Olympic pride

No-one is talking about the smog in Beijing anymore. Obviously it's still just as bad, but more important things have replaced it in the Olympic story

Gathering the most medals in a hundred years, team GB is third in the table, Australia two places behind.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell is in Beijing, and says the current budget for London 2012 - 9.3 billion pounds - will not be going any higher. 

But now that we've done so well in China, would anyone care if it did?

Part of our success in these games has been down to extra funding from the national lottery, which started in 1994. 

Maybe to secure second, or even first place in the medals table in 2012, we should divert more money from the lottery to sport.

In my local supermarket yesterday, people were standing round some big screen TVs, watching replays of Londoner Christine Ohuruogu's brilliant win in the 400 metres.

They were captivated, because Britain had won, again.

This isn't supposed to happen.

But it has, and the money has helped.

The government, and the lottery, must dig even deeper during the next four years.