The five rings.

Speaking of the Olympics, I can't get at all excited about the current Games, which start tomorrow.  I had a lot to say about the Games four years ago, when London hosted them, and nothing much seems to have changed.  And this time we have the additional complication of the Russians - many of whom will not be there.  Of course, we've had boycotts before - America in 1980, and the USSR in 1984, but this is the first time to my knowledge that a major country's athletes have been excluded by the Olympic authorities.  Was it the right thing to do?  Should they have gone further?  I'm not sure, but certainly as far as I am concerned it's taken any gloss there might have been off the occasion.