Pundits help make the sofa a seat of learning

Television viewers leave the Olympics this week with their sportingknowledge enhanced. What you have learnt may not stick in your headfor very long and is almost entirely devoid of practical worth, butafter three weeks you know more about kayaking than you did themonth before. That's a good thing and, who knows, the flood mightone day come again.

On Saturday, I found myself learning something from Leon Taylor.Silver medallist at the synchronised 10m highboard in Athens, he isnow a BBC pundit. He also acts as mentor to Tom Daley; you know,the diving child.

During the 10m solo final Taylor told viewers that his last pieceof advice to Daley had been to make sure he smiled when up on theboard. Interesting, I thought, applying my new-found divingknowledge, the movement of the cheek muscles must help combat dragduring rotations. Or provide a small fleshy shield againstsplashback.

I was wrong, it turned out; Taylor actually asked Daley to smilebecause he wanted him to be happy. The occasion of an Olympic finalcan be so overawing, Taylor said, that you can forget you love yoursport. "It's about enjoying the event."