The British have done amazingly well at these Olympics - congrats to them! What I've enjoyed about the British success is seeing how much it's annoyed the Aussies!
They are seriously cheesed off about losing to the "old enemy"!
New Zealand is a small country and doesn't tend to win many medals, but for our population size (a smidgeon over 4 million), we do very well. And the Beijing Olympics have been one of our most successful. We won three gold medals, which is about par for us. They were in the women's double sculls (twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell defended their Athens title by the tinest of margins), women's shot put (Valerie Vili) and men's boardsailing (Tom Ashley). Hayden Roulston became our most successful male track cyclist by winning our only silver medal (in the men's 4000m individual pursuit final, losing that to the great Bradley Wiggins) and a bronze in the men's 4000m team pursuit (made all the sweeter by beating Australia in the bronze medal race!). Mahe Drysdale was a hot favourite to win gold in the men's single sculls, but in the end could only manage bronze after being hit badly with "Beijing Belly". His performance was still very courageous though. George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle also won bronze in the men's coxless pairs. Bevan Docherty, who won silver in the Athens triathlon, could only manage bronze this time. Undoubtedly our most thrilling bronze medal went to Nick Willis in the men's 1500m final. Three New Zealanders - Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker - have won Olympic gold in the men's 1500m race before, and a couple of other Kiwis have won minor medals in it, so it was great to see Willis, already the Commonwealth Games champion, join that elite group with a great run. He could be one to watch in London!
All up, New Zealand won 3 golds, 1 silver and 5 bronzes, which doesn't sound like much, but by this country's standards, a pretty decent little haul.
How about Michael Phelps - is that guy amazing or what? He has attention deficit disorder and some of his teachers said he'd never amount to anything. Bet they must be feeling a bit sick now! But my favourite athlete of these Games has been Usain Bolt: so incredibly fast, and such a funny guy as well! He's brought some great colour to the Olympics, as well as immense running talent. Indeed, the Jamaicans were outstanding in the sprinting, winning 6 gold medals, nearly doubling their entire gold medal haul in Olympic history! Not bad for a little island nation of about 2 million people (only half the population of NZ!).
Of course, there have been a few controversies (like the lip-synching girl in the opening ceremony and the under-age Chinese women's - or should I say girls' - gymnasts!), but on the whole, I think these have been a first-rate Olympics. London is certainly going to have a hard act to follow, but I'm sure they'll do a great job as well.
