I’m slowly slipping back into a routine now that I am home and I suppose I should address the Olympics.

Overall I really enjoyed the Games and the organization was better than what I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to see how friendly the volunteers were and also how many of them there were.

I think the totals were 100,000 volunteers, 10,500 athletes and 30,000 accredited media. That’s quite a few of each, but for every athlete we had about 10 volunteers which was amazing.

It also shows just how enormous the Olympics are. I don’t know of any other sporting event can even come close to those numbers. The Olympics truly are a world event.

I remember walking to the dining hall, looking around and seeing the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kobe Bryant. These are guys who truly are global superstars of their sports, it was amazing.

I actually had the opportunity to meet Kobe which was a highlight, as was watching the Dream Team walk around together. Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and the rest, looking at them the term Dream Team seemed spot on.

The athletes’ village was actually the best one I have experienced because of the way it was set out and the feeling in the village.

Spectator wise I thought the ‘Bird’s Nest’ and the ‘Water Cube’ were amazing for the atmosphere they were able to create and now that I have mentioned the Water Cube I guess I have to talk about the 1500.

I still watch that race on replay and want the result to change; it was hard to lose in the 1500 metres.

I put down my best time at an Olympics in the heat swim and if I could have replicated that in the final then I would have won. But that’s the problem with having to swim two fast races in a row, things don’t always go to plan, but I take my hat off to anyone who wins a gold medal.

While I didn’t win gold, the swim team performed well, medalling in every relay and winning two more medals than we ever had before.

I can’t speak about Beijing without mentioning Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals. To something like that at that level is simply not human. The man is a freakish talent, there were so many of his races that came down to a fingernail and he won them. I’m actually really happy for Michael as he is a top bloke and I know him reasonably well.

Out of the pool the Telstra People’s Choice Awards are coming up and I am nominated, but more importantly if you vote you have a great chance to win great prizes.

You and a friend could win an amazing trip to the 2008 Telstra Swimmer of the Year Awards, held at the very swish Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. There’s also a bunch of Apple iPhones, signed photos and other sweet stuff up for grabs. For your chance to win, all you have to do is vote for your favourite swimmer. No pressure on who you should vote for!

Just visit http://www.beinvolved.telstra.com/default.aspx and cast your vote.

Grant