So Britain can now bask in the glory of our superb Olympians. I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of gold medals we have won. Its also nice to see us excel in sports like cycling which I suppose never really get a look in, domestically when you think of all the football, cricket and rugby that is on our screens.

It really is interesting to read some of the comments from former Prime Minister John Major who not only regrets not investing enough in sport, but makes the point that historically many of our sporting successes have gone to private school. Why? Well they advocate competitive sport.

The ethos that competitive sport is bad for youngsters surely has been shown to be false. Yes you have winners and losers, but such is life. I would love to do a marathon in an Olympic qualifying time but I never have done and never will be able to do. At school I was a failure at Cross country. It didn't damage me. My self esteem wasn't harmed. I was good at other things.

As a country we really could take a leaf out of places like Australia, who really do value competive sport. Then again - given where we are in the medal table maybe they could learn some things from us!