we could do it our way and that combined with the rich history that we have it became something truly wondrous.

There were some highlights, Phelps being beaten in the pool but still being able to become the most accomplished Olympian ever, Bradley Wiggins riding to victory through the streets of Hampton court, Jessica Ennis claiming Gold in the heptathlon, Mo Farrah doing the long distance double.

The amazing accomplishment by those competing for Team GB shows how much we have come forward as a sporting nation. It is truly a feat that was never expected, but one that was hoped for. We now have people getting into the different sports more and more people are getting on their bikes to ride and getting more active.

These games have been one of the best yet. They didn’t fail to impress and motivate the many thousands who put so much into making these games the success that they were.

Bring on Rio. 

"Look, I'm an Australian sports star and I've been media trained."

By Michael Wadley

Have you noticed how many sportspeople, from Australia, like to use the word  'look'?

I'm talking about when they are on the telly or radio, and usually when are are put on the spot from an interviewer.

"Well that was a bad result for the Australian crew there...you didn't expect that did you?"

"Look, we've obviously got some work to do, the boys learnt a lot today but they can get back into this..."

Or

"Tell me is this the worst one day cricketing side ever put out by Australia?"

"Look, England did some real good work in the field today, but we've got to stick together and dum dah de dum etc."

Shane Warne does it. David Campese does it. Pat Cash does it and I notice that swimming pundit Ian Thorpe has been doing it non stop during his stint on the BBC Olympic poolside coverage. You know, I think all Australians do it. 

And fair dinkum. Because its a good technique against a tricky question. Saying 'look' puts a big stop in the flow of a question. It changes the pace, takes control of the subject and suggests an acknowledgement...but then a positive. In a way, it's very much like the ABC technique used by many people, who have been media trained, to turn a tough question into a platform from which to make a positive statement.

I'm not sure if Australians sports stars have been coached to use the word  'look' as a deliberate ploy? Or is it just a speech-related characteristic.  But whichever – they really are quite watchable aren't they? Maybe not Campese.