By Matt Roberts BBC Sport, Brno

There was an Olympic feel to the MotoGP paddock this weekend, not least when the circuit resembled the Water Cube after a torrential downpour during qualifying on Saturday.

The achievements of Michael Phelps in the pool proved to be a major talking point for the riders, with Valentino Rossi as impressed as anybody by the American's achievements.

Bike or swim? Rossi would choose motorcycling at the Olympics

"I've started swimming to be more like Phelps so that maybe I can win a medal in MotoGP," added Jorge Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa admitted to not following the minority sports but said he's a keen fan of swimming, cycling and gymnastics.

"If was an Olympian I'd have been a cyclist," he declared.

Asked what kind of Olympian he'd have been, Rossi had no doubts. "They should make motorcycle racing an Olympic sport! Otherwise I'd have been a long distance runner - you know I'm not a quick starter!"

A slow start proved to be of little consequence to Rossi on Sunday, when his Phelps-esque resistance and persistence paid off for the second time in as many races when Casey Stoner relented and crashed, handing him victory and potentially the title.

He may not be the sharpest off the line, but Rossi has one of the quickest wits in the paddock and he used it to comedy effect in Saturday's front row media conference, when asked for his thoughts on the presence of a female wildcard in the 125cc class.

"Is she beautiful?" he quipped. When told she was only 15, he replied: "Well I just hope she rides better than girls drive cars on the street. I'm joking!"

Of course, these precious moments of spontaneous honesty are all too rare in modern motorsport, where sponsorship demands turn most interviews into an exhibition of tactful diplomacy.

Take for instance the hot topic on the riders' lips this weekend: tyres. Or, more specifically, Michelin.

Behind closed doors the air was as blue as their engineers' uniforms, with the riders - Pedrosa in particular - voicing their disgust at another wasted race on the underperforming French rubber.

Pedrosa reportedly accused Michelin of being "arrogant and unable to accept responsibility for their own mistakes," while Colin Edwards' analysis was characteristically even more blunt and unsuitable to be repeated here.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the Brno race

"It was very tough out there, and that's all I can really say," was Edwards' analysis of the tyre situation in qualifying according to the Tech 3 press release on Saturday.

"I think it is obvious looking at the lap times where the problems are, but I'm not going to complain about anybody," is the tactful assessment offered on behalf of James Toseland in the same release.

"It is my job to go out there and do the best job on the package I have got right now and that's what I will do."

The best job Toseland could do in the race was 13th - ahead of both Edwards and Pedrosa, who crossed the line in 15th. His disappointment was almost too much even for Repsol Honda's highly talented wordsmith to cover up.

"Today's race was probably the worst of my career," read Pedrosa's press release.

"I couldn't even race, all I could do was ride. I couldn't control the bike, I didn't feel safe. I was riding so slow I felt impotent and ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points. We really need a drastic improvement from the tyres."

This was followed by Michelin's own press release, quoting their sheepish chief of motorcycle racing, Jean-Philippe Weber: "Obviously we are very upset with the performance of our tyres and the results we achieved today.

"We have to make a big improvement to our performance at tracks like Brno. Now we will do our maximum to prepare in the best way possible for the next race at Misano, which is a different track and a different challenge."

Well, I suppose that's about as close to an apology as you are likely to get from somebody who is 'arrogant and unable to accept responsibility for their own mistakes'!

The rumour in pit-lane was that Pedrosa's manager Alberto Puig tried to convince the other Michelin riders to boycott the race. Expect plenty more controversy at Misano in San Marino.

All 17 riders were given the chance to make their views clear in a unique safety meeting on Saturday.

I hear that every Michelin rider gave their vote to a switch to Bridgestones, whilst some of the current Bridgestone guys were understandably reticent about such a radical move, which would nullify their current advantage.

Hopkins didn't appear to have any problems with grip at Brno

On nine occasions this season a MotoGP bike has cleared the safety fences, which are expensive and, in some cases, impractical to move back. Stoner's crash on Sunday was a perfect example of a typical modern-day crash and several ideas were mooted.

One is to have smaller wheels, which offer less grip and limit corner speed.

Another is to return to the old 990cc machines but with limits on top speed and another is to increase the minimum weight of the current 800cc machines.

Riders also put forward the idea of reducing the influence of electronics on throttle control.

At a time of such national pride and with Hungary lying a lowly 40th in the medals table at the time of writing, 125cc World Champion Gabor Talmacsi took the opportunity to remind everybody of the greatness of his nation with a new helmet design.

The fancy lid was designed as a tribute to Hungary's great inventors.

Gabor's proud claims that Donat Banki and Janos Csonka invented the carburettor and Janos Irinyi the safety match were hotly disputed amongst the international kaleidoscope of patriotic journalists in the press room.

However, there can surely be no contesting the patents registered by Erno Rubik and Laszlo Biro. Any guesses?