Team GB get well versed in anthem politics

Team GB medal winners will be expected to know the words to the national anthem (Getty Images)

If the Jubilee celebrations showed us anything (other than what a 64-year-old looks like hula-hooping), it's that nobody knows any of the words to "God Save The Queen" beyond the first verse. After a strong start at the pop concert, as soon as "O Lord our God arise" was due, all that could be heard down the Mall was a collective "Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah".

One man who doesn't want a repeat performance come the Olympics is UK athletics head coach, Charles van Commenee, who has ordered Great Britain's leading athletes to ensure they have learned the words to the national anthem ahead of the Games. He told reporters: "It matters because if they don't, somebody will make an issue of it. That's why." Officially it's six verses long but it's really not too much of an ask. Spare a thought for Greece, whose national anthem comes in at 158 stanzas.