Red Star Over China - Olympics Set To Begin

Well after four years of waiting the games of the 29th Olympiad begin in a little under 7 hours with the opening ceremony in Beijing. As was widely expected 6-time Olympian James Tomkins will carry the flag for Australia at the opening ceremony. He seems a good choice, with perhaps his only rivals to the honour being cyclists Stuart O'Grady and Shane Kelly who will both appear in their 5th Olympics in Beijing.

Despite the games kicking off officially tonight, Australia's involvement has already begun, with the Olyroos taking on Serbia in their first group game of the Men's Football tournament overnight. After being under pressure for the majority of the game, the Olyroos managed to take a surprise lead in the 69th minute through Ruben Zadkovich. However, the goal was cancelled out by a late header from Serbia's Slobadan Rajkovic. The Serbs pressed for the last 10 minutes but could not find a winner, with the match ending 1-1. The result is unlikely to please either team with both, along with Cote d'Ivoire, likely competing for second spot in the group behind defending gold-medalists Argentina. In the other group game, a late strike from Lautaro Acosta helped Argentina steal all 3 points from the Ivorians with a 2-1 victory.

The disappointment of the night was the disgraceful decision by Channel 7 to delay telecast of the game by 2 hours. Apparently Australians would rather watch programs such as Home & Away and Search For A Supermodel than Australia's opening performance in arguably the biggest collective event (sporting or otherwise) on the globe. If that is true than Australian society has surely degenerated beyond all hope of a recovery. Instead, it is just more proof of how much of a disgrace Channel 7 is as a network - they are clearly the worst of the FTA networks and they will most likely continue to provide pathetic and ignorant coverage for the rest of the event. The sooner they lose the rights to the games the better. As usual, I expect SBS's coverage to be much more neutral, thorough, and professional.

But enough of the negativity, and on to the 2008 games in Beijing. My tip to light the Olympic flame? Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler who won gold for China in Athens.