I can't believe the Olympics are almost over..... I have loved being able to watch it all. Even though I would like to see more field event coverage I really enjoyed so much of the track and field live last night.

While I was very disappointed that Craig Mottram didn't make it and can understand how he must be feeling, I was delighted to see Jared Tallent win another silver medal to back up Sally's effort. Walking is a strange event but I have an idea how tough on your body and your mind it is and to be able to do your best over 20kms and then within a week produce an outstanding effort over 50 kms is amazing. When Nathan Deakes dropped out we thought that our chances were gone but Jared obviously knew better and produced some great results under the increased pressure.

But I guess the results of Craig, Sally and Jared sum up the Olympics in many ways for me. There are always favorites who don't get it right on the day and there are always unknowns who step up and produce the very best when it counts most. I think this is one of the reasons we all love watching the Olympics and seeing some real drama being played out live as we watch from the couch.

Speaking of favourites who don't get it right - one of the men's pole vault favourites did just that. The USA's Brad Walker who had the best jump of the season with 6.04 failed to clear his opening height in the qualifying and won't be in the final. It is incredible to think that he has focused on this event for four years and on the day where he needed to clear a height more than 40 cms below his best he wasn't able to do it. There is no point in trying to cruise through qualifying by passing the early heights to save energy if you are going to be sitting in the grandstand when they hold the final.

This Olympics the most startling thing for me has been the poor performance of the USA in track and field. In past Olympics the US has dominated, especially in the sprints and hurdles but at this stage they trail Jamaica and Russia in the gold medal tally.

In some of the technical events hurdles, pole vault and relays, errors in technique have cost them badly. Watching the relays last night to see both the men's and women's USA teams fail to qualify for the final really highlighted this as did Lolo Jones stumble in the women's hurdles. Being able to perform at your best technically under immense pressure is never easy but that's what it takes at the Olympics.

A major factor in the poor US performance on the track results from so many Jamaicans, who once would have represented the US, now running for their home country. Jamaicans have a long tradition in sprints and relays, but this year in sprints and I assume the relays they have been dominant. In almost every event up to 400 metres including hurdles Jamaica has won medals ...mostly Gold.

I can see the Jamaican men and women winning the 4x100m relays and with medalists in 400m and 400m hurdles they will be hard to beat in the women's 4x400m relay. Tonight we will see the heats of the 4x400m and I will be hoping the Australian men get through to the final and then maybe they can repeat their surprise medal performance from Athens. The 4x400m is a great event, can be very exciting, before I took up pole vault I loved being part of a team and running them.

Also tonight I hope we see our first Aussie gold in track and field. Steve Hooker has a great chance and has jumped 6 metres this year, been ranked No 1 in the world last year and on many occasions performed under pressure. He will have tough competition from Russia's Deny's Yurchenko who is technically very good, appears to be tough under pressure and has a best of 6.01 this season. Steve is a great guy, and a great vaulter who is prepared to take risks - I will be cheering for him tonight and hoping that his risk taking works... because if it doesn't Yurchenko and others will be there when it counts.

With an Aussie in the medal hunt I am sure we will see quite a bit of the bault on TV... and I can't wait.

T