BBC Sport: Olympics blog

During the late 1970s I infuriated my parents by trying to emulate Brian Jacks as he squat-thrusted his way to another Superstars title.

Copying his technique, which was basically sliding your feet back and forth across a white line, was apparently not great for the new lounge carpet (or Wayne McCullough's feet in a recent edition of the show) and I was banished to trying it out on the lino in the kitchen, which actually worked much better.

For those of you wondering what on earth I'm blathering on about, keep an eye on Channel Five this summer as they are reincarnating the genius that was Superstars, although I'm sure it just won't be quite as good as the original - these things never are.

And where does all this fit in with the Olympics?

Well, Jacks, who incidentally holds the Superstars world record of 118 squat thrusts in a minute, was also rather good at judo and a member of the team that won Britain's first-ever Olympic medals at the 1972 Munich Games.

He won a bronze medal in the middleweight division while David Starbrook took silver in the half-heavyweight and Angelo Parisi claimed bronze in the open category.

On the women's side Kate Howey, is Britain's most decorated judoka, having won a bronze in Barcelona and a silver in Sydney and is the only athlete to compete in four Olympics.

In fact, Team GB have claimed 16 Olympic judo medals since the introduction of the sport at the 1964 Games for men and 1988 as a demonstration sport for women, but that total comprises seven silver and nine bronze - no gold.

All that could change in Beijing though as Britain are sending a team that includes 2005 World -60kg champion Craig Fallon.

The 25-year-old became only the third Brit, after Neil Adams in 1981 and Graeme Randall in 1999, to win World gold.

Also in Team GB are 2007 World and European -81kg bronze medallist Euan Burton, who we are following on BBC Sport, and Karina Bryant who has won European gold and World silver medals.

So, will Britain break their judo duck in Beijing?

(And if you get close to Jacks' squat thrust record let me know.)