Knights? Only after Sir Daley

AFTER the hysteria and euphoria, get ready for the nausea . . . government and politicians, who grind grassroots sport into the dust of disused playing fields, glorifying in Olympic triumph.

For goodness sake, they are already squabbling over the homecoming parade.

And you know one way they are going to milk the success? The diseased honours system.

Fatcats, crooks and cronies will still figure large, you can bank on that.

But those who run the country have long since cottoned on to the fact that we are a sport-obsessed country. That is why there will soon be more knights in British cycling than you could fit around your average round table.

There is a time and place to honour sporting stars like Jason Kenny and Laura Trott who will one day surely become Sir and Dame.

But let’s resist the politicians’ populist haste. How about letting them finish their careers first?

And how do you gauge honoursworthiness?

Kenny’s six golds is out of this world, but his sport allows him to compete for three golds at one Olympics.

Numerical achievement shouldn’t necessarily make you a Sir.

Before we start dishing out gongs galore, those who decide these things should right the most glaring wrong of the past.

Let’s make him Sir Daley Thompson (above).

Our Rio Olympians have been great ...none have been greater than him.

ITV is switching off all seven of its channels next Saturday for an hour from 9.30am.

The idea is for people to put down the zapper, get off their sofas and do some sport.

It’s an idea spawned by Olympic success.

Had it been yesterday, here’s what you would have been missing: Murder She Wrote, Coronation Street Omnibus, Real Housewives of Orange County, Heidi, Shed and Buried, Deadtime Stories, Heartbeat.

Great idea and all that, but my guess is that if you are sat on the couch watching an ITV channel at 9.30 on a Saturday morning, you are beyond sporting salvation.