大象传媒

Over dinner on Thursday night colleagues complained about the , or lack of it, in Beijing.

And yes the area we were in was a bit empty, and it's been hard to fill the vast space that is Olympic green.

The capital city of the world's most populous nation has been strangely quiet. But when I walked into the this morning I was gob smacked.

This immense stadium was almost full for the start of the athletics programme. That simply never happens.

With the greatest respect the qualifying round for the men's hammer is not the biggest draw, although there was the first round of the 100 metres.

It was wonderful, the excitement was contagious and it suggests the atmosphere for the night time finals is going to be electric, I can't wait.

I always think it's a tad arrogant of track and field afficianados to declare that the Games only really begin when their sport gets underway. Right now I kind of agree with them.