Ken Sutcliffe is the host of Wide World of Sports and an integral member of the National Nine News team. |  |
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The expectation ahead of the Olympics is tremendously high and it has got even better because the weather has really fined up. Olympic Park and the other sites I have seen are still undergoing final touch ups, so some parts of it look a bit like a construction site. But it will all be ready and from what I've seen so far it's going to be outstanding.
The feeling around London is very upbeat. As far as the hosts are concerned, they expect nothing but the best Olympics ever after spending a huge amount on the facilities and their athletes.
This is going to be a really tough and interesting Olympics for Australia, with some great rivalry against Great Britain. The British expect to go past Australia in the medal count as they did in Beijing and with the USA and China being as formidable as ever, it's not going to be easy.
Great Britain has gone down the same road as Australia did after the dark days of the Montreal Games in 1976 where we formed the Australian Institute of Sport. They have put a lot of money into their athletes and they expect to do very well. The home ground advantage should not be sneezed at.
There is currently an evolution taking place in Australian sport with many new faces coming through. We went through a golden period with our swimmers, whether that comes again at these Olympics or maybe four years down the track we will find out. Our athletics team could throw up a few surprises. We're going to do well in the sailing, equestrian and cycling. We will do well in BMX, where we have two world stars. Overall, it would be extraordinarily disappointing if we did not finish in the top eight in the overall medal count.
Everyone is talking about Sally Pearson, the cycling team and what James Magnussen may or may not do. What I do know about the Olympics is that from time to time an athlete will appear that you've never heard about before and they will be one of the big stories of the Games. That happens for all countries. I think that's one of the great things about the Olympics – people get their moment in time and maybe they drift away when it's all over. It's just the nature of the beast.
In terms of the media, we have one of the best facilities I have ever seen. The Australian contingent is only behind the Americans and the BBC in terms of size. We've put a lot of effort into this and we're looking forward to putting together a really good telecast for viewers back in Australia.
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