Have I told you about Jacques Rogge and me? You know, the head of the International Olympic Committee, the blokes behind this brouhaha in Beijing.
So there I was walking down some steep steps at the triathlon venue the other day when I noticed a kerfuffle down the bottom. Camera crews jostled for position and a phalanx of security details swarmed.
Er, for me? I wondered, puzzled.
I'm supposed to be a trained observer, I know, but what I hadn't noticed was that I was walking down the stairs next to the most powerful man in sport.
He looked, well, hot and was concentrating on the steps - wouldn't be a good look to take a tumble in front of the cameras. Having safely negotiated the stairs, he slipped into a black car with tinted windows and was gone.
I would have whipped out my tape recorder and asked him a question but I remembered the last time I thought of doing that. We were at the Olympic village for the New Zealand flag raising ceremony, attended by Mr Rogge.
Sadly, I never got the chance, as I was shouldered to the side of the walkway by a circle of people protecting him.
Never mind. I'm sure he was very busy that day. It is, I guess, the busiest time in four years for Mr Rogge.
Besides, the IOC hasn't exactly been ecstatic about the questions from many journalists during these Games. Around 11am every day during the first week, the IOC and the Beijing organising committee held an open forum press conference when journalists could ask questions about any Games-related issues of the day.
A series of testy exchanges over sensitive subjects, such as Tibet, protesters, Falun Gong and doping seems to have curbed the officials' enthusiasm for fronting up. This week, the press briefing was called off for a couple of days. Apparently there was nothing to talk about.
What about a Swedish wrestler being stripped of his medal? The positive drugs test for 400m hurdles champion Fani Halkia? Not even Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt?
No, no, and nope.
The uproar from outraged journalists seems to have changed the IOC's mind. The press briefings are back on, and the floor will be open for questions. Just best not to ask them of the boss when he's trying to make it down the stairs.
- Eugene Bingham
Top: IOC chief Jacques Rogge is clearly a man in great demand. Photo / AP
The 31yo accused is also alleged to have committed two more burglaries at the weekend.