The fighting has predictably drawn sombre reminders about the Olympic truce. The truce harks back to the ancient Olympics, when the Games were a time of peace, when hostilities were kept in abeyance so that competitors — and presumably spectators — could travel for the competition. They called it Ekecheiria.

The International Olympic Committee adopted a resolution in 1992 seeking to enforce a modern, worldwide version of that ancient practice. The UN of course was thrilled, and before these Games too, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made the now-customary call.

From softball to cricket

George W. Bush has been spinning around venues, getting a feel of Michael Phelps’s first medal of these games, getting a quick game of volleyball, getting a feel of the competition bike track, and visiting the US women’s softball team. “It’s good for the world to have girls playing softball,” he said.

Well he might. This is the last Olympics for softball and baseball. Softball got included on the competition at the Atlanta Games in 1996, and baseball four years earlier. The IOC plans to shed some more from the schedule at subsequent Olympics, while other sports aim to get a look-in, like golf. Those making a pitch for cricket may be interested to know it was in fact once played at the Summer Games. At Paris 1900, Britain defeated France. The French at cricket? The team was apparently drawn from British personnel at their embassy in Paris.