Events like cycling require you to carefully conserve energy.
It's a gruelling fortnight for the armchair athletes of Australia, particularly for those who covet gold medals.
But those with real stamina can supplement the live action from London with a fun, home-grown compilation of Olympic events. In London 2012 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games made by Sega's Brisbane studio, you can pick up your joypad and go for gold.
Traditional track and field events like the 100 metres, javelin and high jump are joined by various swimming, diving, cycling, weightlifting, shooting, rowing and gymnastics competitions. There's also more exotic action like archery, table tennis, kayaking and beach volleyball.
All events are accessible to even novice gamers, and feature brief, informative tutorials.
Up to four players can compete at once, and there's online support for battling faraway friends.
Ever since the first decathlon games caused blisters to arcade gamers in the 1980s the emphasis of Olympic video games has always been exhausting button bashing and joystick waggling. I lost count of how many Commodore 64 joysticks I personally destroyed playing the iconic Summer and Winter Games releases by Epyx.
But in this latest London multi-sport extravaganza, the controls offer pleasing variety and usually focus more on precision, rhythm and timing.
Pressing the button as rapidly as possible in events like running and cycling will soon see your athlete running out of stamina, while rowing and swimming demand amn always hypnotic tempo.
The tense archery is a skilful highlight, with players having to carefully cater for the ever-changing breeze.
Table tennis and shooting contests can also be surprisingly absorbing, particularly against human opponents.
Meanwhile, the allure of posting world records in the track and field events makes them great fun, even if they are relatively shallow and repetitive.
Diving and gymnastics are significant disappointments, with dull Simon-says button pressing and farcical judging. Beach volleyball also fails to live up to its potential.
But the overall quality of events is pleasing, and the variety, accessibility and competitive nature ensures this is a fun and potentially boisterous party game.
The presentation throughout is also excellent, with quality commentary and gorgeous recreations of the London Olympic venues.
It's always a pity the real athletes aren't depicted, and it's particularly annoying here when you discover that most of the Australian competitors are named after local games writers (wonder if such fawning to local media got them higher review scores?)
But fortunately, you can change the athletes names and appearance in order to rewrite history. You might even help get Australia to the top of the medal tally.
What have you been playing lately?
Jason Hill is on Twitter: @thatjason
