A LOVELY lady volunteer had a chat with me as I walked the 600-metre length of the ExCel Centre in London among the mass of people there to watch the various sports housed in the huge complex.

It was an extremely interesting discussion and centred around the haves and have nots of the Olympics.

Splashed across the front pages of newspapers yesterday morning were headlines like ‘The Greatest’ in honour of Michael Phelps, the American swimming superstar who, a day earlier, had become the most decorated Olympic athlete in Games history with his 15th gold medal and 19th medal of any colour.

Sprinter Usain Bolt is wealthy beyond his dreams from his record-breaking athletic feats over recent years, and British cyclist Bradley Wiggins can look forward to a happy bank balance after becoming the first Brit to win cycling’s Tour de France last month.

All those are exceptionally talented winners whose hard work and God-given talent deserve the rewards they get from victory and landmark achievements.

But the pressure of success was evident after the Americans beat the second-placed Russians to gold at the gymnastics this week. After watching breathtaking performances, I was able to write ‘Well Done’ into a handy little phone translator app and show it to a Russian team coach sat next to me. He threw his arms in the air in disgust!

“Well Done is when you win, not come second – especially to Americans,” he said in his broken English.

That is how high the stakes are at the Olympics for the elite top end. But this week at the ExCel, two Welsh competitors have showed the difference between those huge professionals and the other athletes who make up the rest.

Swansea weightlifter Natasha Perdue completed something that went beyond money or medals. Forty years after her father Terry lifted at the Munich Olympics and 14 years after his death, having never seen his now 37-year-old daughter push a bar over her head, Natasha followed him onto the Olympic stage.

She worked as a Leeds City Council refuse collector – on the bins – before recently leaving that to concentrate her Olympic efforts.

The same is true for North Walian Gareth Evans. He broke the Welsh record on Tuesday and received the same adulation.

The point is this. Without the ‘also-rans’ of athletics, swimming, cycling, weightlifting or anything else, then there would be no Olympics for Bolt or Phelps to win gold medals.