Hoop Dreams

Broadcasters in America want the US men's basketball team playing late at night here, so that's exactly what broadcasters in America get.  This is bad news for the fans who had bought tickets for the afternoon session at the North Greenwich Arena (the O2 to everyone outside the Olympics) hoping to see the stars of the US 'Dream Team'.  Also affected are fans of every one of the other seven teams who suddenly find their nations competing in the other session.  Broadcasters in America can do one.

We flash a home-made sign about for a bit, hoping to find a French or Spanish fan who wants to make a trade, but the Americans are the hottest ticket in town, and eventually it's time to give best and accept our new double-bill of Russia against Lithuania and France versus Spain.  The seats are almost in the back row, but have as good a view as you could ever hope for in a venue of this size.  There's the full American-style razzle dazzle, trampolining slam-dunkers at half time and the strange use of a noise that sounds as though Sonic the Hedgehog has collected a magic crystal every time baskets are scored.  These are also, incidentally, the most comfortable seats at the games.  Really depressingly, lots of US fans with premium seats seem to have decided not to bother.

The Russia and Lithuania game starts with a painful lack of quality.  The Russians make handling errors, the Lithuanians are woeful shooters, and the only man who looks like he belongs on a top level court is Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko, the former NBA all-star.  He dominates the paint, collecting rebounds and racking up points for Russia, who build a 14 point lead, to the anger of the huge Lithuanian support in the arena.

After half time, though, the Russians embark on a run of the least adept ball handling this side of the school bike sheds, and Lithuania pull their lead back to a single point.  Eventually the Russian advantage in size and strength pays off though, and they move into the semi finals.

The main event is a local derby between France and Spain.  Both teams have multiple NBA-quality players in their teams, and there's great technique on show throughout.  France run a skilful screen offense, while the Spanish can work through some genuinely talented big men on the inside.  MVP for most of the game is French superstar Tony Parker.  Both teams play great defense, and the final aggregate score ends up lower than the Americans rack up on their own against Australia later on.

Best moment of the session is at the end of the match, where everything turns heated as the Spaniards pull away.  A US - Spain final still looks like an inevitability.  I hope they don't suddenly decide to reschedule it... 

BBC Analysts, and A Word About Basketball

The stars of the BBC commentary team are the greats John McEnroe and Michael Johnson.  Both men combine superb technical analysis with a very uncompromising honesty in assessing performance.  I wanted to give a couple of words of praise for two other members of the stable.

In the aquatics centre, Australian legend Ian Thorpe is becoming one of the most likeable men on television.  He doesn't tend to dwell on the minutae of technique as his American colleagues do, but his tremendous charm and perspective on the human side of the sport could make him as big a success in front of the camera as he was in the pool.

Thorpe and BBC commentary colleague Mark Foster

The most under-appreciated member of the team, for me, is Matthew Syed.  The former British table tennis number one is a student of sport at the highest level.  Fiercely intelligent, he nonetheless analyses in a straightforward manner.  What makes him stand out for me is his honesty.  Asked on tonight's late magazine programme to give an opinion on a cycling ruling, Syed's reply was first that one of the great elements of the Olympics was that nobody was an expert on every sport, and that he'd love to hear a perspective from the cycling world.  Only then did he reveal his gut reaction, as essentially a layman.  So many analysts will bluff their way through a mediocre answer rather than admit a lack of expertise, Syed is a breath of fresh air.

A final note, off topic - amid a glorious day for the British team,  many people will miss the significance of the British basketball losing to Spain by a single point.  This is an absolutely fantastic performance by the home side.  Spain are the only team in the tournament with any serious pretensions to challenge the American 'dream team', and a clear number two in the world.  Going into the final quarter, Britain trailed 61-49, but rocked the Spanish with a stunning run led by captain and NBA all-star Luol Deng, who scored 26 points as GB eventually fell short, 79-78.

New Adventures in Handball

On my way into the Copper Box handball stadium I was asked for an interview by an American journalist who wanted to know why handball had never taken off in the UK, and whether it stood a chance on the back of these games. At the time I couldn't really explain it, and having seen my first match am even further at a loss. It's a terrific game, easy to stage and looks great fun to play. It's also surprisingly physical. Unlike basketball, for instance, plenty of contact is within the rules. I think it would suit school facilities well and – not insignificantly in Britain – played indoors!

That was what cost the young British team against the experienced Russians, who ran out comfortable winners. They were older, more organised, but above all much much bigger. The Brits countered with some impressive agility from the small but speedy Lyn Byl, who scored five, and goalkeeper Sarah Hargreaves held the Russian team at bay with a string of fantastic saves at the start of the second half, but the British girls didn't have the speed and decisiveness to hit their opponents on the break, and were contained easily in a half-court set for most of the game. The rangy Russian girls were able to break out from defence and attack at speed time and again, while the only physical force on the home side came from Eva Palies, who scored a fine brace in limited time on court and gave giant Russian defender Murauyeta a great tussle.

In lulls in play the crowd were amply entertained by the Russian coach, a beast of a man who never stopped screaming instructions at his charges. The average age was the youngest I've seen at any event so far, and perhaps in a few Olympics time there'll be no need for a piece on why the British don't follow handball.

The second game is Spain against France. A much more competitive game with the tenacious Spanish defenders never letting France get a clean shot away. They lead 10-7 at half time having held Les Bleus to almost a one in four shots ratio. Even GB did better against the Russians. The Spanish girls picked up a trio of early yellow cards, but the tactic has worked so far, helped by a solid performance from keeper Navarro.

Five Rings 29/7

Blue - The first weekend of the games has been a quiet one for the hosts on the medal table - just one gold and one silver so far.  The Chinese top the table early on, but best opening weekend for me goes to Italy, who have already notched 2 golds and a total of 7 medals.  Forza Italia!  Full table is found here.

Black - A great performance from Becky Adlington to win bronze in her weaker event.  Expectations were high after her gold in the 400m four years ago, but this time was always likely to be a more difficult task.  Adlington's time for bronze, in a modern fabric swimsuit, was over 0.2 seconds faster than the time she swam for gold in Beijing - when she was in the now-outlawed hi-tech swimsuits which saw records fall at an unbelievable rate.

The only disappointment for me was Radio 5 Live's commentary.  With the girls on the final length of the race, commentator Bob Ballard gave up his main responsibility entirely, declaring 'We don't care' about the battle between France's Camille Muffat and America's Alison Schmitt for their event's highest honour, because he only wanted to talk about Adlington finishing third.  An understandable lapse of any pretence of neutrality, but a bad one, and disrespectful not just to the swimmers fighting for gold, but to any French or American listeners.  We had to wait almost twenty seconds after the race finished before Ballard bothered to mention who had won.

The BBC's coverage of the games has excellent depth to the main and most televisual events, but from what I've seen and heard so far, there's a lot of discussion about those select few at the expense of actual coverage of some of the lower-profile competitions.

Red -  It turns out Spain's footballers aren't completely invincible.  They may have won three major titles in a row, but the Spanish Olympic football journey is over after just two games - slipping to defeats against Japan and, tonight, Honduras!  Joder.

Gold - After having removed baseball and softball from the Olympic programme for these games, the IOC replaced them on the list of their sports with rugby sevens and golf.  Sadly, rather than get them in for this Olympics, in the country which invented both games, they did not introduce the new arrivals until the 2016 competition, which will take place in that hot-bed of rugby and golf, Brazil.  Not the best timing.

Green - If you think I'm an Olympic addict, check out the curious case of Louisa Thomas from American sports site Grantland.  She confesses to a complete addiction.  I admit that however much I love the games, I have never asked for my ashes to be scattered at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne.