The ancient Greeks and Romans had it right. There is nothing like a good, big sporting event to entertain the masses and create a community feeling. Only nowadays, there is no need to feed Christians to the lions to get a trading floor entertained. The Olympics will do.

With Euro 2008 slightly under-whelming because of England's absence, we've been ready the next sporting event. And this time, England is in. Not in the Olympic football tournament for reasons too difficult to explain (but having to do with long-standing animosities between the home nations), but in loads of other appealing disciplines.

And since the markets are currently not quite dead, but definitely on extended leave, the trading floors across the City are watching whatever sporting event is put in front of them.

This can be reasonably entertaining once you get used to the fact that every time you look up, a different sport is on. One minute it's badminton, then wild-water canoeing, then synchronised swimming. You name it, it will be broadcast at some stage.

But of course some events are more noteworthy then others, and in the last few days of becoming an avid trading floor athlete, these are the main findings:

• If there is UK participation, the noise level will rise. Suddenly, badminton players are being cheered on, and we are rooting for show jumpers. It doesn't matter that we don't even know how badminton is scored.
  
• Women's weightlifting is the firm comedic value favourite. It caused major discussion, since many of the women do not look female. Do they test the gender when they do doping tests?
• Whatever it is, it has to come in snippets. An entire basketball match is way too long to handle since in that same amount of time, you could watch multiple heats of swimming, and more archery than was featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
• Team sports are particularly good when teams fail - such as the UK synchronised divers - because then you can watch them on live TV blaming each other for not having performed better. Single sports are a bit dull since there is nobody else to blame.
• When Andy Murray crashed out in the singles in the first round, he was a Scot. When he won his doubles match with his brother, they were British.
• Unsurprisinly, women's beach volleyball turned up on most of the trading floor's monitors. The fact that it was Georgia beating Russia added extra spice - as if this sport wasn't spicy enough to begin with.
  
• And most of all, it's important to always know where your country ranks in the Medals Tables, and always rub it in. For instance, Germany leapfrogged Great Britain on Tuesday by getting four gold medals and that is worth mentioning. All the time.

Come the weekend, things might get a little more mainstream with the Track & Field events, which traditionally have more mass appeal.

But there will always be women's shot put to keep us entertained.

Here Is The Writer : Billy No Box

Billy No Box has worked in the city for six years, and currently works in Derivatives for a North American bank. He enjoys playing golf, reading books by Umberto Eco, singing "Copacabana" in the shower and at karaoke bars, and occasionally updating his blog about London and everything else.

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