Jim Murphy

Olympics

The Olympic medals table makes great viewing.  Team GB are third - thanks to the brilliance of so many UK sportsmen and women.  I stayed up and watched the womens marathon til after 3am and, while much of the drama was about Paula Radcliffe's run and Liz Yelling's fall, the real story was the FCO's Mara Yamauchi coming in a record 6th, equalling the best performance by a British woman.

But interestingly the table looks great from other countries too.In the US the table has been redefined and the US are top ahead of China by organising it according to total medals won rather than the number of golds. Given this would drop us to fourth, behind Russia, I'm not persuaded! Spare a thought too for the Slovenians who could also be top - if it were organised in medals won per capita.

It's also great to be ahead of France, Germany, Italy and every other European country! Barring a surge by one of these, we may well be number one in Europe.If so, I can genuinely look forward to the next time I meet ministers in Brussels.I will miss the games. Roll on 2012 and London.

Posted at 15:17 20 August 2008 by Jim Murphy  |  Comments[3]