Olympics: London 2012 Must Move the Goalposts and Retreat Into Antiquity

To the Taekwondo and that rarity - a British failure. Michael Harvey, however, emerged with credit from his first-round clash in the -58kg category when he lost only 3-2 to Guillermo Perez from Mexico. It was a spirited performance from the 18-year-old, who came back from 2-0 down, and said afterwards: "It's tough. It was close. I thought I got him but I didn't."

All was not lost for the British because the venue, the Beijing University of Science and Technology, might provide some inspiration for 2012. All fortnight the British have gone into a funk as to how they might match, let alone better, the majesty of this Games. They have reasons to be fearful for from opening to closing ceremony it is hard to see how things might be improved upon.

The trick, therefore, may be to move the goalposts. After this most brutally modern of Games there is much to be said for a retreat into antiquity. There is no need to build the stunning stadia and skyscrapers the Chinese have constructed: the infrastructure exists already.

Let us open the doors of Oxford and Cambridge and hold the fencing and the judo, the boxing and the taekwondo there. Instead of housing the athletes in an anodyne village open the doors of Queen's and King's and let them in. Let them live among the classical architecture. Dream their dreams among the spires. Let the chapels be filled with choirs singing Tallis and Purcell. The Chinese have held many events in their brutalist universities; let us use the beauties of our two greatest universities as a backdrop to ours. In an increasingly thoughtless present, why not ponder some of the glories of the past? After strength, why not beauty?

Back at the Taekwondo - think fencing with legs for swords - it was the women's -49kg which produced most of the excitement. This sport - women kicking the shit out of each other - strikes me as tailor-made to be run by Max Mosley should he wish to combine business with pleasure on his retirement from formula one.

Chief kicker was Wu Jingyu who to the delight of the home crowd raced into a 4-1 lead in her semi-final before closing it out with a knee-high tackle that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Chelsea v Leeds 1970 Cup final replay.

In the other semi-final, Dalia Contreras Rivero of Venezuela took on Buttree Puedpong of Thailand in something of a classic as the Thai scored late in the third round to take the game into extra-time. This settled nothing and all came down to the decision of superiority from the judges. This, to the consternation of those watching in Caracas, went against the Venezuelan. Puedpong, therefore, won the privilege of having the shit kicked out of her by the World Champion. It duly happened in a contest which ended 1 to -1, and the Thai was lucky to get -1. The delight of Wu was great.

The men's competition was more open chiefly thanks to Yulis Gabriel Mercedes who, having beaten the Olympic champion, faced up to the World champion in the semi-final. He was leading when, with seconds remaining, a point was deducted for, I think, hugging - a controversial decision which led to a spiky debate in the Olympic Family section between a Senegalese and pony-tailed Spaniard.

Undaunted, Mercedes scored in extra time and the watching pony-tailed Spaniard shrugged his shoulders in defeat. The final, against Harvey's conqueror, also went to extra time and on to the decision of superiority. Mercedes seemed certain he had showed more initiative, the judges disagreed, their decision sparking off one of the most joyous sights in the world of sport, that of happy Mexicans.