大象传媒

is closed. There are no stalls, no music, no entertainers, no colour, no food sellers - no fun! So close to the opening ceremony, surely crowds should be congregating and people should be gathering to enjoy a festive build-up to the 29th Olympiad. Perimeter fencing surrounds the Olympic park, where many of these spectacular new venues for the Beijing Games are located. This is where the "Water Cube" is, where the "Bird's Nest" stadium is. This is the focal point of the Games.

Three years of intensive research. A fabric developed in Nasa laboratories. 48 world records broken. Speedo's new Lazer swimsuit has caused enormous waves in pro swimming world.

That's all very well. But what happens if you wear it down at your local Beijing pool?

The initial response in the men's changing rooms in Xiao Xi Tian is one of muted disgust.

It's not so much the suit - that's still in my bag - as the fact that I am woefully unaware of Chinese swimming pool protocol.

Oh, what's occurring?

The Team GB swim squad have arrived in Beijing, I've checked into the Olympic village and the tingle down my spine means my Games experience has started - and the tension is palpable.

So to ensure I keep my focus and my nerve, I've asked my good mates Gavin and Stacey to keep me chilled out as Olympic D-Day approaches.

Conditions in Hong Kong have taken a turn for the worse with .

Gale or storm signal 8 was issued at 5.40am this morning and again at 11am when the rain was torrential.

With gusts of wind up to 93mph, the British team riders were advised to stay in the Olympic village rather than give their intended press conference at Sha Tin Racecourse.

The doors of our media hotel were barred shut and all of the local shops are closed.

Beijing

When the decided to make its summer Olympics debut at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, nobody was more relieved than the Americans.

Having led a boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, the Americans were staring down the barrel of a huge tit-for-tat riposte from the Communist Bloc.

But by going to California, the Chinese spiked the Soviet guns, saved the Games as a contest and ensured its financial success. For , the chairman of LA's organising committee, it was even simpler than that: China had rescued the Olympics.

Now, six Games later, the Chinese want their reward and staging the Games is not enough, they want to win.

Beijing

I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration to say I grew up with .

Not literally, of course, but it would be fair to say the man who owned nearly half of Summer Bay's going concerns was a tremendous influence on me.

His cut-to-the-chase straight-talking, his old codger shell hiding a sweetly sentimental centre, his raging against an incomprehensible world, his very essence...he spoke to me as a youngster.

I heard that voice again on Tuesday and it was coming from the mouth of Australian swimming coach Alan Thompson.

Hong Kong

We were in the eye of the storm here in Hong Kong.

Things quietened down for a while, but the weather started to get quite bad again and it is expected to get a lot worse - and that is a worry for the horses and riders here.

At the moment there has not been too much damage. Some flags, hoardings and barriers have been blown down around the Olympic venue at Sha Tin and there are some very wet looking microphones.

Other than that, everything is in one piece.

Under Hong Kong law, if a typhoon reaches category 8, as this one now has, all employees have to go home, so the shops are shut and public transport is not running.

Luckily there was a short lull in the weather for the Olympic transport to start running again so we managed to get to the Olympic venue at the Hong Kong racecourse.

Since women were first allowed to compete in the track and field events at the 1928 Olympic Games, Britain has produced just seven gold medallists.

It took until 1964 to register a first gold, when set a new long jump world record to become Britain's first "golden girl".

Beijing

Professor Arne Ljunqvist is a scientist whose entire inclination is to deal in facts.

He's not a man prone to exaggeration or hysteria.

So when the Chairman of the IOC's Medical Commission, and Vice President of Wada calls the suspension of seven Russian women athletes a case of, "systematic planned cheating," we need to take notice.

I know the women concerned haven't faced their disciplinary hearings yet, and are protesting their innocence, but let's just think about this again.