All eights: 08/08/08

With eight being an important number in Asian cultures BOCOG (Beijing Organising Committee of Games) is planning to formally open the Games at eight minutes past eight in the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the century. That time is in one and a half days time. Except the football has already begun (in women's' football CHN beat SWE 2:1) and the Yngling and Finn have their practice race tomorrow in Course Area A, just off the breakwater of this magnificent sailing centre.

The BBC are here in force - great to see them finally taking a serious interest in sailing! Shirley Robertson is here with Richard Simmonds doing the interviewing with APP (Andrew Preaces' company) doing the production. Which is just great.

The CHN team and the GBR team have been put next to each other in the boat park - or Athlete Preparation Area to IOC - and so we have a direct line of view of all the interviews. There is a 'mixing' zone between the dinghy ramps and the boat park - sorry, Athlete Preparation Area - which allows the media very close access to the competitors as they come off the water. But it also allows competitors to walk straight through, if they choose, without being followed into the Athlete Preparation Area.

The CHN team had their Press Conference this afternoon; lots of questions about expectations, of course. The team manager played them down, of course. Seriously though, Qingdao is a particularly tricky venue - anything can, and does, happen. So even the most favorable competitor should not 'count chickens', as they say ............

What I am certain of is that if the CHN team do at least reasonably well then the Earth will be their Oyster. They will get the kind of backing that even GBR would dream of and in 2012 ...... who knows.