Athletics World Championships

The final day of the 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki ended in a few more smiles for the British team, who before Sunday hadn't won a single medal! The responsibilty fell to marathon runner Paula Radcliffe, who had already failed terribly in the 10,000m and still held memories of Athens and that iconic breakdown on the side of the road very fresh in the mind... We needn't have worried as a magnificent display of will gave her a full minute lead by the final 5km, which she maintained to the line to ensure the Union Jack would have at least one outing. The men's 4 x 100m team added a bronze later on, as did the women's 4 x 400m, but with so many disappointments surely questions have to be asked. It was Britain's worst ever World Championships since their inception - a timely wake up call for youngsters dreaming of making it to London in seven years time for the Olympics... The meeting as a whole has, though, been a great success: the Finns have done a magnificent job as hosts, and there were some spectacular perfomances - unprecedented doubles for both Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopa, who at only 20 years old could become one of the greatest female athletes of all time. Then there was Yelena Isinbayeva's dominance of the pole vault and a new world record; not to mention Carolina Cluft coming from behind to win yet another heptahalon; or Justin Gatlin with the big sprint double early on in the tournament. The medal table belonged, naturally, to the USA, with a tally of 14 Gold and 25 medals overall - look down a bit and you see Britain at number 16, between Estonia and Ecuador! Dame Kelly has retired and the greats of the past are, sadly, all in the commentary booth. Whatever needs doing needs doing fast - or, ahem, we will be left in the starting blocks come 2012... Kx