Heather Fell, Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist, writes about her life 'on and off' the track.

SUMMER has arrived and no I'm not referring to the weather; right now the list of gripping international sporting events is endless.

We have had the glamour of Royal Ascot which saw the Queen receive her first ever winner's trophy at that meeting and the smile on the monarch's face said it all. It was then straight over to SW19 where Wimbledon got under way. The hopes of the nation may still be on Andy Murray but there is some exciting new home talent shining through in the form of the young Laura Robson. To fill the gap on the Sunday away from the grass courts there was the British Grand Prix, providing plenty of excitement from the Silverstone track — just not quite a British podium finish.

It doesn't end yet. Yes, you could be forgiven for missing it in this frenzy of sport, but there was action of a different version on a track up in Birmingham where our athletes were in impressive form. It was the Diamond League meeting and again golden boy Mo Farah did not disappoint as he cruised to victory.

The list doesn't even end there or on our British shores. The largest competition in the annual cycling calendar had an eventful start. Over in Corsica the opening day of the Tour De France saw its fair share of crashes and even an incident with a bus — when it became stuck on the finish line! Further afield in the southern hemisphere it is all about the rugby where the result is currently one victory apiece for our British Lions against the Aussies.

I won't deny, I have been incredibly envious of any spectators at any of these events. However, I have managed to console myself thanks to the brilliant television coverage. The only problem is that I've been brought up to make the most of outdoors. For me doing sport still beats watching it!