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The most sought after Olympic memorabilia

Beijing’s most successful Olympian Michael Phelps, with eight gold medals under his belt, consumes an unbelievable 12,000 calories a day. However, neither he nor his physicians have any cause for worry as the calories are also burnt in time for each meal.

Meanwhile, as the Beijing Olympics concluded, smart marketers rushed in to sell items identified by the Beijing icons – the famous gold medal winners - ranging from the domain name ‘Phelpsean’ to basketball players’ shoes.

The US swimmer was the most sought after on internet auction websites. Karen Bard, a spokeswoman for eBay, said the number of items related to 23 year-old ace swimmer, Phelps, had soared to 738% in the past 30 days. Karen added,

“One of the highest priced sold items was an autographed Olympic Speedoswim cap from a special appearance he did in 2004. 19,755 Olympic items had been sold in the past 90 days.”

The most expensive item on offer related to Phelps was the sale of all domains for the word ‘Phelpsean’. According to Wolfram Gauglitz, he derived the word from Herculean and suggested it meant having enormous strength, courage, or size as well as pertaining to Michael Phelps. This is a fitting tribute to the super-swimmer’s incredible accomplishment.

Britain drenched in gold at the Olympics

The result of London’s creative planning, including innovative funding and the accountability factor, made Britain’s Olympic gold harvest a reality. In 1996, British cyclist Chris Hoy travelled to Moscow for the European Under-23 Championship with his own bicycle and just one set of spare wheels. Behold! Britain’s cash-strapped governing body at that time could not even afford to send an accompanying official.  After his return from Moscow, Hoy even had to return his tracksuit so that it could be used by others.

At 32, with a rich haul of gold medals, Hoy became Britain’s most successful Olympian - the first to get three medals in a single Olympics since Henry Taylor in London 1908. He had the following to say:

“It is an unbelievable feeling to achieve the absolute maximum possibly can.”

19 year-old Rebecca Adlington, set the golden ball rolling.  She provided a perfect start to the Olympics for Britain by winning gold in 400m freestyle and beating the world record to win the 800m freestyle. The golden achievement propelled her from being an unknown athlete to the greatest British swimmer in 100 years. An overwhelmed Adington said:

“If somebody said to me that I would win two Olympic gold medals, I would have laughed.”

Britain came fourth in the overall medals league behind hosts China, the US, and Olympic giants Russia with the tally of 19 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronze. Now it is over to London for the 2012 Olympics!

Gordon Brown in Olympics

Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, was critical about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s attendance at the Games, citing concerns over human rights. In his defence, Brown said he expected athletes to…

“…perform to the maximum of their ability…[and]…celebrate genuine Olympic ideals of sportsmanship”.

Gordon Brown told Xinhua, a Chinese News Agency:

“This I think, is the most important message of the Olympics - that the world be brought through sport - and it is that I am in Beijing to celebrate.”

Responding to the criticism in a public reply, Brown wrote that supporting China’s “re-engagement” in the world of sports was in Britain’s national interest.

“Support for the Games and engagement with China is not at the expense of human rights. It is integral to their promotions. China has made enormous social and economic progress over the last three decades, but much more remains to be done.”

Gordon Brown assured that Britain would maintain “close co-operation” regarding the Olympics with China after the next host, London, receives the flag from Beijing at Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Britain’s first athletics gold medal in the Olympics

Christine Ohuruogu’s, 49.62 seconds sprint in 400 meters race landed Britain its first athletics gold medal at the Olympics.

This feat would not be possible, had her appeal against the suspension for missing three out-of competition drug test been lost. The 22 year old determined athlete had won an appeal allowing her to compete in Beijing following her suspension.

Ohuruogu, who won the world title in Japan last year less than a month after returning from 12-month ban said, “It is not sheer luck. I worked hard for this! I might not always get the best start. I might not always be the fastest person, but I just say now if you are going to beat me you are going to have to fight very hard.”

Surely her resolve and never say die spirit supported by hard work brought her and Britain the ‘golden moment’ to be cherished for a long, long time.

Kevin Petersen steps into Vaughan shoes

There is no doubt that much sought after ‘captaincy’ is a crown of thorns. England’s most successful Test captain Michael Vaughan who had enjoyed more highs, including the incredible Ashes win that launched him into the near-Brearley class, gave up the ‘hot seat.’

Michael Vaughan had tears in his eyes while giving up the post bringing back the memories of 1984 when Kimberly John Hughes succumbed owing to his own inadequacies and gave up his job. In Hughes’s case perhaps the emotional outbreak was understandable because he led Australia at a most difficult time in its history because the big stars of the Australian cricket, ‘The Packer Players’  had come back into the national team, generating a tremendous pressure on Hughes.

Kevin Pietersen is expected to guide England into new era as the change has come following Vaughan’s decision to take some time off. Considering the media and social commitments of captains in present time, it’s a Herculean task that might even be the undoing of Petiersen, the batsman.

Though KP seems the perfect candidate for England, in an era when T20 is bent to run over all other forms of the game, whether the challenge will either make him or mar him, only time will tell.