CHINA will apparently leave no mountain unscaled in their efforts to bring the 2008 Olympics to Beijing.

Given their human rights record they shouldn't even be on the starting blocks, but they are starting to realise their mistakes.

They have hatched a plan for a Tibetan and a Chinese climber to take the Olympic flame to the top of Everest, with the Tibetan handing it over to his colleague on the summit.

This is intended to atone for the atrocities carried out in Tibet, while there is also talk of staging some Olympic events in Taiwan, which is not officially recognised by China.

A decision on the 2008 venue is due to be taken in Moscow next month, with Paris and Toronto among Beijing's rivals.

Having been passed over in favour of Sydney for last year's Olympics, much to the annoyance of International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, Beijing clearly fancy their chances this time.

Taking the hallowed flame to the top of Everest is a novel and bold idea, although the very fact that it is considered possible rather belittles the achievement of Sir Edmund Hillary and his successors.

In any event, it shouldn't make a jot of difference to China's bid.

It needs more than a few olive branches to prove they are putting their human rights house in order.

CROP circles are less of a mystery to me than the newsprint devoted to Wimbledon.

For 50 weeks a year tennis merits the odd paragraph to tell us whether Henman and Rusedski have moved up or down in the latest world rankings, then Wimbledon starts and the rest of the world stands still.

We were only into the second day when some reporters were so desperate for a story that they imagined Clinton might pose another threat to Andre Agassi.

Remember the nonsense about the ex-US president's appearance apparently putting Agassi off his stroke in the French Open quarter-final?

Well, this time someone called Mrs Di Clinton was in the crowd for his first round match against Holland's Peter Wessels.

There was no attempt to explain who she was and the fact that she didn't merit a standing ovation meant Agassi was oblivious to her presence. Talk about a contrived story!

Agassi did say that he needed a few days to regroup after his defeat in Paris.

It's one of those buzz words, but I've always wondered how an individual regroups.

Thank goodness Wimbledon attracts the occasional eccentric such as the ventriloquist with his dummy in the Centre Court crowd for the first round of Venus Williams' title defence.

The dummy's head switched back and forth as he followed each rally, but such was the tedium that he probably needed a heavy dose of lubricating oil by the end of the match.

With the odd exception such as Mary Pierce, for those of us of a certain age women's tennis hasn't been worth watching since Chris Evert retired.

I notice she had a column in the Daily Telegraph on Monday in which she advised Jennifer Capriati not to read the newspapers.

This seemed rather odd as the column was part of an eight-page Wimbledon pull-out.

BACK in the real world Gloucestershire continue to get up to every possible trick to prolong their amazing domination of one-day cricket.

No-one has suggested that Jack Russell was unsporting in running out Yorkshire's Darren Lehmann in the Benson & Hedges semi-final. But was it really cricket?

Lehmann hit the ball to mid-off, took two paces forward in case the fielder missed it, and loitered outside his crease when it was obvious there was no run.

I can't believe that a player of his experience would be stupid enough to stand outside his crease if he suspected that Russell might remove the bails and run him out.

But the ex-England wicketkeeper doesn't miss a trick, whether it's on the field or charging inflated prices for his paintings.

What really angers me about Gloucestershire's success is that it achieves absolutely nothing for English cricket.

They appear to care little for the four-day game and consequently do nothing to produce Test cricketers.

WHAT price the Lions tomorrow? Not good, I'm afraid.

Everything was looking fine until the recent injuries, but the absence of Neil Back makes a huge difference.

It would also have been a big help to have had Will Greenwood at centre and Dan Luger on the wing. Iain Balshaw's loss of form plus the absence of Luger means the Lions lack the blistering pace which might have stretched the Aussies.

Still, it will be good to see former Newcastle player Martin Corry reaching the summit of the game alongside Jonny Wilkinson.

And we can rest assured that if it comes down to a kicking duel Jonny will not be upstaged.

Published: 29/06/2001