BBC Sport: Olympics blog

Olympic Green Archery Field

A bit like the sailors at currently windless Qingdao, Britain's medal tally has hit the doldrums over the last couple of days.

There was concern this first week was going to be slow, and to be honest, so it has proved.

Apart from the swimmers, who've had a great Olympics, and the cycling team who will undoubtedly be Britain's biggest providers, there's been disappointment elsewhere.

Nothing out of judo, diving, badminton, tennis, shooting - and now archery, where I've been spending my time over the last few days.

Archery had a target of two medals, and managed only a 4th place in the women's team event.

Let's add some context to that.

Beijing's Olympic Green Tennis Centre

There were perhaps 200 people watching the first-round match between Andy Murray and Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei (that's "made in Taiwan" to you and me but not the IOC and certainly not our hosts) on Monday, and, to be honest, I have no idea why any of them were there.

OK, I can guess why Judy Murray was there - she was probably killing time before her elder son Jamie had his big moment in the doubles tournament.

Lu seemed to be enjoying himself too but then he had only won seven of his 19 previous matches in 2008.

But the rest of us? Murray the younger was clearly experiencing the same confusion.

There are stars at these Olympics, and then there are stars.

As a mere mortal, you tend to assume that the elite athletes here in Beijing inhabit a strange egalitarian society of super-humans, all unfazed by each others' sporting achievements, all likely to attract roughly the same amount of attention from the world's media.

Roger Federer's regal arrival on Olympic Green on Thursday rather blew that theory out of the water.

The only way they could have squeezed more journalists into his press conference would have been to stack people on top of each other like school chairs.

On a rather well-known auction website you can get a commemorative Atlanta 1996 envelope, signed by Tim Henman and Neil Broad, for 99 pence (or £1.70 if you're going to have it posted... is that a faux pas with commemorative envelopes?).

If you want something signed by top tennis star Andy Roddick, you'll be paying a good deal more than a pound. And that's not the only difference in values the trio share.

Welcome to our Olympics and Paralympics blog, which we are launching as the countdown to the 2008 Games begins in earnest.

Wednesday marks exactly 100 days to go to the 8 August opening ceremony (though oddly enough the football tournament starts two days earlier).

Writers from across BBC Sport, Radio 5Live, BBC London and BBC News will bring you the inside track on all 28 Olympic sports, as well as the Games themselves - which are set to be truly fascinating, if controversial, given China's hosting of them.

One of the uncertainties at the moment from a British perspective is whether the Games will turn out to be a triumph - or a failure. My view is...

Keep reading this blog for all the latest about the Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing and also for the inside track on the long build-up to London 2012.

News and reports will be on the BBC Sport website but our experts will bring you behind the scenes access to the world's biggest sporting event right here.

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