More disappointment

OK, I admit it - I quite often pick a female athlete to support purely on the basis of her looks. I'm a man. This is how we work.

Thus, the most heart-wrenching moment of the week for me was not Liu Xiang's withdrawal from competition on Monday (that was pretty distressing, but hardly unexpected; it had been on the cards for months), but Lolo Jones's disaster in the Women's 100m Hurdles Final on Tuesday (she was storming to victory when she clipped the last-but-one hurdle with her leading foot and stumbled heavily; she managed an amazingly quick recovery, and made a desperate surge for the line to try to make up lost ground - but that half-second wobble is the difference between being first and last in this event).

Hurdles really is an evil event. Whoever thought of asking sprinters to jump over shit as well?? Cruel and unusual, I say.

Now, I believe Ms Jones is a terrific athlete; and she's also a very strong and goodhearted person who's overcome a lot of adversity in her life in the past, and has been able to bear this devastating disappointment with much dignity and good sportsmanship too. She is thus well worthy of our admiration, support, and sympathy on many counts. She just happens to be strikingly beautiful as well.