"For it's unlikely something else will break today," I remember rather rashly commenting.

How wrong I was. Next came an athletics doping exclusive, then a Commonwealth Games boxing announcement, and then yet another outburst by a senior official condemning Rio 2016.

So by the time a deal between NBCUniversal and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was unveiled at precisely 6.06pm, our sales and marketing assistant turned editor-in-chief gave a look of bemused exasperation as a day certainly not in the job description took another turn for the worse.

"Is this a breaking news story?" she asked.

"It's only one of the most important commercial deals in the history of the Olympics," was the reply.

The extension of the deal with NBC until 2032 was a major boost for IOC President Thomas Bach ©Getty Images


For better analysis of the significance of this I would point people in the direction of David Owen's piece in insidethegames last Friday (May 9). But beyond this impressive consolidation of Olympic financial security, plenty else of significance has happened over the last week, and not all of it so positive.

First, there is the question of the next Summer Olympic Games. Since the spotlight switched from Russia to Brazil in March most of what has been lit up has been far from good news, and the subsequent two months must have felt more like two years for Rio 2016.

After IOC vice-president John Coates lauded preparations as the "worst he had experienced" in his long association with the Games, we then saw more criticism by figures from the two newest sports of rugby and golf, as well as by the Chef de Mission of the New Zealand team and the executive director of the IOC.

Then we had the "news" that London had been approached as a potential alternative host city. It barely needs saying that this is complete rubbish and not only is the British capital completely unprepared to step in at short notice, but the IOC has insisted on several occasions that the Games will not be moved from Rio.

Yet there must a growing school of thought lamenting the fact that five years ago, the decision was made to award the Games to a new market rather than to a more established Olympic host.

Rio de Janeiro may be an iconic city, but the first South American Games has recently received a bombardment of criticism ©Getty Images



The race for the Games in 2022 is not proving much happier viewing.

In an article in March, I argued that Oslo's bid was hanging by a thread and that an upward curve in momentum had to occur soon for it to be resurrected.

Over the last two months this has definitely not occurred. And last week the biggest blow yet was struck after the right-wing Progress Party, the minority in Norway's governing coalition, voted to oppose the bid at their National Congress.

The only saving grace for Oslo might be the problems facing Lviv and Kraków. After an IOC video conference last Thursday (May 8) the next test for these two Euro 2012 football host cities is May 25, when both the Ukrainian elections and the Kraków Olympic referendum will take place.

With Beijing still largely anonymous, the timing of a press release outlining the agreeing of several new partnerships by the remaining applicant Almaty could not have been better.

This is not meant in any way as an insult, but for a country whose hitherto most famous cultural export, at least from my perspective as a slightly immature twenty-something Westerner, is the Sasha Baron Cohen creation Borat, their PR campaign so far has been nothing short of magnificent.

Problems affecting Oslo's 2022 bid represent a general malaise affecting many Western cities regarding bidding for major events ©Getty Images



But neither should the Olympic Movement be all doom and gloom and there is lots to be excited about.

In recent days we had the election of a new leader signalling a new era for the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, we had the General Assembly of the World Baseball Softball Confederation as the bandwagon grows for Tokyo 2020 participation and, despite fears that Indonesia would be the only candidate, we now have the prospect of a multi-nation Asian battle to replace Hanoi as the host of the 2019 Asian Games.

And I have not even mentioned the fact that Sepp Blatter has provided a virtual guarantee that he will run for a fifth term as FIFA President.

But most of all we have the beginning of the sporting summer. The Diamond League series began in Doha on Friday and on the same day we passed the 100-day-to-go milestone until the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics.

So while last week, and particularly last Wednesday, there was so much going on that if Usain Bolt had announced plans to switch nationality, take up synchronised swimming, and mount a bid for FIFA President we would hardly have batted an eyelid, it is exciting to be able to chronicle such an exciting time for the sports world, and we look forward to hopefully doing it all again this week.

And this time, ideally, with a sub-editor at the helm.