BRILLIANT. Just brilliant. The tens of thousands of people who lined the streets of Gwent to see the Olympic torch relay last Friday showed the real public response to the arrival in this country of the greatest sporting show on earth.

And it really put the whingers in their place.

For weeks we have been hearing that Wales wasn’t interested in the Olympics, that the whole event was a terrible waste of money, and that the Games were about London and nowhere else.

Well, last Friday revealed those views – entitled as people are to hold and express them – as so much hot air.

The reality is there is a huge enthusiasm for the Olympics in this country.

People are proud the Games are being held in Britain.

And that pride was evident throughout Gwent on Friday.

It was a truly marvellous day, for those with the honour of carrying the torch and those watching them.

All too often in this country we get caught up in believing that a minority of moaners with loud voices and internet accounts are somehow speaking up for the nation as a whole.

They are not – and that was proved gloriously on Friday.

If the huge crowds turning out across Wales to greet the torch are anything to go by then the Games are going to be truly memorable for the UK as a whole.