By Paul Giblin
LONDON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Manchester United look like missing out on their pursuit of Brazilian superstar, Lucas Moura, but if the Sun newspaper is right, he could be about to get quite an impressive consolation prize -- Usain Bolt!
"BOLT: 'I want a trial for Man Utd,' is the headline of the paper, in which Bolt is quoted as saying, "people may think I am joking, but if Sir Alex Ferguson called me and said 'OK, lets do this, come and have a trial,' it would be impossible for me to say no."
"I would be the fastest player in the team, but I can play as well. I'm in Britain for the next few days so if Sir Alex Ferguson wants to give me a call, he knows where I am," said Bolt.
The 100 meters gold medalist is said to be an excellent cricket and football player, indeed a Jamaican reporter told me on the bus to the Olympic Park that he could make it as a professional, saying "He's got an excellent touch."
Whether any of the three Swedish women handball players can vouch for that or not after posing for photos at 3am in the morning after Bolt's 100 meters triumph is not sure, suffice to say that the sprint legend sailed through to the semifinals in the 200 meters just 32 hours after the photos went on the net. He clearly is not of his planet!
The Kate Middleton watch continues with Prince William's wife continuing her exhausting Olympic schedule by putting in an appearance at the sailing on the south west coast in Weymouth. Kate has now seen the athletics, the cycling, the equestrian events, the gymnastics and almost everything else, though for some strange reason she is not expected to put in an appearance at Greco-Roman wrestling. Maybe watching sweaty men dressed in leotards isn't quite her thing.
Swimmer Ryan Lochte looks as if he has got over the disappointment of only winning two gold medals at these Olympics, when he was expected to do better than Michael Phelps.
Lochte, whose mother recently said doesn't want a long term relationship as he only enjoys one night stands, was photographed falling into a taxi at 3.30 am with two attractive young ladies. I hope they remembered that this is a man who recently admitted to urinating whenever he gets into a swimming pool and avoided his shower at all costs.
The French and the British have never been the best of neighbors and these Games have seen a few neighborly falling outs. French President Francoise Holland set the ball rolling after two days when he mocked British PM, David Cameron for the lack of early medals for the home team, while the French were performing well in the pool.
Since then of course it's all changed, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson (yes, him again) said Holland should 'put that in his pipe and smoke it,' after Team GB overtook France in the medal table. Now the French are upset at GB's stunning success in the Velodrome, where the hosts have already won five gold medals and France have won five fewer.
The French have hinted that Team GB have 'magic wheels,' to help their riders go faster, while GB coach Dave Brailsford has joked they are 'specially round,'. I await the day someone rides to glory on wheels that are anything other than round with interest.
Legacy is the watchword of these Olympic Games, which aim to inspire people to get fit and take up more sport. That can be seen by the increased number of cyclists, for example on Britain's streets, while gym membership is also on the rise.
What is doubtful is if normal people will rush out to buy a horse after GB's success in Monday's Show Jumping and thinking of horses, British rider Charlotte Dujardin recently compared her horse, Valagro, to Barcelona footballer, Leo Messi... I can see the likeness, I really can: Leo Messi is a man who is 1.69 high and weighs around 70 kilos, while Valagro is a horse.
Meanwhile there is worrying news on the health front. The pie shop chain Greggs, famous for artery clogging products laden as they are with fat and calories, report an increase in sales of between 30-80 percent in shops close to the Olympic venue, while sales across London as a whole rose by 10 percent. Add to that the incredibly high TV viewing figures and ask the question: as a national are we getting fitter or fatter?
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