>Just occurred to me that whereas some muslim countries are doing very well in the Olympics, esp in the running disciplines, they are restricting their success as there are no women competitors. I guess it's hard to sprint or pole vault wearing a burqa (sp?). And you'd never know just who was competing, or indeed if it actually was a woman competing

Funny you should say that. I just fast forwarded through today's first broadcast on the main U.S. Olympic network (NBC) and stopped momentarily on the women's 200 meters sprint. A woman from Bahrain was running in head to toe attire. No burka but she had a white hood over her head, with only the middle of her face and her hands visible. She finished 2nd or 3rd in her heat to move on to the next round. She looked like a Martian or something alongside the others.

UPDATE: Here's a visual. And I had it wrong; she won her heat.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24201257-5017275,00.html