Predictions

Have to put some things in writing before we start, or how will people be able to mock me at the end?


Let's be bold.  23 gold, 17 silver and 21 bronze for GB.  Best ever Olympics, and good for third on the medal table ahead of the declining Russians, who've seen the Chinese take over several of their old strongholds at the games.


I think that the Americans will top the table, reclaiming first place from China without having to use their own made-up version of the table from Beijing that treated all medals as equal so they could still win.


I think the big British successes will come at the lake (5 golds between the rowers and sprint canoe squad), Weymouth, and of course, on bikes (I don't think we can repeat 8 golds with the reshuffled schedule, but 6 is very possible).  I think Mo Farah will win at least one and possibly two on the track, and I think Ellen Gandy will be a heroine in the pool.  Lutalo Mohammed is going to win a medal of some kind and hope it's enough to silence the doubters who wanted Aaron Cook in the Taekwondo side.


On the downside, I think Tom Daley's been over-hyped and will struggle against Qiu Bo.  I don't think Dai Greene can hold off Javier Pulson in the 400m hurdles, and I have a sense that our boxers might not do quite as well as some have hoped.  In China they took one gold and two bronze, and I'm not sure they'll do any better this time.


We'll see...