Spanish get it wrong again

FIVE RINGED CIRCUS: THE SPANISH basketball team have been criticised by the IOC for their ill-conceived newspaper advert ahead of the Games. What did they do? Why all the players were pictured pulling slant-eyed gestures.

That's a touch spooky as it was the Spanish team that were stripped of their medals in 2000, when able athletes were found to be impersonating the intellectually disabled at the Sydney Paralympics. That incident has been cited as one of the "most outrageous moments in sport history".

Maldives swimmer out of her depth

AISHATH REESHA of the Maldives may share the same thoughts as Andrew Bree and Melanie Nocher, who both swam Irish records but were too slow to qualify. Reesha, who trains on a sand track, was beaten by nearly a half lap on her Olympic debut in the women's 800 metres heats yesterday. But her time of 2:30.14, was an improvement of almost three seconds on her personal best.

Coe has some strange views

FOR A Tory Sebastian Coe is usually okay. But the good lord has some strange views too. American swimmer Michael Phelps may have gone into the record books with a haul of 11 gold medals but Coe rates Daley Thompson as a greater Olympian. "I'm not saying Michael Phelps is not one of the greats but I'm not sure how you would compare him to Jesse Owens or Haile Gebrselassie or Vera Caslavska or Nadia Comaneci or Daley Thompson, who I actually genuinely think was the greatest Olympian," said the former champion. Why so? "Because he is my mate," said Coe. Sound then.

Chinese hacks get their orders

CHINESE JOURNALISTS have been issued with a 21-point edict warning them not to report on negative issues, according to the South China Morning Post, which has published the full list. The edict from the government's, er, information department includes the idea of not reporting on food-safety issues, no negative comments about the opening ceremony and not overhyping China's gold medals.

Reade sticks to British time

BRITAIN'S SHANAZE Reade, favourite for gold in the BMX, will not arrive in Beijing until the last moment as she has stayed at British Cycling HQ in Manchester to practise on a start ramp that matches the one in China. When she does arrive she will continue to operate on British Summer Time, getting up and going to bed seven hours behind everyone else.