Olympian bids to Pole-axe his rivals

Now, Obiter does not want to be harsh, but we suspect that Poland's Olympic games - held for people of Polish descent - do not represent the pinnacle of sporting achievement.

It seems to be very much one of those things where the taking part is what counts, and Mark Sarnowski, a solicitor at Thames Valley firm Charles Lucas & Marshall, will certainly be doing a lot of that.

Mr Sarnowski is entering several events at the games, being held in Sopot near Gdansk, including sea-fishing, 5,000 metres running, volleyball, pistol shooting and table tennis.

'I'm a man of much optimism,' he tells us, and an admirable multi-skiller too.

But only if he comes back with five gold medals can he truly wear the T-shirt modelled in this picture, which reads: 'Not only am I perfect, I'm Polish too.'