Always Blame the Paki.

Today at the Olympics TeamGB finished second in the men's 4x100m relay final but were disqualified because Danny Talbot passed the baton to Adam Gemili (who looks a bit foreign) outside of the designated change over area. Officially this was due to a combination of Gemili starting his run too early and a shoulder injury limiting the mobility of his arm making it difficult for him to reach for the baton. Unofficially this was all faked in order to allow for discussion about why the discovery of a body in Tia Sharp's grandmother's house didn't have the effect the Brits had been hoping for - did they move too soon? was there a problem passing from one operator to another etc? I don't want to go into detail but yesterday (9/8/12) the USA did put pressure on the Brits over the Tia Sharp case. I honestly don't think the Brits yet fully understand what was said to them but it certainly made them move faster which meant the pressure from the USA was certainly very effective.

This success was neatly reflected in the women's 4x100m relay where the USA not only won gold but broke the world record that had stood since 1985 and lasted longer then the nation (East Germany) that set it. This obviously puts a huge amount of attention on the four young, black American women who make up the relay team. This promotes discussion about the recent willingness to allow more black women (not yet men) into US establishment/state/intelligence community. In a way this is a good thing because it shows a declining level of racism within the US establishment. However in my experience the machine changes people more then people are ever able to change the machine. So rather then reflecting a change in ideology from the USA it simply means they now feel comfortable to draw talent from a wider pool.

The possible negative effects of this integration of black faces into the US establishment was reflected in the final of the men's 4x400m relay final. After the controversies of yesterday's heats the South African team did the decent thing and made sure they finished last. This was to avoid the nasty protests that would have arisen if double amputee Oscar Pistorius had won a medal. You see within running circles Pistorius is still a very controversial figure not because people don't like his disability but because they actually think it gives him an unfair advantage. After all his prosthetic legs don't get tired and if one breaks he simply needs to swap it for another one. Perhaps because of the sight of the South Africans not trying as hard as they could and because of the embarrassment of Manteo Mitchell's alleged broken leg in their heat the USA settled for the silver medal allowing Barbados to win the gold - their first ever on the track at an Olympics. That is not to take anything aways from Barbados' success though because they clearly wanted the victory more then anyone else in the race possibly in order to demonstrate to the world that there are other islands in the Caribbean then Jamaica and other runners then Usain Bolt. No doubt the USA will be wanting payback for this favour from their neighbour in the near abroad at some point.

Also while not strictly speaking sport I should point out that apart from the manhunt in the Tia Sharp case police in the Manchester area of Britain are searching for a man wanted in connection with a series of three very small gun and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. This has the potential to develop into a Raul Moat style circus but for now it's a British attempt to generate support for tougher gun control in the USA by showing that when our psycho's go psycho they normally end up killing far fewer people because they have less access to firearms and explosives.

23:59 on 10/8/12.