The 2012 Olympics: Day 3.

As the 2012 Olympics start to pick up pace there have been a fair few controversies today (30/7/12).

The first of these surrounded TeamGB's men's synchronised diving pair Tom Daley and Pete Wakefeild who blew their chances of gold in the World 10m platform. Apart from the rather sick reference to people stumbling off platforms while London's underground rail network faced it's first big test of the Olympics you may remember this pair from the 2008 Bejing Olympics. Then there was a lot of innuendo about the partnering of a metrosexual bordering on downright gay looking 14 year old boy prancing around in not very many clothes with his much older male partner. On that occasion TeamGB was trying to promote a global homosexual age of consent that was the same as the heterosexual age of consent by demonstrating that a partnership between an adolescent boy and a much older man could be a winning combination. This year TeamGB has clearly changed it's mind about that idea because while you can't say definitively that it was Daley or Wakefield who was at fault in their final dive they certainly weren't working well as a couple.

The second big controversy came in the men's team gymnastics which saw TeamGB awarded the silver medal only to be relegated to the bronze medal follow a protest by TeamJapan. This is still a good result for TeamGB because it's the first medal they've won in men's gymnastics since the 1932 Olympics and the first medal they've won in the team event ever. I should explain that unlike female gymnasts who hit their physical peak at around 15/16 years of age or younger male gymnasts don't peak until their early 20's. This coupled with the fact that the men wear a lot more clothes when they perform means that the isn't the overtones of paedophilia in men's gymnastics that there is in the women's events. Gymnastics though is one of if not the most physically demanding and downright difficult disciplines in the Olympic games. If you don't believe me go and try doing a handstand and then holding it perfectly still for two minutes. As it is all about strength, focus and flexibility male gymnasts are the people that all the intelligence/espionage people who attend the Olympics wish they were which makes it a really hotly contested event. China are the undisputed world champions of the discipline which make their close neighbour Japan really, really want to beat them or at least come second to them. So while I don't really understand the technical aspects of TeamJapan's appeal I think it was born out of a strong desire not to be viewed behind TeamGB as the main challengers to TeamChina's crown.

The third controversy centred around Michel Morganella,the TeamSwiss soccer player who was sent home after posting offensive comments about South Korea on Twitter. Although I've no idea what exactly Morganella wrote I think this was an inquiry about Britain's ongoing John Terry race row. Away from the Olympics the English Football Association (EFA) yesterday (29/7/12) announced that they are charging John Terry with misconduct regarding the allegations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand despite the fact he has already cleared by a court of law over the alleged offence. Today the EFA announced that it is also charging Rio Ferdinand - Anton's brother - who made Twitter comments calling Ashley Cole - a witness in Terry's defence - a "choc-ice" which is a racially offensive term meaning a black person who is white on the inside. The purpose of charging John Terry was to bring up the whole debate over who is or isn't a credible witness that dominated the trial. That whole trial was a metaphor that Court of Protection (COP) case regarding my grandmother in which the whole issue of witness credibility was rendered moot by the stacks of documentary evidence. The charging of Rio Ferdinand seems to be an attempt to draw yet more attention to the charging of Terry in case it got missed the first time.

The fourth controversy revolved around South Korean fencer Shin Lam who refused to leave the playing area for 70 minutes after being told she had lost her semi-final against Germany's Britta Heidemann - a decision she clearly disagreed with. An appeal was mounted but apparently lost. I actually randomly switched on to watch in the middle of this and had no idea what was going on. Having read up on the incident I've still got no idea what was going on. However I like to like it was TeamSKorea making a point to a European Union (EU) opponent and the hosts how undignified it can be when the loser refuses to accept that they've lost.


23:00 on 30/7/12.