Luke Blackall: You'd need the stamina of an athlete to go to all these Olympic parties

Man About Town

I spent Thursday night doing my bit for the London Olympics – drinking cocktails and dancing in a concrete bunker. Stamina-zapping stuff. By the end of it, I was quite exhausted. The venue was the new Tank galleries at the Tate Modern, the music from Paolo Nutini, Flo Rida and Mark Ronson. The hosts were Warner Music and Len Blavatnik, who had decided to throw a party for the Games. Quite why they chose to do this was unclear. But no one was complaining; just as it's best to have no reason to go to a party, the best parties are often the ones held for the sake of it.

With the nation apparently whipped into a frenzy, venues are springing up to let people release some of their excitement. Last night famed London nightspot Chinawhite was it's "Last Lap" series of nights, where they are hoping athletes will come by to unwind. Meanwhile one of its nightlife rivals Maddox, was opening a pop-up club near the Olympic Park.

Watch brand Omega have created a temporary and charitable members' space in Soho, where you can go to unwind after a hard day watching the table tennis. They're not alone, however, with a clutch of other clubs opening up.

The nightclubs will, of course, help the fabulously toned but sex-starved athletes satisfy each others' needs, while it's unclear who will be paying up to £245 a day to use some of the members' clubs.

It's unlikely to be the super-wealthy, who will be spending their time on their super-yachts. And East End docks are finding themselves filled with gargantuan boats owned by the likes of Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen and Westfield owner Frank Lowy.

On Thursday night some of the seasoned partygoers were talking about how they were managing to fit the games into their summer social calendar as they flitted from Cannes to Monaco and Ibiza (the poor things).

It seems there is so much being put on that only those with stamina of athletes at their peak will be able to keep going to all the events and venues for the next few weeks.

Just like the bizarre marriage of the physically perfect competing in an event sponsored by a fast-food restaurant and a fizzy-drink manufacturer, celebrating the games by going out and drinking seems unusual. But, as this column has discussed before, it is something that we as a nation are particularly adept at.

Still, there probably won't be any gold medals at the end for it.