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++ UPDATED  1.16pm August 7

The time has come for me to make a call on how many Gold the Aussie will bring back, and who will be triumphant.People of Australia, sports lovers everywhere, this is how teh chips will (or may well) fall.

I predict Australia will win 15 Gold.

We won 16 gold in Sydney and 17 in Athens.

I feel confident these athletes will win gold for Australia (GOLD GOLD GOLD!):

Hackett  Mens 1500

Mens hockey

Melissa Wu – 10m platform

Cadel Evans road time trial

Rowing Mens coxless pairs. Mens lightweight double skull

Trap shooting – Michael diamond

Sailing - Tom Slinsby

Libby Tricket – 50freestyle, 100m free, 100 fly

Jess Shipper – 200m butterfly

Liesel Jones

100m, 200m Breastroke

Eamon Sullivan – 50m freestyle

2x womens relay

These are my Aussie athletes to watch

Michael Rogers in cycling road time trial

Clayton Fredericks – Equestrian team

The Olyroos

Mens and womens eights – rowing could do anything (I’m a big supporter of the womens eights)

Bronte Barratt – she’s the dark horse of these games

And lastly, one to watch closely is Matt Helm (diver) and Robert Newberry in the 10m platform synchronised diving.

And tehse are my Gold Medal certainties

Mens and womens basketball

Olyroos – good for bronze

Oh, and we will smash the UK

++ UPDATED 9 July 12.10pm 

I am a cycling nut. (The photos are of me in Australian Cyclist.)

And the Tour De France is probably the annual sporting event you look forward to the most.

It’s a spectacular event to watch – the European countryside, combined with fierce racing – and it’s just an amazing physical challenge.

This race is just phenomenal. It’s the equivalent of 5 trips form Melbourne to Sydney.

21 stages, 2 rest days, 3500 km.

An Aussie has never won it – but Cadel Evans, this year, is our best chance.

Cadel was runner up last year. Within a matter of weeks may find himself wearing the leader’s “maillot jaune” (or yellow jersey, if your French is a little rusty).

Evans will make his move as they head into the mountains.

In the meantime, we will see Aussies Robbie McEwan and Stuart O’Grady win stages.

Many people don’t realise it’s a big field. There are 178 riders and you qualify by being picked up by a team.

They ride five riders in team and they ride together, letting their best hope trail in the slipstream until the rest drift back to let them take the glory.

It’s a very humble thing to do for an athlete.

As for me, I just need to get out there on some longer rides. I ride two or three times a week on my road bike.

It’s a Ridley Excalibur. Same bike as Cadel. So I have no excuses.

 --------------

++ UPDATED 11 June 1.28pm

Hi guys,

A uni student from Newcastle has written an assignment on me - it's a bit long for a blog post, I know, and very flattering - so I think this budding writer will go very far! Plus, you will want to read it if you would like to hear about my first car,  the Olympics, my family and Dancing With The Stars. 

SUN IS SHINING

AT 8.55 AM ON A COLD SYDNEY MORNING MARK BERETTA IS SINGING and dancing with Ghanaian football fans outside the Channel Seven studios. A crowd is gathered to catch a glimpse of one quarter of the Sunrise team, the most watched breakfast show on Australian television for five years running.

He energetically jumps with them while the camera is rolling, but when filming has stopped? Well he just jumps higher, and the cameraman joins in too.

As the Sunrise sports anchor and a sports commentator for Channel Seven Beretta is a favourite among fans and it’s no wonder: he is as genuine off camera as he is on. He is more than happy signing autographs and posing for photographs and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s a privilege to do this job. It’s something you don’t take for granted on any day and I have no desire to do anything else.”

Despite having to get up at 3.46am each morning for the show, “because you are trying to squeeze every last minute of sleep you can”, Beretta, or Beretts as he is affectionately known on and off screen, has an infectious passion and enthusiasm for his job.

After showing me around the bustling Channel Seven studios, editing suites and various news rooms I had to wonder if the negative hype about the media industry was just an extravagant lie to scare people away from the jobs. The halls were filled with smiling workers, infected with Friday Fever. Everyone was either on a first name, or nickname basis, and looked relaxed and confident. Could it be anything to do with Seven’s recent ratings ascent to the top?

It is no wonder Beretta is a smiling man. Not only is he a ten-time Australian Water Ski champion, but during his time on Sunrise he’s had opportunities that the rest of us would die for. Amongst his favourite places he has visited on the show are Hamilton Island and Darwin in Australia, Tarino, Italy and Whistler, Canada.

Now a seasoned traveller, he says: “Every time you travel you learn something different, you might not even realise it, but it just broadens your horizons, you see different people and different things, and I think you learn a little bit every time.”

Another destination he will soon be able to add to the list is Beijing, where Beretta and the rest of the Channel Seven commentary team will be in August for the 29th Olympic Games.

Beretta is no novice to Olympic broadcasts. Moving to Channel Seven in 1995, he has covered six summer and winter games (Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Sydney, Nagano, Tarino, Athens) and after number seven, in Beijing, Channel Nine will take over the reins.

Despite China’s past and present troubles, Beretta is looking forward to the games and says he is “addicted” to the pinnacle of the sporting world.

 “Olympics to me are number one, I just think they’re fantastic.”

The broadcasting veteran and sports guru does not just admire the sporting aspect of the games.

“It’s just such an event, you know. It brings together fifteen thousand athletes from almost two hundred countries, so there’s just no other event in the world that gets that mass of people together from so far and wide. I guess from one angle, the sport competition of the Olympics is unrivalled, it’s fantastic, but the Olympics as an event itself is just bigger and better than anything else. It’s just a great, fun place to be there and be around.

“I get really excited about every Olympic games.”

After sport stars such as Dawn Fraser have declared they will be boycotting the Beijing Olympics and the continuous media speculation over human rights issues in Tibet, does Beretta have any concerns about going?
 
“I don’t think so. Look, everything’s different. There were concerns about going to Salt Lake City in 2002 after 911. I was in Atlanta when the bomb went off in the park there. There are always concerns and you just have a look at the risks, and it would never stop you from going to do it. You just never know what’s going to happen.

“If you listen to all the doom, you’d probably never leave your own home, so I think it’ll be fine. I think China will put on a great games: it will certainly be a spectacle. We know so far that when we did the games in Sydney we spent six billion dollars, Athens spent twelve billion dollars and Beijing has spent something like fifty billion dollars. So they’ve spent almost 10 times what we did for the Sydney Games, so you can imagine how big it will be.”

The Olympics have provided many fond memories for Beretta: he was even behind the microphone when Alissa Camplin won gold in Salt Lake City. However, his personal highlights on screen include Melbourne Cup mornings at Flemington Racetrack (where Sunrise broadcasts) and in the last twelve months, a slightly more personal achievement.

“We did Sunrise from on the banks of the Yarra and they conned me into having a ski. And I did a back somersault, which I haven’t done for two or three years, and it was a one off and I’ll never be able to do it again, but it’s on film now so that’s it. So that was very satisfying, that was my personal highlight; every year we’ll rerun it now.”

Despite his frantic work schedule and jet-setting around the world with Sunrise, Beretta and his wife Rachel maintain a grounded family life with their children Ava, four and Daniel, one. Beretta insists that his work schedule is “not that much different” from other professions and despite the unforgiving hours and travel demands says it is a  “plus and minus situation”.

“The advantage we’ve got for our kids is when the Wiggles come into our studios, they come in and they think Dad’s king.”

Just like any other parent, Beretta has concerns about his children growing up. Working in a newsroom he sees aspects of the world that in everyday life are hidden, or moderated. Instead of having Beretta scared for his children, this insight into the world has made him a better father. Beretta says that the best thing a parent can do is provide their child with security to pursue their dreams and opportunities, whatever they may be.

“I think that we have concerns today, they’ll have concerns tomorrow and our mums and dads had concerns as well, you know, it’s part of life. Life moves on, people are really good at adapting to the environment and I think that while we have concerns for the next generation, like our parents had concerns for us, you grow up and you just learn to deal with it and manage it. I just think they’ll be fine.

“I think the best thing you can give kids is: number one security so they feel confident and just to encourage them to chase their opportunities, whatever they want to do. So that’s were we’re at with Ava and Dan, I just try and let them lose at anything they want to do and no matter whether they succeed or fail, just make them feel good about it so they want to have a go at something else.”

Beretta’s “have a go” attitude is not just reserved for his children, but he practises it himself. In 2007 he competed in the seventh series of the hit show Dancing With The Stars, Lycra and fake tan inclusive. Having declined the first offer to be on the show, Beretta says: “When you work at the Seven Network and you get asked to do Dancing With The Stars, you don’t knock it back twice!”

“The first time I got out of it because we were having a baby, it was about the time we were having Dan. And the second time they asked again and I said to Rach, ‘Look either I’m going to have to do Dancing or you’re going to have to have another baby.’ And she said, ‘You’re doing Dancing!’”

He describes the show as “one of the most terrifying, best, fun things” he has ever done and a “privilege”. Despite receiving some less than positive feedback from the judges in the middle stages, Beretta has only positive things to say of the show and like all opportunities he has been given, does not take it for granted.

“I don’t expect to do anything like that ever again, so it was just really good fun to do it.”

Beretta was evicted on episode seven, when he and partner Linda De Nicola received their highest score of the series, 31 out of 40. During his time on the show he supported his elected charity, Surf Life Saving Australia, an organisation that he holds great respect for. The Engineering graduate says he admires the sense of community shown by Life Savers and the “gutsy stuff” they do.

Dancing in front of the nation is one thing, although Beretta’s hobby, flying, can also be considered “gusty stuff”. He has about twenty hours experience in planes and a helicopter and says that a solo flight is next on his list.

“I love flying and I love planes and I’ve got a terrible habit. I can actually go and just park the car in the airport and watch the planes come and go. Like an airplane spotter, it’s a bit sick. I even took Ava, our little girl, when I ran out of things to do one afternoon. I just took her down to the airport at Sydney we parked the car and just watched the helicopters and planes come and go. She loved it.”

The amateur pilot has come a long way since the days of his first job, bussing glasses at the Geelong Football Club, when he was 16.

Another one of Beretta’s “boy toys” was his first car, a Nissan Pulsar van that he fondly remembers.

“I think it cost about $7000 and I paid it off over about 20 years.”

Despite being the sports commentator for the record-breaking breakfast show Sunrise and a sports reporter for some of the nations biggest events, Beretta still has other goals he wants to achieve.

“Run the Seven network would be one.” He laughs.

Fans should not despair: a departure from the show isn’t looking likely for the immensely popular personality.

He says the people he works with on the show are “great” and credits the co-host of the show, David “Kochie” Koch, as his main mentor.

“I have huge admiration for Kochie; he’s just an outstanding man in every aspect. He’s raised four great teenage kids, he’s been successful in business; he’s just got a way about him and a legitimate care for people. So I really like spending time and learning from him.”

And of course the benefit of mixing with internationally famous celebrities can’t be too bad either.

Beretta says he was “gobsmacked” when he met Cindy Crawford and “actually could not speak” as he was in awe of the model’s beauty.

Diplomatically he adds she was also “a really nice person”.

Beretta is a little boy trapped inside a man’s body. And like every little boy he has a favourite cartoon character, or superhero. But if Beretta were a cartoon, who would he be?

“Well I was always a bit of a fan of Spider-Man… probably turning a bit more into Homer Simpson. But I’m going to go with Spider-Man I think… let’s just go with him.” He laughs.

In an industry that you would expect to be buzzing with bad vibes and big egos Beretta is as genuine as they come. Relaxed, confident and enthusiastic, Beretta brings a level of approachability to the show and it is no wonder Sunrise has not lost a single morning’s ratings in five years: a record for Australian television.

The sun is shining very brightly for Beretts.

++ UPDATED 22 May 11.33am

Beretts returned to the show today after two week's spent in England with his family.  He was 'totally up for it', he said, dressed as Shia Lebouf for our Indy Day.

Here is Beretts's blog on how it is being part of the Sunrise team, his disastrous first day and converting Mel to his side.

(Read Mel’s)

I am hear to tell you about working with the other hosts.

If I cast my mind back to her first week on air …

First day at a new job – I remember it being very daunting.

The first ever bulletin I did on Sunrise seemed to go by in a blink... because there was a technical glitch and half of what we were gunna run disappeared!

So it was the perfect way to start.

A classic Sunrise moment.

Is a fun tension we have on the show between each of us. Often we have the whole family just killing themselves laughing.

It’s fantastic, it really is.

“You can see it in his body language, you can tell he’s gunna explode!”

You just never know what Kochie is going to come up with. Especially in terms of the questions he asks.

He gets in a certain mood.

I’ll tell you how to spot it.

You can see it in his body language, you can tell he’s gunna explode!

He will cross his arms, sit back in his chair. Then he’ll mull it over and then boom – always, he just goes for it.

And he’s just as funny and unpredictable outside of work.

The funniest BBQ in all my life was at his house.

It started as a beautiful day, with us all in t-shirts and shorts.

In the distance we could see dark clouds.

But wee start the bbq, and we’re cooking away, having a beer, when we are hit by the wildest storms.

Proud blokes, we could NOT back away with the meat just started cooking.

I’m not joking, the rain was horizontal.

So we’re wearing full-on raincoats and Kochie is still cooking.

I like to think of that as the Mt Everest of BBQ experiences.

------------------

Mel is the person on the team who I have seen change the most.

I like to discuss sport a great deal, and Mel always hated sport. Couldn’t give a toss. 

Now, it’s been a bit of a laugh over the years how Mel has become so passionate about sport.

She is now mad keen with her footy tips! Even her husband can’t believe it!

-------------------

Simon reeve – just become really good mates,

We share a very small stake in horse Manolah Blahnicks - “The people’s champ”.

We have won back what we invested by betting on him ourselves!

He’s now won three races.

Our daughters both love horses

We’re hoping to get them out on it for a ride

What you see what you get with Simon. He’s a 100% man.

If you’re gunna go into battle, Simon would be on everyone’s list

Rock solid.

--------------------

Nat, is another team member I really love. Boy can she make me laugh.

We’ve spent most of our mornings together for along time now, side by side behind the set on the computer reading all the soapbox emails coming in

Nat has something that is really, really healthy for a newsreader to have.

A wicked sense of humour.

She has the most incredible sense of humour.

The main thing with us is that we just all get along really well.

You couldn’t wish for a better relationship with the people you work with

Of course, we are all in each other’s pockets.

It’s hard to be fresh at that time of the morning.

And let me tell you, I have never heard a harsh word between anyone on the team.

I have had almost two weeks off and I can say I am really glad to be back.

It is like catching up with family.

Mark.