The Beijing 2008 Olympics is officially 'over' on the evening of 24th August, when the closing ceremony takes place in their enormous 'bird's nest' stadium. London gets a few minutes in the ceremony as part of the Handover, which will be shown on big screens hastily put up in London and across UK cities. This happens to be on the early afternoon (in UK time) on the Sunday of the big august bank holiday/Notting......

Just a week after we were all taken aback that work on the Olympic stadium had begun ahead of schedule, its fate is being discussed with potential hosts of the next Games and the idea mooted to recycle its seats for reuse in 2016. It was always planned for the sunken cupcake to have a certain number of permanent seats with extra capacity retained only for the period of the Games. Discussions with Chicago,......

The relay that carries the famous Olympic Torch from Greece to its destination every four years is the sort of thing that, if it attracts any notice at all, is seen by many as a quaint and slightly embarassing display of athletic self-importance. Everything passed off quietly when the procession came through four springs ago, but this time we are Hosts In Waiting and the journey finishes in Beijing. Suddenly it's one of the......