BOY, I'm weary. Dragging myself to work each morning feeling like I've just swum the 400 metres relay at the Olympics or fought a few rounds with West Australian lightweight Anthony Little.

Staying up far too late, I've got abdominal pains

from weight-lifting, gone cross-eyed facing off the

Korean archers trying to anchor thin arrows in the

10-ring at 70 metres.

I've raced down foaming water chutes in my single-

scull kayak, been thrown out of the square ''ring'' in

those weird judo comps.

Have I been busy! And I've got a wineglass in my

hand and I haven't even left home.

The Games offset that sinking feeling that Labor's

Kevin Rudd may be a dud PM, with his Fuelwatch

fiasco, Grocerywatch debacle and now the much-

lauded bank-swap scheme a likely flopperoo, too.

But enough of political hot air

Doncha just love the Olympics! I'm getting bags under my eyes and fighting the emotions each night as our heroes and heroines go through their paces with such verve.

I must confess I'd never heard the name Stephanie

Rice until the raunchy underwear publicity shots with

her then boyfriend Eamon Sullivan. But the world knows about her now, that's for sure.

The way the swimming records have tumbled - and

the way that swimming legend Michael Phelps has

won eight golds to earn the title ''the greatest

Olympian in history'' - one can see why there's a

debate about the Speedo swimming suits aiding

performance.

And what about the pool jokes? Well, has anyone checked the pool length?

Mind you, Channel Seven initially did everything to

alienate me - switching to ads during the opening

ceremony, to the AFL during Michael Diamond's gut-

wrenching shoot-off and the delayed coverage of too

many events to itemise. Not to mention bombarding us with a raft of ads at vital Games times.

Thank God for SBS.

When Seven drives me crazy, I flick over to the

ethnic mob and often find sports hardly known to

Channel Seven viewers.

As for the controversies, many of the greatest films

use dubbed singers or doubles with bigger boobs than the star, or skinnier legs, whatever. Why the fuss over the Chinese using a better voice on a pretty girl in the opening ceremony?

And did you really expect the Chinese to open up and grant unlimited press and human rights freedoms?

Gimme a break. Beijing wasn't built in a day.