Bet you think athletics is the biggest competition out in Beijing, don't you? Um, no.

The fiercest competition out here is among sponsors, suppliers and general hangers-on trying to get noticed. You would be amazed just how much activity there is around the Olympic Games, infinitely more than on the track or in the water. Not a minute goes by without another invitation or news of a stunt dropping into the mailbox on the laptop, often involving athletes giving a little payback for their sponsors.

For instance, not only were we surprised to discover that B&Q have their chain of DiY stores here in China but slightly amazed to discover that Gail Emms, Britain's badminton star, was performing a stunt for the company.

She was offering to play bemused customers, who were probably wondering who this nice English girl was, swatting away with her badminton racquet when China already has plenty of perfectly good badminton players already. After all, two Chinese women contested the ladies' final in Beijing.

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For members of the media who weren't interested in a bit of badminton between the power tools and plumbing equipment aisles, there was always lunch with Emms (again?) plus Chris Hoy, Britain's triple gold cyclist, Alison Williamson from the world of archery and Campbell Walsh, the canoeist.

Just to keep things topical, there was to be a little session in which our brave athletes tried their hands at Chinese cookery. Presumably, Walsh is the only to have passed some live Peking duck this last couple of weeks.

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But then, you also would not know that one of the secrets of Olympic success comes from, of all places, Blackburn. Yes, before Usain Bolt smashes a world record of an evening, he gulps down a miracle drink produced in Lancashire by a little family firm by the name of Science in Sport, or SiS as we afficionados know it.

They are official suppliers to the Team GB cycling team, which, let's be honest, has been in sparkling form of late. But there is more, for one of the company's products, Go Gel, which won the Queen’s Award for Innovation, was supplied to Mr Bolt, who had several cases shipped to him before the Olympics. Whatever he has, I am having, too, if it works as well as that.

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The unassailable King of the Stunt, though, is the electric-haired, er, Don King. Boxing's most noticeable promoter turned up in Beijing to tell everyone he was organising a boxing tournament in Sichuan, the region of China devastated by earthquakes in May, with some of the proceeds going to the disaster fund.