Keira Knightley Feet

TWENTY years after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, isn't it time for shoe lovers to consider staging our very own 'Sole' Olympics?
Organisers of London 2012 are scouring for new and offbeat sporting passions to grace the Olympic calendar when the games come to England for the first time since 1948
And, given the focus on footwear during the historic Beijing games, shoe buying has it all - widespread popular interest; celebrity involvement; and a compelling obsession that even the most dedicated athlete would be hard pushed to match
As many as 2.5 million British women own at least 30 pairs of shoes - one for every day of the month. A new study claims the female fascination with the shoe is growing more rapidly in this country than anywhere else in Europe
Researchers have put the cost of this national shoe-fetish at £31,680 to cover the purchase price for all the pairs bought by a woman over a lifetime - with a blend of style, comfort and value-for-money proving the winning combination
It's got it all for the TV gurus who call the shots - a programme that has all the appeal of mixing Trinny and Susannah with Match Of The Day. It could be the next big sporting jewel, knocking 20-20 cricket very firmly into the long grass
"Sport for all" the Government trills at every opportunity - well here's its chance to prove it
We've seen some amazing and one-off sports at Olympics from a bygone age - a long jump event for horses (1900); live pigeon shooting (1900); 100 metres swimming for sailors (1896), pistol duelling (1906) and one-handed weightlifting (1896)
Compared to these, who can say that shoe-buying is any less of an attraction! The UK's most successful swimmer in modern history, Rebecca Adlington, started the Olympic focus on footwear by asking for a pair of designer shoes as her reward for winning two gold medals in the pool.
And sprinter Usain Bolt laid claim to the fastest feet in history by streaking away to record-breaking wins in the 100m and 200m spurred on by his 'wonder shoes', even though the laces became undone near the line!