Since Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games over a century ago in 1896, the world has constantly been reminded of the power of sport. In 1936 Hitler attempted to use the Berlin games to prove the superiority of the Aryan race, only to be disproven by the magnificent Jesse Owens who raced to four gold medals. After World War II, London magnanimously hosted the 1948 event, where Ilona Elek of Hungary and Jan Brzak of Czechoslovakia won gold medals twelve years after winning in Berlin, illustrating that not quite everything had changed following the war.

In Munich, 1972, Palestinian terrorists tragically murdered eleven members of the Israeli team. After a 34 hour postponement, the IOC ordered the Games to be resumed, denying the terrorists their glory. Mark Spitz dazzled winning an extraordinary seven swimming golds. In Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, Russia and USA boycotted each other's games under the Cold War cloud. Sebastian Coe, a middle distance runner, united the two games though by winning back-to-back 1500m golds, the first man to do so.

Accordingly, social issues have already been raised ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games. The first is a highly anticipated insight into communist China's current state of affairs, as the world's next global economic power. The second is the state of the smog, which will undoubtedly raise global warming issues. Hopefully these games will help address certain issues that need attending to. What history tells us though, is that through the pure power of Olympic competition, "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (meaning ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’), the world's athletes will remind us all of what humankind is capable of through a lot of perseverance and a little bit of magic!

I'll be commenting on all of the action throughout the games, from valiant victories to distressing defeats, raucous rumours to exhilarating events. Hopefully Beijing will provide us with all the fun and entertainment sport is capable of. Now before I can say, "Let the Games begin...", I’ll be offering a few previews ahead of the opening ceremony on August 8th, picking out athletes to watch out for, investigating last-minute rumours and trying to predict who will be the surprise packages in the overall medal table.  If only that was an Olympic event, I might have a chance at grabbing the gold!

Related links:

Record-breaking predictions - What are the absolute limits to human performance levels?

Olympics Legacy: London 2012 - the game's afoot and there's all to play for