Well, the waiting is nearly over, and there’s just 40 hours until the opening ceremony of the much-vaunted, oft-maligned 2008 Summer Olympics.

Enough has been written about the merits or not about Beijing’s hosting of the Games, and I don’t think I have anything much more to contribute - if you’re looking for slightly more political commentary, I suggest you have a look at Stephen Boyle’s consistently brilliant blog.

What I’m more interested in, as one hopes everyone should be in the run-up to the world’s biggest sporting occasion, is the Games themselves. Occasions like the Olympics are ones which anyone who has the chance should fully indulge - and I don’t just mean where you read the coverage every day and watch the TV highlights, I mean the whole thing. A friend of mine is planning on leaving another’s birthday party early this Saturday night, because at point she’ll be “on Beijing time”, and will be leaving to make sure she doesn’t miss Pauline Curley in the Women’s Marathon - finishing at about 1.30am Irish time on Sunday morning, or Derval O’Rourke’s 100m heat at 11am.

Sad as that may sound, would that I could do the same, but alas my working life simply doesn’t allow for it. Tournaments like the Olympics, or the FIFA World Cup, demand that kind of devotion - they simply don’t come around often enough not to give it your every waking moment of attention.

WIth that in mind, I present to the world my 10 Favourite Olympic Moments. With any luck, Beijing will provide another fleet of memories to add to it. (more…)