Great Britain’s swimmers have decided to skip the Olympic opening ceremony, to no surprise really given that the competition in the pool starts the next day. The swimming team made the decision themselves. “One of the things about this team is the swimmers get a lot of input into our preparation,” medley swimmer James Goddard said. “As a group of swimmers we sat down with Michael Scott [the performance director] and a couple of other members of staff and we decided as a team not to go to the opening ceremony. As a team we decided that was best for our performances.” Read The Guardian

Aand they will certainly not be the only swimmers doing this: “Between them, Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin have appeared in seven Olympics and not a single opening ceremony. Blame the schedule; the first swimming events take place the morning after the long night’s march.” Read The New York Times