You can thank Alex, a 25-year-old history and politics graduate from Shrewsbury, if the Olympic tickets fit into the specially designed turnstiles without being chewed up.

You can thank him if all the right flags are raised, if the correct anthems are played, and if everyone finds their seat without wandering around in a daze for hours.

But if the 100-metre track is suddenly found to be two metres too short, or if food poisoning in the athlete's village knocks out the entire Norwegian judo team, you can blame Alex too.

Well … okay, maybe lifebyte's caught a small dose of Olympic hype-itis. But we're not too far off the mark. In his job with ADECCO, the official Olympics' recruitment firm, Alex is responsible for filling practically every casual position going at the Games.

From the manager of ceremonies and medals (he's looking for someone who 'knows their flags') to the usher at the badminton semi-finals.

Well, okay… Alex writes some of the 'help wanted' ads and sends off the applications that come into the right department. Still, it does sound a little bit more exciting than, say, cutting your ailing uncle's toenails. Alex, however, is almost ready for the end already already: 'I'm just saturated with the Olympics day after day'.