Brian, I sympathise with your thoughts on this matter.

I was fortunate to be a very good swimmer, competing at the State level but fortunately for me, by the end of year 10 at school I had come to the realisation that the only person I was competing against was myself, swimming is a boring monotonous undertaking despite its physical and perhaps mental benefits.

I gave up competitive sport because I did not see the point of it and then perused more academic followings, reading and the gathering of knowledge across a broad spectrum of interests has served me well throughout my life.

The current Olympic spectacle is no longer about sport, it is a commercial enterprise, sponsorship, advertising and the pursuit of money for the sake of more money seems to be the main pursuit.

My current objection to Olympic sport comes from the $388M-$500M in taxpayer money that has been 'invested' in this current 'London' enterprise.

I believe that governments should provide support for sport but not at the expense of other more important areas of need.

Unfortunately we live in a country that recognise 'Sports Stars' as worthy of greater importance than scientists, those working in the health, education, community development and many other important areas, I also recognise there is little chance of this mantra changing in the near future.

I found it interesting that one of our gold medallist winners stated in an interview "I did this for me, not anyone else" or words to that effect. Ironic when you consider the amount of taxpayer funds that would have been spent supporting 'her' achievement.

I for one rather go for a walk rather than watch some egotists strain themselves to no end.
Yes, some sporting events can be interesting if the hype of competition is turned down.
Have a look at this.

http://youtu.be/453UBJjB1jc