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With little over two weeks to go until Danny Boyle turns a part of Stratford into a farm, the British public are struggling to avoid anything to do with the Olympics. Everywhere you turn is another reminder that the greatest show on Earth will be in London from the 27th July. And its only going to get worse, with BBC One and BBC Three almost only showing the Games for the two week period. As a sports fanatic, I'm not really fussed by most of this. For me, it's great to be swept up by all the trappings of a once-in-a-lifetime event, an Olympic Games on my doorstep. I enjoy reading articles in the papers of medal hopes and watching TV shows that are related to the Games; it's interesting to understand everything that goes into the Olympics. The one thing that does annoy me, though, is how companies are using the Games as a corporate vehicle.

The likes of Coca-Cola, McDonalds and P&G have spent well into the billions to sponsor the most watched sporting event. In return, the IOC has allowed them to use the Olympics as part of their advertising campaigns. You can't go one single ad break now without London 2012 being mentioned.  It makes the Games seem like some corporate vehicle, helping companies profit from being associated with something huge. Coca-Cola and McDonalds, for example, enjoy suggesting that you can lead a healthy lifestyle with their products, and generally include the Games in this when they come around. We all know how unhealthy McDonalds can be. After all, a Big Mac would be legally classed as a dessert due to the sugar content if it weren't for the gherkins. But these companies are by far not the worse offenders in my books - at least they actually paid for the right to use them.

Walking through the shopping centre in the Olympic Park the other day, it was ridiculous to see so many companies that hadn't paid for sponsorship using the Olympics in a non-explicit manner. Subway, for example, have leaflets featuring four Olympians and their favourite 'sub'. Nowehere on the leaflet are the Olympics mentioned, but anyone with common sense would swiftly realise that Subway are trying profit from public support for the Games. Boots also had posters of Jo Jackson and Hannah Miley, both of whom are Olympic swimmers, in their shop window. Again, no mention of the Games but its not hard to see what they are doing. The use of the Olympics by these companies is completely devaluing the history of the Games. A once great sporting event slowly being turned into a money-spinner by large companies. I wouldn't be too surprised if in the future events themselves are actually sponsored. I can't wait to see the final of the Coca-Cola 100 metres...sigh.

Tour De France So Far

With just over half the tour and 11 stages remaining, this year's Tour de France is beginning to hot up. After a few medium-mountain stages in the first week, today sees the first fully fledged mountain stage. These stages go a long way to shaping the final general classification due to the time riders can make up over their rivals when climbing. Given his previous track pedigree, Bradley Wiggins was never previously considered a climber and despite working hard before the start of this cycling season, questions still remained over his ability to go uphill. The Brit, though, has swiftly dispelled those rumours by winning the Criterium du Dauphine, the Tour de Romandie and Paris-Nice this year, the first time anyone has won them all in the same year. Not even the great Eddy Merckx achieved it. It appears Wiggins is in good shape to stay with his rivals throughout the mountains by himself, but his Team Sky team-mates will also be a huge help to him. Richie Porte, best young rider at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, and Michael Rogers, three-time world time trial champion, help Wiggins at the bottom of the climb. But his biggest help comes from Chris Froome, runner-up at last year's Vuelta A Espana and a potential Grand Tour winner. Froome is a talented climber and will be there to ensure Wiggins gets up all the climbs in a good position. The well-oiled Team Sky could be the reason why Wiggins will be in the maillot jaune come July 22. And with the stages that are left, I fully believe there will be the first British winner of the Tour de France.

The points classification will go a little quiet for a few days during the mountain stages as the sprinters are not known for their climbing ability. So far, Peter Sagan has fulfilled potential in his first Tour by winning three stages and be the current leader of the points. The challengers to him appear to be Matt Goss, former lead-out rider for Mark Cavendish, and Andre Greipel, former team-mate of Cavendish. Even though both Goss and Greipel have good lead-out trains to get them to the line, Sagan seems to have the ability to find the right wheel to follow when he doesn't have a train. For that reason alone, I think Sagan will stay in green. A quick note on Cav, though, who went into this Tour saying he only wanted a stage win and wasn't worrying about the green jersey. During the first week, the Manx Missile challenged during the intermediate sprints, which is often only contested by riders going for green. Safe to say Mark is in a good competitive mood ahead of the Olympics.

The only big classification yet to take shape is the King of the Mountains, and that's because there haven't been many mountains to climb. Currently leading the standings is Sweden's Fredrik Kessiakoff, who is surely going to lose the polka-dot jersey by end of stage 10. As I mentioned earlier, Chris Froome will be Wiggins' assistant going up climbs, and for that reason alone I wouldn't mind having money on the Kenyan-born rider winning this classification. The defending King of the Mountains has already pulled out of this tour and many of the other climbers are carrying knocks after all the crashes that happened during the first week of the tour. Cadel Evans' history in mountain biking may also help him reach the top of the KOTM classifications, but I'm sure he'd rather have a second yellow jersey.