The Centre Circle of the World

Taking the new Javelin from Kings Cross to the park. It's making me think of Steve Backley, one of my first big olympic heroes. The poor guy always seemed to get pipped at the post by the great Jan Zelezny.

The past couple of days have been great, I've had a chance to see Andy Murray, Neymar and Ryan Nelsen, but goiong to existing venues and seeing guys whose time in the limelight stretches so far beyond the games isn't what has me feeling like a kid.

Getting off the train and walking into the Olympic Park is a different matter. Just passed the athlete's village, where the nearest apartments are festooned with Team GB banners. You're then guided through the sprawling Westfield centre and I catch my first glimpse of the stadium at 8.15am, just 65 minutes after leaving my house. Thanks to an amazingly efficient security operation I 'm inside the park eight minutes later.

Everything I've done in twenty five years of being a sports fan suddenly feels like a prologue to this moment. I take photos to capture the moment, then decide just to stop and look around. Then I need to share the feeling. The Smiths are playing over the public address system. Stop me if you think you've heard this one before. "I was delayed, I was way-laid". Not this morning.

Suddenly Liam Gallagher's telling me that maybe he and I are going to live forever. It seems oddly possible. I'm taken back to the centre circle of the old Wembley Stadium, a month before they knocked it down. Liam sang it then in front of a huge projection of John Lennon and it felt like the centre circle of the world. Now it's right here in Stratford.

What's next? Swimming. Michael Phelps trying to kick-start his juddering games. The greatest Olympian ever. I'm not usually awake at this time in the morning. Maybe I'm not now?

Football in Manchester

Day two - a great little road trip, though a crazy long day.  Out the house before seven, collecting Steve, Simon and Ryan on route.  Some confusion about service stations... I was tempted to take back everything I'd said about those helpful volunteers.  There was a dangerous lack of them around junction 14 of the M1.  Tsk.

Made it to Manchester about eleven, in time to be jaw-droppingly impressed by the great Theatre of Dreams.

Stopped to look at the Munich tunnel - an extremely well-presented memorial to the victims of Manchester United's terrible 1958 plane disaster, then made our way into the ground for New Zealand versus Egypt.  Ryan has always been a passionate New Zealand fan, so when the All Whites took an early lead, he was fairly pleased.

Sadly for Ryan the Pharaohs equalised, and now need to beat Brazil to progress from their group.

He will live, but the sadder for the experience.

Then it was the turn of Brazil to take on the mighty Belarus.  It was always going to be tough for minnows Brazil to overcome the massive contingent of Belarus supporters:

However, they ran out 2-1 winnners with a fantastic Neymar free kick and a headed goal from Milan's Pato:

The score was definitely 2-1.  We know this for a fact because we stayed until the very end of the match, rather than doing anything stupid like leaving 2 minutes early to beat the traffic and missing a great third goal for the Brazilians.  We would never make so stupid a mistake.

Didn't get home till almost ten, but an excellent day had by all.  Watching football at the Olympics, like visiting Wimbledon yesterday, didn't feel quite like the games, but the Swimming pool tomorrow morning will surely be the real deal.