Olympic quote of the day - 3

Two quotes for the price of one, in fact, from members of the Spanish Olympic team describing their official clothing for the games: first up is canoeist Saul Craviotto, who accompanied a picture of himself in his shirt with a comment that broadly translates as,

"It's best if I don't say what I think, I'll leave it up to you..."

while field hockey player Alex Fabregas tweeted,

"Olympic kit; there are no adjectives..."

Looking at the photos - the tracksuit ensemble is illustrated in the second of the main heading pictures, though I'd advise making sure you aren't eating when you click the arrow - will confirm that the kit is, indeed, almost beyond description.

Given the state of their economy, it's not surprising that Spain's Olympic Committee seized the chance of a deal with sports clothing company Bosco to supply them with free uniforms.

Eighteen months later, however, when the promised items arrived, the Spanish must have questioned whether it was really a good idea to turn the design over to Russians who were also in charge of supplying the team kit for their own homeland.

I don't know how much of a threat Spain was likely to present to Russia in the medal tables, but it's certainly going to be something of a challenge to manage 'faster, higher, stronger' when you know you are wearing something that makes a 1970's pub carpet look tastefully restrained.

Meanwhile Craviotto and Fabregas may be doing themselves no favours if this report is true:

Coe believes athletes are damaging their podium chances by constantly sending out their thoughts in a 140-character format, and says he has found "quite a close correlation between the number of tweets at competitive times and the level of under-performance".

Whether or not there is an intentional element of threat to his comments (a tip of the tricorn here to Al Jahom), it's interesting to note that, within hours of hitting the headlines with a negative twitter comment about London traffic, US sprinter Kerron Clement was merrily tweeting away with suspicious enthusiasm (and detail):

"Eating at the Olympic Village. Love the variety of food choices, african, caribbean, Halal Cuisine, India and asian and of course McDonalds."

It will be interesting to see whether Craviotto and Fabregas, when they arrive, will find themselves similarly inspired to praise the living conditions of the Olympic Family.