Berlin, July 29:

Long faces from tall athletes: the German men’s volleyball team are hoping a fresh supply of Olympic kit will reach them before they fly to Beijing later this week for the Games.

The towering Germans have discovered some of their Olympic kit are too small, while others were simply not given their quota of sports clothing needed for the Games. “We were hoping things would be a little different,” said disgruntled captain Bjorn Andrae. “This is an Olympics and not just any competition.”

The problem has come about because a larger volleyball team was selected than was originally planned by the German Olympic Sports Federation. Supplies of team sweatshirts and shorts are the main problem and the team are hoping to be clothed correctly before leaving for China.