Forget superstars - unheralded talents are the entertainers

You have your reasons for watching and I have mine. If you are tuning in to the Olympics to see NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James win another gold then go for it. And if you can't wait to watch the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic or Venus and Serena Williams compete for medals on Wimbledon's hallowed courts then your day is almost here.

I certainly know what direction the cameras will be pointing during the 17 days of coverage and it will be mostly at Roger, Kobe and LeBron. And in four years we will be treated to multimillionaires like Rory McIlory, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson doing their patriotic thing when golf returns to the Olympic fold in Rio de Janeiro.

The boys will be flying in to South America on their private jets to play in the XXXI Olympiad and for almost all of them the timing will be perfect. They will have just wrapped up the British Open and can get a couple of competitive rounds in before playing the PGA Championship a few weeks later.

Of course, four years is a lifetime so who knows what players will be representing their country. By 2018 Tiger will be 40 with dodgy knees and a spotty putter who will be hard-pressed to beat the youthful likes of Watson, Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley in qualifying for the US team. But who really cares? I love golf and yet this whole thing means absolutely nothing to me. I figure I will be spending about as much time watching golf at the next Olympics as I will spend watching tennis this year.

We see these superstars all year long in a non-stop loop of highlights and endorsements. When the Olympics roll around, I enjoy watching athletes who train endlessly for four years in order to nail their one big chance in front of a global audience. That medal around their neck is their life's work, not merely a fashion accessory.

And as much as the Olympics is about sport and competition, it is also a unique and vital window into different cultures. People need to know that North and South Korea are not the same place because most watching actually don't. When London organisers mistakenly flashed the South Korean flag on a jumbo screen along with pictures of the North Korean players before a match with Colombia on Wednesday, the team from the north refused to take the field for an hour in protest.