My top 5 Beijing Olympians

Either you are glad or disappointed at the lack of blogs over the Olympic period but I thought I would let the action speak for itself. But now its over and people debating who the greatest Olympian of this years Beijing Games. And you might not realise it but its not all about Phelps and Bolt.

1. Chen Yanqing- 48kg and 58 kg class Gold medalist: The first women to ever win two gold medals in one Olympics as she defended her 58kg title and won her first 48kg medal. The most impressive thing about her 58kg defence was that she broke world records in each of the three disciplines, a stunning effort. This also coming from the women who has come out of retirement four times, its shows huge motivation from Chen and puts into perspective what sort of feat she has achieved. She won't get all the headlines but her victories should be put along side the best at this summer's games.

2.Maarten van der Weijden- 10k swim Gold Medalist: Even though most of the attention fell upon Great Britain athlete David Davies who collected the silver in this race the comeback from the Dutchman not only in the race but in his career deserves praise indeed. In 2001 Van der Weijden was diagnosed with Leukaemia seven years ago and after recovering came back stronger into the sport. His times improved and a fourth placed finish at the world championships showed a huge progress. He came to the Olympics as a big contender and after seeing Davies lead the race from the outset he looked set to suffer more disappointment on the big stage. However Davies' radar went a bit off as he headed off course allowing the Dutchman to take advantage and take the Gold. If you look at it it is a super human effort and one that should be valued as one of the greatest of the modern era.

3. Michael Phelps- 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay, 200m medley, 100m butterfly and 4x100m medley Gold Medalist: I have two opinions on this man. The first being that a lot of the excitement of his achievement was actually taken out of it because of the ease at which he went on to collect his eight Golds. His 4x100m relay win was yes possibly the greatest swimming race we will ever see and the comeback from the American's was truly remarkable. The controversy of his 100m butterfly win will live on as well, but for me there was an air of inevitability of it. But there is another way of looking at it. Over nine days Phelps swam 17 times. That stat alone shows the amazing effort that he put in. Remember they are all different events so once you have used to one another comes around again. He was facing men who weren't trying to go for the same feat, they were fresh and ready to go. In no other sport would anyone have had to put up with the backlog of events. It was a fixture pileup that would have given Arsene Wenger a stroke. It was a truly monumental effort and one that will of course go down in history as one of the great performances.

4. Chris Hoy- Keirin, Team Sprint and Sprint Gold Medalist: I have followed this man's career for around five years now and nothing surprises me about his 3 gold medal haul at this years Games, for me it was a case of when and not if. His single gold medal in Athens wasn't enough for Hoy who triumphed at the World Championships in Manchester last year. His real dream was being Olympic Champion. The Team sprint was simply a remarkable win, an event the British team weren't even meant to be competing for a medal in soon became a one team show as they pushed aside France to take the title. The experience of Hoy in that team was vital. His own sprint title showed that he is one the most feared athletes on the planet, Jason Kenny was beaten before he even stepped on the track. he simply defies belief and as the team return to Britain he deserves all the praise he gets, because he is sure to get plenty

5. LaShawn Merritt- 400m Gold Medalist: This you may say is an odd choice because of the other high profile athletes who performed outstandingly well on the track. Yes Usain Bolt's triple Olympic Gold medals is stunning but was there really anyone in his way? With LaShawn Merritt the story is very difficult. Merritt has the colossal Jeremy Wariner in his way, the current World and Olympic champion and the man closing in Michael Johnson's infamous 400m record. He was expected to walk the race and let the other American's fight it out for silver and bronze. But Merritt ran a superb race overcoming Wariner in the final straight as the defending champion faded. It was the biggest shock at the Olympic games i have seen since I've been watching the event. Never has such a nailed on favourite lost out when so well fancied. I'll be honest this shock on the track was the reason Merritt was included in this list. I also won't lie that I backed Wariner to not only retain his title but take the world record with it, and believe me its nice to be proved wrong now and again especially in such a high profile event as this.