Proud

Awesome wasn't it? To watch those young men and women stand on the podium with pride dripping out of them whilst singing the national anthem. It further makes the countries Premiership football players look even more like the attention seeking mercenaries they are. And despite football being the best team sport in the world, I often now look at footballers as individuals whereas our athletes in Beijing have reinvented the word 'team'.

Being British has always been about coming second, or being brave losers, or purring over how great the Aussies are at sports (ooh, they didn't like it up 'em), but not at this moment in history. We are right to be proud of our Olympians, who have only reached the pinnacle of their young lives by dedicating most of it to their sports, often for little reward of recognition.

And for those men and women sat in tiny offices around the UK begging and borrowing for more financial commitment, well they deserve medals as well. The Lottery has helped fund the GB team to the tune of £264m and when the Premier League gets £1.7 billion from Sky and Setanta, don't tell me that isn't money well spent.

The 2012 Olympics is still underfunded to the tune of about £100m, let's hope some private investors can be stirred away from the boredom of the Premiership to the excitment of Team GB.