Organisers created a bit of a storm this morning when they revealed that parts of the spectacular firework display at the opening ceremony had been pre-recorded.

See this from Karolos Grohmann’s story on Reuters:

“Some footage had been produced before the opening ceremony to provide theatrical effect,” Beijing Games Executive Vice President Wang Wei told reporters.

Among the sections that were pre-produced were parts of a stunning fireworks display across the city, a series of fireworks “footprints” that led to the Bird’s Nest stadium where the four-hour extravaganza was staged.

A night-time aerial shot traced the consecutive explosions on the ground as they approached the stadium. “There were footprints of fireworks,” Wang said. “Some of them were genuinely produced. Some maybe were used from previously recorded material.”

This news clearly annoyed at least some people, judging by reaction around the Web, but does it really matter if organisers used a few tricks to ensure the TV viewing public would see a perfect show?

Wasn’t there also a suspicion that organisers of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona had a trick up their sleeve to ensure the final lighting of the Olympic cauldron (with the archer, you’ll remember) passed off without a hitch?

In any case, the opening ceremony in Beijing wasn’t even shown live in the United States… 

Ronaldinho’s two-goal performance against New Zealand in Sunday’s Olympic Games has already been hailed as some sort of revival after his miserable last season with Barcelona.

The former World Player of the Year showed flashes of his best form in the 5-0 win with plenty of cheeky flicks, shimmies and stepovers. And, of course, he grinned.

“This was a reward for everything which I have done and for all the people who believed in me and helped me to start playing again,” he told Brazilian media.

But the performance needs to be put into context.

The Olympic soccer tournament is an under-23 competition and Ronaldinho is competing as one of the three permitted overage players per team.

Brazil’s opponents qualified from a group in which Fiji were their strongest opponents. They have only three professionals in their 18-man squad. Most of the other players are university students who play football for fun.

Ronaldinho has just signed for AC Milan. He will play in arguably the world’s most unforgiving league and is going to have to fight hard just to get into the team every week.

There are some much tougher battles ahead and it remains to be seen whether he has the motivation to return to his best.

Any talk of a Ronaldinho revival is way too premature, isn’t it?

Argentina could yet pay a heavy price for the deal which has allowed Lionel Messi to play at the Olympic Games.

A lengthy tug-of-war with Barcelona for Messi’s services ended with the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that Barcelona were not obliged to release him for the Olympics.

However, with Messi already in China and having made it clear his heart was in the Olympics, Barcelona relented and said he could play — provided certain conditions were met.

One was that the Argentina Football Association (AFA) would effectively pay Messi’s wages while he is in China — costly but not unaffordable.

Another was that Argentina would not pick Messi for any friendly internationals in the next year, and that is where the AFA’s coffers could be hit hard.

The arrangement of friendly matches is one of the sport’s most lucrative growth industries.

The likes of Brazil and Argentina are paid handsomely for taking their national teams overseas but the entrepreneurs who arrange the games usually demand the presence of all the top players before they cough up.

Argentina may have plenty of other exciting players such as Carlos Tevez, Juan Roman Riquelme, Sergio Aguero and Fernando Gago, but Messi is the one the fans really want to see.

Without him, Argentina’s appearance fee will likely suffer a considerable knockdown.

Still, at least his presence is working for the team on the pitch. He was the driving force again on Sunday as Argentina beat Australia 1-0 to seal their place in the quarter-finals.

PHOTO: Messi pictured during Argentina’s Group A match against Australia at the Olympic Games in Shanghai, August 10, 2008. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci