Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking:

Hold on a moment, I thought that the Opening Ceremony was on Friday

and you would be entirely correct in that assessment. However you have to remember that between August 9th and August 24th a grand total of 302 medals will have to be decided and it’s not just a case of having 302 finals, as some of these sports need to have qualification stages and one of those sports is Soccer. Therefore at a little after 5.00pm Beijing time tomorrow afternoon at Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium and Shenyang Olympic Stadium will see the first matches of the 2008 Olympics take place as the women of Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Sweden, Norway, the Unitd States and the host nation begin that long road to Olympic glory and don’t think that they’re on their own because on Thursday the men of Brazil, Belgium, Honduras, Italy, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Argentina and the Ivory Coast do exactly the same thing in the same places as well as introducing Shanghai Stadium to the world.