大象传媒

Now we can stop , the longest swimming programme in history has ended and there was drama and incident from the first event, the men's 400 metres Individual Medley, to the last the men's 10k Open Water race.

What has pleased me most is that people who wouldn't normally cross the road to watch a swimming event have become enthralled by something that captured my attention 15 years ago at the European Championships in Sheffield.

The talk in the 大象传媒 office was all about Phelps and Adlington, how to pronounce Cavic and how do they swim that fast over ?

The swimming at the may have come to an end, but that doesn't mean the swimming programme is over in Beijing.

For the first time in the Olympic programme, will be featured, or Marathon swimming as it is being called by some.

In the world championships there are three disciplines for men and women, the 5k, 10k, and 25k races. has opted for the middle one which is good news for British competitors involved.

Ok, I'll admit it, my crystal ball had clouded over when I predicted that Michael Phelps would not, could not, achieve eight gold medals in Beijing.

He had some scares along the way, notably the , when he was indebted to Jason Lezak for keeping him on track, and to the timing device for putting Phelps . But, however you dress it up, seven world records and one Olympic record just takes your breath away.

It doesn't happen very often that Michael Phelps gets reduced to second place in the headlines, especially after from Munich in 1972.

But was certainly the most astonishing swim I have ever seen from a Briton, and, arguably one of the greatest swims of all time.

To break by over two seconds was immense in itself, but the margin between the 19-year-old from Mansfield and the rest was nothing short of astonishing.

What's more it couldn't have happened to a more popular member of the GB team. This teenager has charisma, is delightfully free of clich茅s and has a winning smile that lights up any sporting event.

Beijing

The two questions I have been asked most frequently during the run up to these Games are:

How many medals will the Great Britain swimming team get? And can America's win all eight golds in the events he is competing in?

The answer to question one is, as all observant readers of my previous blogs will know, that we will get more finalists than before and take it from there.

Regarding the second query, Phelps is more than capable of bettering Mark Spitz's efforts at the 1972 Munich Games, but he will have to rely on US colleagues backing him up in the relays and not thwarting his efforts in the five individual events.

Last weekend, the and those who have aspirations to be on the team in 2012 were put through their competitive paces.

In truth, four weeks out from the Games, lightning fast times weren't expected but it gave us a decent barometer on how Britain's medal prospects are looking.

After the competition, at the I'm firmly convinced that there will be more British finalists than we have seen for many years and that, with it's mix of youth and experience, this is the most cohesive squad that has represented GB in swimming at the Olympics in recent memory.

I have mixed feeling about the .

That's me being very selfish, of course, as nothing would have given me greater pleasure that to see Leon and synchro partner Peter Waterfield go one better than and take gold in the platform event this time.

But I also know what a huge asset the 30-year-old will be alongside me in the commentary box.

It has traditionally been the least glamorous event in the programme - from the layman's point of view at least - but the Olympic 1500m swimming final could turn out to be the most exciting of the lot.

In the past the masters of the 30-length discipline have been rather marginalised, with the exception of Australia where it is still the event in the pool.

TV companies like to cut to the chase, almost literally, and show the last 200 at best and shorter if they can get away with it. That shows scant regard for the sports' hardest-working competitors.

There was plenty to reflect on and admire from the British Olympic Trials in Sheffield and the performances at the .

British records, Commonwealth records, a few European ones sprinkled in for good measure, and the (pictured below) in the 50 metres backstroke.

Don't, however, get the impression that Britain has become a swimming superpower. There is still a long way to go before we can be bracketed alongside the USA and the Australians. Inexorable progress is being made on that front and, bit by bit, we are closing in on the top nations in Europe, which is a big step in itself.

I'm 大象传媒 Radio's swimming commentator, and I also commentate on basketball and ice hockey. I am the 大象传媒 TV commentator on diving.

I was born just in the , which would explain why cricket was my first real love and I was a Middlesex junior member.

My first venture into radio was with Capital Radio's Hullabaloo programme when I was 15, and I did a weekly feature called 'Pop Spot', which was about music not lemonade, by the way.

On leaving school at 17, I wanted to get into radio but there were no real openings then, so I ventured into the music business - music being my other great passion.

My first job was a glamorous one. Printing - I could probably have told you the 'A' and 'B' sides from , but fortunately I just remember the 'A' sides now!

大象传媒 Radio Medway gave me my first opportunity in February 1983. On recommendation from Rod Lucas, Kevin Geary, then Sports producer at the station, allowed me to present Out and About, the sport and music programme, which I did for about five years.

Fast forwarding to 1997, after five years at 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield I joined the 5 Live sports team, and during the last 11 years I have covered two Olympics, two Winter Olympics and three Commonwealth Games, along with four world long course swimming championships.

Aside from the Olympics, both winter and summer, my favourite yearly event is as I am a huge tennis fan and have commentated on 5 Live Sports Extra for the past six years.

In Beijing, I will be working with and on the swimming for radio. Karen will assist me on the open water event, and then I transfer to television for the diving and some basketball commentary.

It's not all over then, as I will be staying on for the , where I will provide the television commentary along with .

All things considered, it's not a bad life!