Separating Olympics fact from fiction

Beware, in this post-Games phase, of Olympic-cobblers parading as fact, writes Peter Rhodes.

For example, there's the oft-repeated claim that Olympic success creates a fit and healthy nation.

If that is true, how come the three medal-winning giants, China, the United States and Great Britain, lead the world in child obesity?

And if school playing fields are crucial to a nation's Olympic success, how come in the golden age of playing fields of the 1950s-80s we won tiddly-squit at the Games but now, with thousands of playing fields sold off, we are third in the medal table?

You could probably draw a graph showing that the more playing fields we sell, the more medals we win.