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During the , I took an evening away from reporting the action and experienced the Games as a spectator.

I left my media pass behind, bought a ticket to watch the athletics and went into the main Olympic Stadium.

And I was appalled by the terrible food available to fans.

It was either or a packet of crisps and a sad-looking sausage. The friends who came with me - and hadn't eaten - were very disappointed.

What's worse is that my experience at last night's basketball in Beijing was just as bad.

The is impressive - great atmosphere, comfortable seats and generally good stewarding. Spectators were there for one of the big early nights of the Games - .

But all they could buy was popcorn, a small sausage on a stick or biscuits and tasteless ice cream.

There is one media restaurant in the venue, I'm told, but you have to order your meal 24 hours in advance!

Of course the sponsors of the Games should have the right to make sure their drinks are on offer in venues. And they do.

But London must set a new Olympic trend on catering and put on a decent service for fans in 2012.

If you go to a concert at the (formerly the Dome) these days, you have a variety of restaurants on offer. The O2 is now one of the most popular venues in the world. The same kind of service must be made available to Olympic spectators at all the major venues in London.

This is the 21st century and the spectator must be regarded as king. Even at ordinary football or rugby matches these days, clubs try to put on some reasonably decent food - even if it's just a .

If the can usually put on some decent drinks and food in the middle of a golf course, surely the Olympics can.

The fact is that a bacon butty would have seemed luxury for some of those poor basketball fans in Beijing.