Asked on my view of the Olympics I observed that “Watching sport is yet another excuse not to be taking part, and I don’t need another excuse”.

I’m not alone. 17 days of coverage, if we assume 18 hours of coverage a day and a conservative 1 millions UK viewers for each hour. They could burn an extra 400 calories an hour taking part in a sports activity instead, and it takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound in weight, the TV viewing is thus a lost opportunity for the viewers to lose 16,000 metric tonnes in weight through exercise between them.

I will probably excuse myself and go for a run, although I might make an exception for the Women’s Beach Volleyball.

Photo courtesy of Brazil Women’s Volleyball Team on Flickr
(Creative Commons Attribution Licence)