ES Views Letter of the Day: The British athletics party is truly over

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Beaten: Mo Farah, one of our few successes, finished second in the 5,000m

15 August 2017

I am sure the majority of your readers will join me in lamenting Team GB’s disappointing performance at the World Championships, despite winning four more medals in the relays this weekend. How the mighty have fallen from the heights of Rio 2016.

Lord Coe’s hailing of a new athletics generation never materialised, and while some of the momentum from London 2012 made it as far as Rio, the likes of Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill are now hanging up their track running shoes — and there is no succession in sight.

One would have hoped that Britain could be more than just a venue for these athletics events but when even the team captain Eilidh Doyle comes last in the 400m hurdles final and urges her team to rely on the “atmosphere”, we can all deduce that the euphoric British athletics “party” is well and truly over.

It was fun while it lasted, I suppose.
Nick Rougier

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