Was the IOC right to criticise Usain Bolt? What is the most dangerous sport at the Games? And what’s the worst horse joke you could possibly imagine?

Tune in to the latest podcast as I’m joined by Julian Linden, Simon Evans, Ossian Shine and Paul Majendie for a figurative stroll around the Olympic green. 

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, chided Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to his rivals after his sprint double at the Beijing Games.

Maybe it’s a generational thing but I doubt if a single person lucky enough to be in the Bird’s Nest on for his 200 metres gold and world record on Wednesday, or when he won his 100 metres in such audacious style, would agree.

“I think he should show more respect, shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones. Not making gestures like the one he made in the 100 metres,” Rogge said on Thursday. “He still has to mature. I would love him to show more respect to his competitors. He should learn that he should shake hands with competitors.”

We have discussed on the blog the rights and wrongs of the Jamaican’s “premature” celebrations as he crossed the line in the 100 — creating one of the iconic images of the Games.

But surely nobody could point the finger about the 200. Bolt was deadly serious about not only completing the sprint double but also taking Michael Johnson’s world record, which he did by running right through the line to clock 19.30 seconds.

His opponents were so far behind he would have stiffened up if he had waited around to shake hands and there were 90,000 people, most of them with cameras, who wanted a closer look at their new hero.

Bolt obliged perfectly, smiling, laughing, dancing and posing — to the delight of the fans who repaid the compliment by singing “happy birthday” ahead of him turning 22 today.

Bolt then spent almost an hour talking patiently to TV crews, before facing the hysterical written press in the mixed zone, then sitting down and going over it all again in the news conference.

He earned respect from everyone who saw him, including finalist Kim Collins who said: “He gave us a brutal ass-kicking.”

Rogge wants him to mature, and he is a year older today than when he won the 200, but for the next generation of athletics fans that the sport is desperate to attract, Bolt is pure gold and the officials should recognise and embrace that.

PHOTO: (TOP): Bolt celebrates gold and a world record in the 200m. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

PHOTO (BOTTOM): Bolt crosses the finish line to win the 200m. REUTERS/Hans Deryk

After watching the men’s nail biting, down-to-the-wire 20 km race walk, I’m still not convinced this sport belongs in the Olympics.

Athletics is about running fast, throwing far and jumping high. Walking is about twisting your body and trying to go fast while trying to go slow. It’s like swimming in a straitjacket.

Walking is the only discipline where style gets scored. Judges watch you race and  warn, then disqualify you if you’re lifting, or if both feet leave the ground.

Who is lifting? Whoever the referees say so. And as with any event with a human element involved,  the decisions will be subjective and often controversial.

This is completely counter to the principles of athletics where it doesn’t matter how pretty your style is because the clock just doesn’t care.

PHOTO: Valeriy Borchin of Russia walks toward the finish line of the men’s 20km walk of the athletics competition at the National Stadium during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 16, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

I’m joined by Simon Evans, Julian Linden, Belinda Goldsmith and Ossian Shine for a short talk about the sport here in Beijing. Tune in to find out about china’s unluckiest man, the power of the yam and why Michael Phelps wouldn’t touch a dram.

A few technical gremlins delayed this but … better kate than trevor.

Ever since Usain Bolt’s father Wellesley told Reuters that the “Trelawny Yam” was behind his son’s world-record breaking gold medal win in the men’s 100 metres, the Olympics has gone into a feeding frenzy over yam.

Rarely has a root vegetable enjoyed as much global interest as the previously humble Yam. So, to satisfy our readers’ craving and hunger, here are Several Things You Didn’t Know About Yam (we couldn’t think of 10).

1. Yams vary in size but some can grow to as long as 2.28 metres which is even longer than Usain Bolt himself (I think).

2. There are believed to be over 150 varieties of Yam. The most popular Jamaican variety is Yellow Yam. However Yam Laranas is not a variety of the vegetable. He is in fact a Filipino film director.

3. Every April, the Trelawny Parish, where Usain Bolt was born and raised, celebrates their root vegetable with the Trelawny Yam Festival which attracts up to 10,000 visitors.

4. “Cogito ergo spud” is Latin for “I think, therefore I Yam”

5. ‘Bat Yam’ is not a Caribbean cartoon Superhero but is a city located on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.

6. Some yam can be toxic if eaten raw. So cook it. This Jamaican lady shows you how.

If you have any more fascinating facts about yam, send em in.

PHOTO: Jamaican fans celebrate Usain Bolt of Jamaica winning the men’s Olympic 100 metres final, at a bar in downtown Beijing, August 16, 2008. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen

Gary Hershorn writes: Without question the story of the day is Liu Xiang walking off the track.

When the unexpected story happens in front of you it’s a stressful few minutes as you try and understand what is going on and then decide how to illustrate the story. The most important thing to remember is that we are journalists and we must find a way to show what happened.

Usually in this situation you come up with a storytelling picture rather then a great photo and this picture of Liu Xiang pulling his numbers off his legs tells the story of an athlete pulling out of the competition.

PHOTO: Liu Xiang of China tears off a number tag before the start of his 110m hurdles heat of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 18, 2008. Liu failed to start his 110 metres hurdles first-round heat on Monday. After one false start Liu stopped before the first hurdle clutching his leg and then walked out of the stadium. REUTERS/David Gray

For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here.

After the shock of Liu Xiang’s departure from the Games through injury, fans in the Bird’s Nest were given a golden moment to compensate at least slightly, as the peerless Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own world record in the pole vault.

The Russian made sure of the gold medal with just two jumps before returning to have a crack at raising her own best mark. After missing twice, she cleared 5.05 metres at the third attempt — with plenty to spare, it must be said.

PHOTO (TOP): Yelena Isinbayeva breaks the world record during the women’s pole vault final of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 18, 2008. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

PHOTO: (BOTTOM): Yelena Isinbayeva celebrates her gold medal and world record. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Was Usain Bolt’s theatrical exuberance before, during and after his 100 metres final appropriate for a man who gave a devastating performance that broke his own world record?

Or was it indulgent, inappropriate and over the top?

Do we want our sportspeople to be modest personalities whose performances do the talking?

Or is showboating and swagger part of the big game experience, key to both the entertainment we crave and the self-belief needed to win at the top level?

Sprinters are not known for being shy, retiring people but a touch of braggadocio is needed by people who explode in intense effort for a few seconds, adrenaline and energy coursing through them, and must then run off their brain-popping endorphins in victory laps or a disappointed jog to the dressing room.

Even so, Bolt’s dancing, gesturing, chest thumping and shoe kissing has divided opinion. Did he go too far?

Was it all a tease to excite us ahead of the 200 metres sprint, Bolt’s favourite race, which he is now hot favourite to win on Wednesday night? Or is the 21-year-old Jamaican such a brilliant athlete he is entitled to his histrionics and we owe it to him just to admire?

Some commentators felt he made a mockery of the race, literally and figuratively. Others chided him for clowning around. Egotistic, said one blogger. Disrepectful, said others. He missed an opportunity to truly devestate the world record by slowing up before the finish, said one fellow athlete.

Others made humorous lists about what Bolt could have done in the spare time he had at the end of his sprint. Text his agent, was the suggestion in one U.S. newspaper.

Charges of hubris come fastest when the celebrations start before the athlete is over the finish line. Is it more acceptable in endurance sports, where a competitor is clearly ahead, has already earned the victory and can be forgiven for wanting to amplify the moment of joy?

Triathlete Emma Snowsill had time to collect an Australian flag more than a 100 metres from the finish and drape herself in that and the finish line banner to celebrate her triumph in the Beijing women’s triathlon. But she was leading by more than a minute. Bolt was leading by two tenths of a second or so.

Despite Bolt’s outstanding form I will be watching the 200 metres carefully, mindful of the famous pratfalls of sport, where a competitor has their arms raised in triumph, medal in the bag, only for a rival to sweep past them at the end.

I was reminded of snowboarder Lindsay Jacobellis who was set for gold in the Turin Olympics. She tried to show off on a jump and crashed out of first place. I hope the laidback Jamaican looks carefully over his shoulder.  

Sweeping the blogosphere, there are two divergent camps when it comes to beach volleyball.

There are those who complain that it is demeaning that female athletes play in bikinis while men wear tanktops and long shorts. Then there those who post pictures of players’ posteriors with pathetic locker-room comments that seem to prove the first camp right.

But before we get our bikini bottoms in a twist, let’s head across to the Bird’s Nest where the fashions of track and field are on display. A quick glance around and, hey presto, same story.

The female athletes are in two-pieces, enviably flat stomachs on show, while the men are sporting shorts and a tanktop or one pieces.

It strikes me there are double standards going on here. Is this linguistic discrimination because on the beach two-pieces are called bikinis? Is it because beach volleyball is considered frivolous and so has become a punching bag for anybody with an issue? Is it because people want to see the men topless?

For the record, I have spoken to many players about the dress code, which does offer women the option of a one-piece. Not one woman said she would ditch her bikini (a) because it limits how much itchy sand gets in (b) it is the coolest option for a sport played in hot countries (c) because the players are pretty proud of their physiques and are not ashamed to show them off. To wear anything else would be unnatural.

The men fall into two camps. A couple said they would keep the tanktop because diving onto sand is pretty painful bare-nippled. The others would much rather rip their tops off and cool down a bit on court. Most of them practise bare-chested.

Some members of the volleyball federation are pushing for no more tanktops so if you have an opinion, don’t just write to me…

PHOTO (TOP): Renata Ribeiro (R) and Talita Rocha of Brazil celebrate their victory against Natalie Cook and Tasmin Barnett of Australia during their women’s beach volleyball quarterfinal match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 17, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

PHOTO (BOTTOM): Alana Boyd of Australia jumps in the women’s pole vault qualifying round of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 16, 2008. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon  

“Well that’s it,” a journalist friend said when he phoned me at the Bird’s Nest a couple of hours after Liu Xiang hobbled out of the Beijing Olympics. “We might as well pack our backs and go home.”
 
We won’t, of course, but for us China-based reporters, this was always going to be the big one: the race that defined the Olympics.
 
I was in the Olympic stadium in Athens the night Liu won the 110 metres hurdles gold. Then it was a mild diversion, a tremendous performance from an unlikely source. He had barely finished his lap of honour, though, before his title defence in Beijing was being written about. It was too neat a line to miss.
 
Since then, I’ve written thousands of words about the skinny man from Shanghai with a penchant for karaoke and braised pork.
 
I was there last year, too, when he won his first world title on a hot and humid night in Osaka, his favourite track.
 
By then I’d been inside the Bird’s Nest and even as I pondered the raw concrete bowl with mud beneath my feet where the track would lie, I was thinking about how it would look and sound packed to its twisted steel rafters with a fevered Chinese crowd cheering Liu on.
 
We did see him run in the stadium at a test event earlier this year, but, to adapt a line from an American politician, I know Olympic finals and that was no Olympic final.
 
After his injury earlier this season, and his disappearance behind closed doors for a couple of months, I can’t even say I’m even surprised by what has happened. 
 
I have always felt sorry for Liu because of the pressure he was under and today also felt sympathy for his coach Sun Haiping, who has always come across as a thoroughly decent man. 
 
But rather selfishly, my main emotion is disappointment. We now know almost for certain that we will never hear the sound of 91,000 people celebrating an Olympic gold medal for one of their own in what must be one of the world’s finest stadiums.  

PHOTO (TOP): Liu Xiang of China grimaces in pain during his warm-up before the start of his 110m hurdles heat in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 18, 2008. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

PHOTO (BOTTOM): Sun Haiping, coach of China’s Liu Xiang, cries during a news conference at the National Stadium. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon