I still vividly remember my first taste of the Olympic Games.

It was 1992, I was nine years old, and what started out as a curiosity about the Barcelona Olympics turned into an obsession.

I can still, 32 years later, remember the BBC’s opening music for those Games, sung by Freddie Mercury.

Sally Gunnell winning 400m hurdles gold in Barcelona remains one of my fondest sporting memories.

Athletics wasn’t a new sport to me, but so many of the others were.

I had a scrap-book, in which I’d stick pictures of sailors and rowers and wrestlers having watched their sports for the first time.

I have zero doubt that the dozens of hours I spent watching Barcelona ’92 on the television contributed significantly to both my love of the Olympic Games, and my desire to compete in it.

Sally Gunnell won Olympic gold in 1992

As I got older, and as I developed a greater understanding of the Olympics and the varying sports on the programme, my watching habits became more sophisticated.

Ahead of each Opening Ceremony, I’d write a list of what I wanted to watch and when it was on. And with each Olympic Games, the BBC’s coverage became more comprehensive meaning there were fewer and fewer lines of my watching wish-list that I couldn’t fulfil.

London 2012 was the pinnacle of the BBC’s coverage – 2500 hours of live sport across the varying channels and red button ensured that literally not a second of the action was missed.

With it being a home Games, the BBC either pushed........

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