أغر؟´«أ½

The Olympics is about joy, hope, triumph, tragedy, despair and mindless optimism in the face of crushing adversity.

Which is good news, because I'm a Manchester City fan and know all about that lot.

For every marathon runner who crumbles yards before the finish, there's a 0-0 draw in a small Polish town to send us out of Europe.

But then for every moment of world record-breaking delight on the track, there's the look on the face of Paul Dickov after he scored at Wembley in 1998's Division Two play-off final.

I joined the أغر؟´«أ½ two years ago, and have been reporting on a menagerie of sports - ice hockey, rowing, speedway, basketball, hockey, racing and even a bit of Aussie Rules, to name a few.

This time around my focus is on canoeing and modern pentathlon, two Olympic sports which don't get much of the spotlight but where GB ought to sneak a couple of medals this summer.

I'll also be keeping on top of developments in all 30 or so Olympic sports - as best I can!

I've been doing this blogging lark for quite a long time elsewhere, so I'll try to find interesting things people are writing around the web and pop links up now and then.