Paris Olympics 2024

 The Olympic Games in Paris are turning out to be very successful despite the      attempts by some French left wingers to sabotage them, by cutting signal     wires  on their TGV system which rendered travelling to Paris difficult for many.

For the same reason the Eurostar  from London’s St Pancras was substantially curtailed.

Almost amusingly I wondered if the French left wingers’ attacks would if effected in England, have made much difference to the 2012 London Olympics. Our train system is so poor anyway that perhaps not many of us would have noticed.

There have been many Team GB stars and medals at present so selecting one for giving some prominence to in this blog post is not easy. However, for me at least it is Andy Murray who with Dan Evans has surprised so many by clawing their way into the Olympic quarter finals  of the mixed doubles tennis. In the match I watched when they were battling away with the Belgian pair, there were several match points on each side until eventually the Team GB pair made it through to the quarter finals on  tie break points.

Whatever happens at the quarter finals, Andy Murray and Dan Evans have done themselves proud. A journalist in the Daily Telegraph newspaper who  suggested some nine months ago that Andy Murray should retire not least because of his injuries, today published an excellent column to the effect that Andy had proved him wrong. Not often that journalists apologise so all credit to him.

The amazing star of the games so far though must be the French swimmer Leon Marchand, who  won two gold medals for swimming during one evening which not even the hugely successful USA star Michael Phelps had attempted. Michael Phelps has sent his congratulations.

One of the great features of the Olympic games so far has been how all the players seem to hug the losers as well as each other. This was particularly noticeable when there were North and South  Korean winners on the podium. Seeing them all hug and photograph each other was almost joyful.

There is so much grief and bad news in the world at the moment that the Olympic Games are providing a great sight into the qualities and goodness of mankind which are so easily overlooked.