EURO 2004 began and ended with Greece beating Portugal, so everything inbetween was a waste of time. Now we can begin to turn our attention to something much less trivial, the Olympic Games.

Could it be that the Greek footballers were actually inspired by the knowledge that the Games are about to return to their birthplace?

This is a useful argument for those behind London's 2012 Olympic bid, who can now insist even more forcibly that it will persuade the nation to get off its backside.

Soon they will be telling us it was far better for Greece to win Euro 2004 than England as that would merely have inspired a drunken stupor from which no-one would have emerged for weeks.

Instead we can take a clear-headed view as we gaze in awe on the Greek gods and see before us Mount Olympus and the clear route we will embark upon to reach its summit.

Just imagine if England had won - Baddiel and Skinner would be on every night for a year and we wouldn't be able to tear ourselves from the settee.

At Olympic time we are always reminded of the founding father's assertion that it's the taking part that counts.

Well, it's a good starting point, but it's not the sort of maxim likely to be embraced by those exploring the outer limits of their endurance in order to achieve gold.

The obvious risks in this are an accepted part of the journey and mean that some medal prospects fall agonisingly short of the starting line. Alex Partridge, a potential successor to Steve Redgrave, is out with a collapsed lung, while cyclist David Millar's quest for glory has driven him beyond the legal limits.

The favourite for the time trial gold has admitted that he has taken the banned blood booster EPO and faces an Olympic life ban.

Just imagine the shockwaves if Paula Radcliffe made a similar admission. It is unthinkable that Paula relies on anything more than the sheer guts and determination for which she is so admired, and she is our one realistic hope of athletics gold.

The inspiration of our Sydney goldrush has proved to be a bit of a myth. Denise Lewis's heptathlon triumph is a faded memory as she strives to rediscover her form and where are the triple jumpers striving to follow in Jonathan Edwards' footsteps?

At least Stephanie Cook, who won the first women's modern pentathlon, has two potential successors in Georgina Harland and Kate Allenby, and with Ed Coode taking over from Partridge the men's four will surely be in the frame with Pinsent and Cracknell still involved.

Despite Millar's disgrace there will be other cyclists in the frame, while yachtsman Ben Ainslie is going for a Sydney repeat. But I'm not aware of another Audley Harrison, so we might have to look to the improving swimmers and Pippa Funnell's three-day event team for further glory. And we shouldn't write off Tim Henman.

THE favourite for the Olympic 100 metres gold will be world champion Kim Collins from the tiny Caribbean island of St Kitts and Nevis. Before running at Gateshead recently he visited Whickham Parochial School, where the children asked him what advice he would give them.

"Never give up," was the reply as Collins added that at school he wasn't even the fastest in his class.

"There was one guy who was much quicker than me," he said. "But I met him recently and he had a beer belly and was unfit."

NO-ONE surely has explored his outer limits further than Lance Armstrong, who is again shrouded in controversy as he goes for a record sixth successive Tour de France win. He abandoned three times in his first four Tours, then contracted testicular cancer and was given a 50-50 chance of survival.

While we like to think it was a life-changing experience which hardened his resolve, he has been accused of taking stimulants in a new book. He has threatened legal action and meanwhile took over the Tour leader's yellow jersey on only the fourth stage.

AMONG those who have won the Tour de France five times is Eddy Merckx, who is usually on the list when we are asked to name three famous Belgians. Equally we could be asked to name three famous Swiss, but suddenly it's not so difficult thanks to Urs Meier disallowing Sol Campbell's goal. We already had Roger Federer, and now there's also a chap called Fabian Cancellara, who led the Tour de France until Armstrong took over.

THERE were 15 women whose surname ended in ova in the first round of the Wimbledon singles and for most of them it was ova and out in the first two rounds. But one went on to win. Whether she struck a blow for all those Eastern Europeans I'm not sure, because the only downside of Maria Sharapova's glorious, wonderful triumph was that she comes across much more as the All American Girl

Published: ??/??/2004