Sitting watching cyclists hurtle down a hill from the comfort of my sofa probably wasn’t the legacy Olympic organisers had hoped for.

And catching up with the swimming results with a gin and tonic in my hand perhaps was even further from their goal.

But that’s my Rio 2016 experience so far.

I am excited about the start of the Rio Games, but let’s face it, it’s never going to match up to London 2012.

We all felt a part of that in some way or another and could lay our claim to fame.

Mine were that I knew someone taking part in the opening ceremony; I knew one of the incredible band of volunteer Gamesmakers; I watched heads bobbing up and down as I craned to see some of the race walking in London; was in Hyde Park watching Super Saturday; watched Paralympic cycling at Brands Hatch and a fantastic day of Paralympic athletics at the stadium. I never wanted it to end.

Inevitably, when something’s happening miles away and in a different time zone, you’re bound to feel a bit out of the loop, but I feel as if there’s a party going on and I haven’t been invited.

Latest figures show that more than 2,500 sports facilities including athletics tracks, playing field, swimming pools and tennis courts have been lost in Britain since 2012.

And with Pokemon Go the only thing encouraging some teenagers out of their pits outside school, did the London 2012 legacy really leave us what it promised?

I like to think it did. When I look back, I realise the Olympics did inspire me as a youngster, no matter what country they were in.

OK, I may not have made it to any level of success, but I probably wouldn’t have taken up gymnastics had it not been for Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci. I wanted to be that graceful athlete, tumbling across the floor; I wanted to perform death-defying feats on the uneven bars; I wanted my hair tied in bunches with little ribbons.

What I don’t quite understand is how surfing, skateboarding, karate and sport climbing will join the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 — and baseball and softball will return to the games – while netball, which I play regularly, still doesn’t make the list.

Still, even if it had, I doubt there’d be a medal round my neck. The willpower needed to get up early for hours of training would never beat my need for regular lie-ins.