Mini diary

This afternoon is the first of the games where I've not been at an event.  I'm envious as hell of those lucky enough to squeeze into the velodrome, or to have been at that superb canoeing triumph, but if I'm honest it's actually quite nice to sit in front of the TV for a session.

As soon as I'm in I catch an interview on BBC3 with the British pairs who've won gold and silver in the C2 slalom canoe.  Without realising that it's being shown off-tape on BBC1, I manage to spoil the surprise for everyone.  Once we've all got back on the same page and watched Gemma Gibbons' brave silver medal in the 78kg judo, it's cycling time.  This is where the games are meant to really take off to the home competitors, and with the day already having delivered double gold and a clutch of other British medals, I think it's time to try my hand at something more like a live blog for a couple of hours...

16:16 - Monstrous effort from Pendleton to make up that first-half deficit in the team sprint.  World Record!  Then the Chinese break it in the next race.  Spoilsports.  Jess Varnish is going to have to start faster than that against the Chinese

16:25 - New Zealand have one guy who can post a sub-WR split in the team sprint, and two who are so far behind him they're almost disqualified.  Not sure why being too far back from your team-mate gets you a DQ - surely it's only a disadvantage to lose the slipstream?

16:35 - Empty seats don't make me angrier anywhere than at the velodrome.  That's a six thousand seat arena with the biggest demand for any event except Athletics and Swimming.

16:37 - Nightmare for the Brits as Philip Hindes' bike falls to bits out of the start gate in their qualifier against the Germans.  They get a do-over though.  Will this rattle the Brits or Germans more?

16:42 - The German team look about as German as three men in lycra on bikes can do.  Which is extremely German.

16:43 - Gary Lineker once said that football was a game where twenty two men chase a ball round a field and at the end the Germans win.  Well, cycling's a sport where you go round the track for three laps and Britain does.  The time is an Olympic record.  This track looks fast.

16:46 - Jamie Staff, a member of the GB sprint team who won gold in Beijing, reckons Hindes had no mechanical issue but just, basically, fell off.  Apparently if you wobble at the start you're better off falling off because then you get to try starting again!  What a surreal rule.

16:49 - The 'ssshhhhhhh' noise they play over the PA at the velodrome before races start is really creepy.  Wondering whether they could use the technology in libraries, quiet carriages and cinemas.  It would scare you silent every time.

16:55 - The British women have made the team sprint final, but suddenly things are looking very bad for the women's team.  A technical infringement may have occurred in the change from Varnish to Pendleton.  Possible relegation to the bronze medal race, or even disqualification.  Cycling supremo Dave Brailsford looks concerned.

17:04 - The debate is still going on.  Mark Cavendish tries to explain the situation, then realises he's sitting next to a man who won gold in this event last games!  Over to Staff.

17:05 - Not looking good.  Brailsford has given reporters a 'DQ' gesture.

17:10 - While waiting for news at the velodrome, I'm checking out the post-competition interview of Peter Wilson, the shooter who won a home golf in the double trap.  The moment at the end where he breaks off with a shout of 'Dad' is superb.

17:17 - Pendleton gives a very dejected interview as the girls have heard they're definitely out.  'Now and again rubbish things happen, and this is just one of those days.  We've had a wonderful run.'  She's pleased that she set the fastest second lap of her career, which bodes well for her individual sprint effort, but bitterly disappointed for Varnish whose Olympics are over.  The youngster must be devastated - she'll be back in Rio, but this is a unique moment passed.  If there's any consolation for the fans, it's that the Chinese looked pretty untouchable in their semi-final win.  Scant, though.

17:20 - "Four years ago in Beijing, every [British] cyclist on the track left with a medal" Jake Humphries begins, in the studio.  Sitting next to him is Mark Cavendish, the lone exception to that rule.  Cav looks pretty annoyed for a second, then Humphries contines "...except you, Mark.".  Nice one, son.  Putting the offensive in charm offensive.    "I found it more hard the questions getting asked" says the Manxman, a little curtly.  Zing.

17:26 - Chris Boardman has just told Jake that the GB team are using 'hot pants'!  The footage cuts to a VT of Vicky Pendleton, and starts to pan downwards... sadly for the collected male viewership this turns out to be a pair of warmed-up trousers that keep heat in competitor's muscles between their warm-up and race, just like tyre-warmers on a Formula 1 car.  Where can I get me one of those for the chilly winter mornings?


I've found some live-blogging software, so might have a crack at that one of the days I'm not at the Games at all next week.