Graham Morrison's blog

The closing ceremony is in three days. I've been here since 6th August and now it feels like time to go home.

For British Jewry, the big Beijing story is Josh West's silver medal in that most punishing of sports, rowing. For Britain as a whole, it's the weekend's golden haul. But out here, the dominant story has been Michael Phelps' record-breaking achievements in the pool - at least before "The Bolt" in the breathtaking 100 metres final.

Kayak racer Michael Kolganov carried the flag for Israeli in what most people thought was the best ever opening ceremony. I heard some say it was also the most expensiveof all time. I returned to my hotel to try and fix some glitches with my email programme and missed much of it although I did get to see the Israeli team enter though.

The glitches refused to go away; first I could receive mail but not send. That was fixed and all was fine but then it went wobbly again and I could send but not receive. Then everything stopped.

Beijing is my fourth Olympics and it hardly seems four years since I was in Athens for 2004 Games. That might be because the process of getting here has been so time consuming. The accreditation process takes two years and all categories of accreditation are oversubscribed.

'One World One Dream'. Well that's the slogan for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, which officially open on Friday August 8. You wouldn't think it though judging by many of the stories in circulation. Human rights, pollution and so on. But hold on, haven't we've heard all this before? Well, yes actually.