±«Óãtv

Hello, I've been a fairly old-fashioned (bitter, bolshy and brassick) for ±«Óãtv Sport for the last eight years. Prior to that I made it up and moaned for the kind of publication that guests in Have I Got News For You's missing headline round.

My time here has seen me battle mice during graveyard shifts, update speedway tables every Sunday for three years straight and occasionally write long, hectoring essays that usually opened with a quote from a dead president and finished with an obscure reference to an Italian film. But I'm much happier now, and have even started to write things that people finish.

I've had a couple of cracks at this blogging lark before. Some of you may have read my ramblings about the 2006 Ryder Cup, and before that I ruined a friend's by repeatedly pointing out how lame round-the-world travel blogs are. I'm sure the irony of his licence fee helping to fund my blogging efforts from the other side of the world will not be lost on him.

That said, I'm very excited about the Olympics and feel incredibly privileged to be going to what should be a hectic but historic few weeks. Sometimes sports journalists get criticised for just being fans with laptops. Well, I'm not going to worry about that too much, but I will try to be your Olympic everyfan.