The 19-year-old will take part in the BT Great CityGames in Manchester’s city centre on Saturday – his first race since setting a new Paralympic Games record to win T44 100m gold in the Olympic Stadium last September.

World record-holder Peacock then underwent an operation on a troublesome ankle injury, but is ready to return to the track with his sights set firmly on bettering his best-ever time of 10.85.

Peacock, from Cambridge, is unsure how quickly he will run in Manchester at the weekend, but is targeting making his fastest ever time in the near future.

“I had a big ankle operation after London 2012 so my recovery has been a little bit prolonged from the Games because of that,” he revealed. “I have only been training a few months now and we have done a bit of testing so we can tell roughly tell what kind of shape I am in, but we are not going to know for sure until race day.

“I get really annoyed with myself if I don’t see a PB on the clock. I want to go faster than I have ever gone before, no-one wants to go slower than they have gone so that is the goal – but we don’t know when that will come.

“We don’t know whether that will come at the end of the year, at the beginning of the year, or maybe even not at all this year.

“I have changed my training base and my coach so a lot has changed for me in a year and it is about settling in. This year we are going to look to do things but it is really about next year.”

» World-class athletics returns to Manchester with the BT Great CityGames on Saturday May 25. Olympic and, for the first time, Paralympic champions will compete in the city centre and it’s free to watch. BT has a long history of supporting Paralympic sport and is a partner of the British Paralympic Association all the way to 2016. Jonnie Peacock was speaking to Paul Smith.

It will be the third time the 27-year-old American has competed at the street meeting. On Felix’s first appearance three years ago she produced a world 200m best performance time of 22.55 and 12 months later went even faster, clocking 22.12 in the 200m as well as 16.48 in the 150m.

After her last visit Felix, a supporter of the street racing concept that sees athletes battle it out on an IAAF certified, purpose built track and pop-up athletics arena in the city centre, said: “It’s just fun, and great to see the fans out supporting.

“I just love to be so close to them all, I can’t wait to come back again.”

Olympic gold medallists Greg Rutherford and Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, Paralympic gold medallist Alan Oliveira of Brazil and silver medallist Stef Reid have also already confirmed their attendance at the event, while the 150m will also see the likes of Great Britain’s former world junior gold medallist Jodie Williams in action.

» The event is free to spectate and no tickets are required. For further information visit www.greatcitygames.org

The world record holder and London 2012 200m gold medallist has revealed plans that will see him run a marathon a day from John O’Groats to Land’s End for charity, starting in August.

The 36-year-old hopes to inspire others during the run, which will come a month after the Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium in July.

“I am quite dynamic as an athlete when competing and training,” said Whitehead. “On the track at the moment we have got the Anniversary Games in July as well as the World Championships but I have my own personal challenge in August which is to run Britain.

“It seems a little bit crazy but I will be running 40 marathons in approximately 40 days and that is really to spread the message and the legacy of what I have done in my life as an athlete.

“It is about inspiring people to think more widely about themselves in sport and embrace new ideas.”

Considering the scale of the task he has set himself, Whitehead added: “It is probably the biggest challenge (of my career). A thousand miles is a massive challenge for anybody to cycle never mind to run.

“I think transferring my skills from being a Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder through to running a thousand miles is going to be really tough but with the team around me hopefully we can pull in the same direction to be successful.”

» Richard Whitehead spoke to Paul Smith at the launch of the 2013 Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme which, in partnership with SportsAid, has supported 1,000 of Britain’s most talented developing athletes. As part of Lloyds TSB’s commitment to helping future sports stars prosper, the programme will continue in 2013. Follow future stars at facebook.com/lloydstsblocalheroes.

The Ethiopian, who added victory in the 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympics to her gold-medal winning performances in the 5000m and 10,000m at Beijing 2008, would have been making her debut over 26.2 miles at the Virgin London Marathon in April.

But she had to postpone her move up to the longer distance due to a previous problem with her lower leg re-emerging during training and is now adamant that she will be in good condition to challenge for victory over 10km in Manchester at the end of May.

“It will be an honour to see Dibaba on the start line,” said Peter Riley, Elite Athletes Manager of the Bupa Great Manchester Run. “She’s not just a track athlete and world record holder, but also a former world cross country individual champion on four occasions.

“Her performances on the roads cannot be underestimated either. She’s a solid performer over 5k and 10k distances, and she set the world 15k record in 2009. Last year, on her half marathon debut at the Bupa Great North Run, she won a thriller in a very fast time of 1:07:35.

“Having said that, during her career she’s raced sparingly over 10k on the roads. But the distance is made for her and I am certain she will strongly challenge the course record of 31:07 [Berhane] Adere achieved in 2006.

“Maybe if conditions are perfect we could see a major attack on the stellar UK All-Comers’ record of 30:38, which Paula Radcliffe roared to in 2002. It still remains a tough mark but you cannot rule that out.”

Despite only having a two-mile indoor race under her belt this year, the 27-year-old will be eager to add her name to the list of previous winners, which includes fellow Ethiopians Adere and Worknesh Kidane, as well as Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, Kenyan-born Dutch runner Lornah Kiplagat and Kenyans Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai.

Only British winners Jo Pavey in 2007 and 2008 and Helen Clitheroe in 2011 have broken the African dominance in a field which will total 40,000 runners.

As well as including a preview to some highlights of the summer season and 12 pages of events to help plan your season, the May 2 summer preview special issue of AW features the ‘potential world beaters’ – our pick of the top 10 athletes destined for greatness this summer and beyond. Want to read our 2013 predictions? You can buy our summer preview issue here or download the digital version here, and join us as we get set for the summer.

While we wait to see whether this year’s predictions will come true, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane to see how we fared in terms of last years predictions. 12 months on, you can judge who had the best crystal ball at the start of the Olympic summer…

Mel Watman, former AW editor, said Christine Ohuruogu (pictured above) was his No.1 tip and “with her celebrated pace judgement and competitive ability she would be tough to dislodge as Olympic champion”.

BBC athletics statistician Mark Butler also predicted Ohuruogu to win the Olympic title but without breaking the UK record.

Peter Matthews, the statistician and TV commentator, tried to look beyond the obvious big names and went for Genzebe Dibaba and Andy Pozzi.

Katharine Merry, the 2000 Olympic 400m medallist, tipped Goldie Sayers for a medal in London.

Jason Henderson, AW’s editor, predicted Martyn Rooney would have a successful 2012 season, while Steve Smythe, AW’s results editor, backed Andy Baddeley to succeed in an open men’s 1500m event, although he added: “He’s a long shot!”

Paul Halford, AW’s deputy editor, went for 400m hurdler Jack Green and Jon Mulkeen, AW’s then web editor, went for sprint hurdler Tiffany Porter.

Ian Hodge, the UKA statistician, had high hopes for the GB women’s 4x100m team, as did the omnipresent athletics fan duo of Jody and Bayo Furlong.

Steve Cram, the BBC commentator, simply predicted that Jamaica would enjoy huge domination at the London Games in both the sprints and the 4x100m relay.

» Grab a copy of the May 2 issue of AW for a full summer preview, including some highlights of the summer, 12 pages of events to help plan your season and a feature on the ‘potential world beaters’ – our pick of the top 10 athletes destined for greatness this summer and beyond

The Turkish athlete, who has already served a two-year doping ban after testing positive at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2004 as a teenage steeplechaser, could lose her Olympic gold medal as well as face a lifetime ban.

The IAAF also confirmed that Turkey’s European indoor 60m hurdles champion, Nevin Yanit, has also been charged with a doping offence.

Nick Davies, the IAAF’s deputy general secretary, told insidethegames: “The IAAF is now in a position to confirm that both Asli Cakir Alptekin and Nevin Yanit have been charged with anti-doping rule violations by the IAAF.

“Ms Cakir on the basis of abnormal blood values from her biological passport. Ms Yanit on the basis of multiple positive findings following target tests carried out in-competition and out-of-competition by the IAAF.”

In March, AW reported that Cakir Alptekin had tested positive for banned substances. In that report, AW detailed how a blog post from the editor of Athletics Weekly caused furore in 2012 as he debated whether the Turkish dominance of the women’s 1500m at the London 2012 Olympic Games was ‘delight or doubt’ after the Turkish one-two in the event was met with cynical indifference.

British athletes Lisa Dobriskey and Laura Weightman brought up the back of the field in the final of the 1500m at the London Olympics and at the time Dobriskey told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.”

If Cakir Alptekin is convicted and stripped of her London medal, her compatriot Gamze Bulut would move up to gold, Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal to silver and convicted drug cheat Tatyana Tomashova of Russia would move to bronze medal position.

Pick up a copy of the May 2 issue of AW and you’ll find 12 pages of events to help you plan your season, as well as a feature on the ‘potential world beaters’, our pick of the top 10 athletes destined for greatness this summer and beyond.

To get you nicely warmed up, here’s AW’s five key moments in the coming months for fans of track and field – our ‘highlights of summer’. If you enjoy this, there’s plenty more where that came from – you can buy our summer preview issue here or download the digital version here, and join us as we get set for the summer.

» BT Great CityGames, Manchester – May 25
Get to Deansgate in central Manchester in good time, take your position, and pay nothing – the BT Great CityGames is surely the best value track and field meet of the summer.

In the past, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay have ripped along the temporary straight and this year’s meeting is already attracting entries such as Olympic champion Greg Rutherford.

More info: www.greatcitygames.org

» European Junior Championships – July 18-21
If you enjoy combining athletics with a holiday and also have a passion for following the next generation of athletics champions, then you could do worse than book a trip to the European Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy.

A strong British team is sure to be at the event, which is a breeding ground for future talent.

More info: www.rieti2013.org

» BMC Oxford’s miles – July 20
This is the 50th anniversary year of the British Milers’ Club and the fourth grand prix meeting of this summer takes place at the spiritual home of the mile – Iffley Road.

The historic track at Oxford University is where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile and in July the BMC is planning to stage a series of races over the classic distance.

More info: www.britishmilersclub.com

» Bolt returns to London – July 26
Usain Bolt will be the No.1 attraction when he races over 100m on the evening of Friday July 26 in the Olympic Stadium at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games.

Britain’s tax rules have been waived to facilitate the Jamaican competing on these shores and it will be an encore performance following his Olympic victories from 2012. The meeting also features Mo Farah, Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and a legion of Olympic champions.

More info: www.britishathletics.org.uk

» World Championships 10,000m final – August 10
On Saturday August 10 at 6.55pm local time in Moscow, Mo Farah will take his place on the start line to try to win the 10,000m title that eluded him in Daegu two years ago.

He goes into the World Championships as double Olympic champion and as the man everyone wants to beat. The 5000m is later in the week, so there will be huge anticipation for the first of his finals in Moscow.

More info: www.mos2013.org

» If you liked this, then you’ll love the May 2 summer preview issue of AW which includes 12 pages of events to help you plan your season, as well as a feature on the ‘potential world beaters’, our pick of the top 10 athletes destined for greatness this summer and beyond. You can buy a copy here.

The 22-year-old clearly has the potential to break a mark that has lasted a span of eight world outdoor championships and believes that, if anything, his new mental strength gained from his moved to the UK earlier this year could mean that mark doesn’t make a ninth when Moscow comes round.

The American moved from the United States to live in the East Midlands town of Loughborough earlier this year to join coach Rana Reider, who took a full-time coaching role with the UKA in 2012.

Taylor was back in the States this weekend competing at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, where he dominated to record a meet record of 17.12m. He had previously admitted that one of the biggest challenges he’s faced since moving to England is the change in climate.

“Obviously weather is the biggest thing,” he said. “I’m used to being in sunny Florida every day and then I come here and it’s snowing in March.

“It’s just different and I think it’s made me mentally stronger to deal with the different elements. I’m trying to make the best of it but it’s definitely been a transition.”

After coming from warm-weather training in South Africa, Taylor has been in Loughborough now since January and although he is still getting used to life in Britain, he is convinced it has been his best winter training by far.

“For sure I’m definitely stronger, faster, better,” he said. “I do believe I’m way further ahead than I was last year. I’m in a group with so many strengths; practicing jumps with British record-holders, then to sprints with three of the quickest in the country, it pushes you to your limit, producing the best in everyone.”

He continued: “I obviously had confidence coming from the World Championships but the Olympics are the pinnacle so having those two behind me back to back literally I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”

But he added: “There’s still not that world record by my name, having respect for the man that did it and having respect for that actual jump.”

Looking ahead a few months, Taylor confirmed: “Obviously I’m going to go back for the World Championship. It’s my title to defend now – and that’s pretty cool to say – but I do think I can get the world record.

“If I put little things here and there together and execute, I genuinely believe I have a good chance. Even speaking to Mr Edwards himself I believe he has been on ‘team Taylor’. No one wants to see their record broken but he’s kind of accepted I might have a chance!”

With triple jump competition strong in 2013 with Taylor, Will Claye of the United States, Teddy Tamgho of France and the former world champion from Britain, Phillips Idowu, Taylor believes that chance is made more likely by the fact that he is training with the enemy, as it were.

“Before it was Philips going to competitions and just dominating,” he said. “Not taking anything anyway from the other jumpers but he is on another level. It’s not only going to help me, but help him and that also helps UK athletics as a whole.

“We can do more competitions together which is going to bring our level of competition up. Spectator-wise it’s going to give them more of a show.”

» Christian Taylor spoke to Charlie Gibson. Read a more in-depth interview with Taylor in the April 11 issue of AW, which is available here

Of the 1,200 Lloyds TSB Local Heroes supported since the initiative began in 2008, 45 Local Heroes competed at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Speaking at the launch of the 2013 programme, Paralympic champion Richard Whitehead, a Lloyds TSB ambassador and SportsAid alumnus, commented: “Having been in the position of these young athletes myself, I understand how important it is to have support from family, experienced athletes and partners such as Lloyds TSB.

“The funding and support provided through the Local Heroes programme makes a significant difference to their development.”

The Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme provides young athletes with both financial and practical support. For each year the Local Heroes are on the programme they receive £1,000 towards training costs and are provided with opportunities to learn about becoming an elite athlete. In Scotland, where the programme will operate as the Bank of Scotland Local Heroes, a total of 12 track and field athletes form part of the 82-strong intake for 2013.

Sprinter Kyle Powell, hurdler Niall Flannery and triple jumper Laura Samuel are just three of the track and field athletes to be benefiting this year, and they spoke in the video above about what it means to be a part of the programme.

To find out more about the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme visit www.lloydstsb.com/localheroes or to follow future stars visit www.facebook.com/lloydstsblocalheroes.

Track and field athletes on the 2013 Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme:

Joshua Bain (Throws)
Thomas Bosworth (Middle/Long Distance)
Sean Clare (Throws)
Harry Coppell (Jumps)
Martin Crutchley (Throws)
Niall Flannery (Sprint)
Nathan Fox (Jumps)
Jermaine Hamilton (Sprint)
Jonathan Hay (Middle/Long Distance)
Aisha Naibe-Wey (Sprint)
Isobel Pooley (Jumps)
Kyle Powell (Sprint)
Laura Samuel (Jumps)
Adelle Tracey (Middle/Long Distance)

Track and field athletes on the 2013 Bank of Scotland Local Heroes programme:

Rhona Auckland (Middle/Long Distance)
Meggan Dawson-Farrell (Middle/Long Distance)
Neil Gourley (Middle/Long Distance)
Ross Low (Sprint)
Maria Lyle (Sprint)
Collette Martin (Middle/Long Distance)
Jade Nimmo (Jumps)
Myra Perkins (Throws)
Elizabeth Potter (Middle/Long Distance)
Kimberley Reed (Throws)
David Vernon (Middle/Long Distance)
Kirsty Yates (Throws)

On Tuesday news that Arzhakova had received a two-year ban for doping broke, with messages of congratulations to Sharp on her promotion to gold spreading across the twittersphere.

But, away at a training camp in San Diego, it was Sharp’s mother Carol who called the athlete at 5am US time to break the news.

“I woke Lynsey up at 5am her time in the United States because I wanted to tell her this myself rather than her hear it elsewhere or see on the internet,” she explained.

“She just broke down in floods of tears. It is nice, yes, but there is a bit of anger there at missing out on place on top of the podium to someone who has now failed drug tests,” she added, echoing the reaction Sharp had herself given on twitter.

“It makes me sick that I was denied the opportunity to do a lap of honour and stand on the top of the podium with my national anthem playing”, she tweeted, having used the hashtags #cleansport and #drugcheatsout in a previous tweet.

Speaking later on to UKA, Sharp added: “My reaction to this news, if confirmed to be true, is a mixture of disappointment, satisfaction and elation. I’m disappointed that yet another athlete has been discovered breaking the rules of the sport in order to beat others and win medals, and I’m disappointed further that this athlete competed in the same event as me.

“However I draw satisfaction from the fact that the system is working, that the athlete in question has been caught and will serve a ban. I am elated that my effort on the track has paid off and that a clean athlete is now European Champion. It’s a happy day for me and a happy day for athletics.”

The Russian athletics federation said that Arzhakova had received a two-year ban for an “abnormal haemoglobin profile in her biological passport”.

The 23-year-old’s ban began on January 29 of this year, with any results from July 12, 2011, to be annulled. This means, as well as being promoted to European 800m gold, Sharp is also set to move up to European under-23 silver.

Scottish Athletics advised that they would be looking to hold a medal ceremony for Sharp, possibly at the governing body’s annual awards dinner in autumn.

“You always feel more than a little sorry for athletes in these circumstances – because the very nature of testing afterwards and retrospective bans means they are denied that wonderful and deserved moment of glory standing on top of the podium,” commented Nigel Holl, chief executive of Scottish Athletics.

He continued: “We would love to be involved in any formal presentation to Lynsey of a gold medal by European Athletics and make that as grand and as fitting an occasion as possible.”

The details of Arzhakova’s ban were announced along with the news that London 2012 discus silver medallist Darya Pishchalnikova has also received a suspension, but for 10 years as she failed a drugs test for the second time.

Re-testing on a sample taken from the Russian athlete in May has come back positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone.

The 27-year-old’s results from May 20, 2012, will be annulled, and as a result she is set to lose her Olympic medal from London.

The 23-year-old Russian, whose ban began on January 29, 2013, is to be stripped of all her results from July 12, 2011, meaning she will lose her European title.

This means, as well as being set for promotion to European 800m gold, British runner Lynsey Sharp is also set to move up to European under-23 silver.

Reacting to the news, Sharp tweeted: ”It makes me sick that I was denied the opportunity to do a lap of honour and stand on the top of the podium with my national anthem playing”, using the hashtags #cleansport and #drugcheatsout in a previous tweet.

Reports on Tuesday also confirmed that London 2012 discus silver medallist Darya Pishchalnikova has also received a ban, but for 10 years as she failed a drugs test for the second time.

Re-testing on a sample taken from the Russian athlete in May has come back positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone.

The 27-year-old’s results from May 20, 2012, will be annulled, and as a result she is set to lose her Olympic medal from London.

These bans follow the news that Austrian distance runner Susanne Pumper has also received a suspension of eight years for a second doping offence.

Although he wasn’t selected on the final day of the NFL draft, the British discus record-holder with 68.24 tweeted “Should be making an announcement shortly,” before confirming that he will be signing with the 49ers, but as an undrafted free agent.

“Proud to announce that I will be signing with the San Francisco @49ers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” tweeted the 21-year-old, with his message provoking both replies of congratulations and also ones of sorrow that he will be departing the world of athletics, at least for the time being.

Speaking after the draft, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh is reported to have labelled Okoye an ‘Adonis’.

“He’s just an Adonis,” he said. “Just a great physical specimen of a man. Our Creator created a beautiful man.”

The world No.5 discus thrower from last year surprised the athletics community a few weeks ago when he revealed that he intended to switch from the discus to American football. At that time Okoye said he had attracted interest from five teams, adding that he would like to return to athletics in his late-twenties.

Earlier this month AW published a statement from Okoye’s “very disappointed” coach, John Hillier, who said: “He was on the verge of breaking through, in my opinion, to being the best in the world. I would like what’s in his best interests and I honestly believe it would be in his best interests to stay in the sport.”

With only a couple of years in the sport behind him, Okoye, who reached the Olympic discus final last year, was picked out by the current world record-holder, Jurgen Schult, according to Hillier, as the one who would break his 27-year-old mark of 74.08m.

Following the London 2012 Olympics, Okoye announced that after careful consideration he had chosen athletics over possible careers in rugby and law and that he might aim for Rio 2016.

But he impressed at the Super Regional Combine, despite having never played American football, with a report for CBS Sports labelling the athlete’s stats in a series of tests “eye popping”.

He clocked 4.78 seconds in the 40 yards, 35 inches (88.9cm) in the vertical jump and 125 inches (3.18m) in the broad jump (standing long jump).

Reports claim that Okoye will sign a three-year contract with the 49ers and play in the defensive line.

The car manufacturer will support British athletes through the ‘Road to Sochi and Rio’ initiative as they sponsor both the BOA and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) and become the Official Automotive Partner of the two teams, Team GB and ParalympicsGB

The BOA has said it is looking to raise £42 million over the next four-year cycle to Rio 2016, with the unveiling of Nissan as a first major sponsor on Thursday a step towards that goal.

Speaking at a media briefing in Central London, Lord Sebastian Coe (pictured above), chairman of the BOA, commented: “I am delighted that Nissan, a company that is recognised globally for excellence and performance, is partnering with Team GB on the ‘Road to Sochi and Rio’.

“The BOA played an important role in enabling me to pursue my Olympic dreams and compete for Team GB, and now, thanks to partners like Nissan, today’s athletes can be afforded the same support.

“Nissan has invested heavily in British industry and now it is backing Britain in the greatest sporting arena in the world.”

Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of the BPA, also welcomed the partnership, adding: “I am delighted by this deal and would like to welcome Nissan into the Paralympic family in the UK.

“We are delighted that, following on from the inspiration of London, they have sought actively to support the BPA in this country alongside their becoming the first Paralympic partner of the Rio 2016 Games.

“We firmly believe that successful sponsorships are based on shared values and a vision for what can be achieved, and look forward to working closely with Nissan over the next four years to implement this.”

February last year saw Nissan unveiled as a ‘tier one’ sponsor and the automotive partner of the Rio 2016 Games. As part of that, the company will supply over 4,500 vehicles to support the Olympic and Paralympic events.

In terms of cutting costs, the state of the BOA’s finances following London 2012 has seen the number of staff at the organisation reduced by more than half, with performance director Sir Clive Woodward and chief executive Andy Hunt among those to have departed since the London Games.

The National Lottery Anniversary Run, which will be the first sporting event to take place inside the Stadium since the Games, will see participants run the final 300m to the Stadium finish line.

Entry to the July 21 event opens on Thursday (April 25) at 9am with places allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are 10,000 spots available, with 750 of those going to Newham residents who gain a free place in a ballot.

“It is fitting that the first people to run on the track since the end of London 2012 will be members of the British public, who did so much to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games such a success,” commented double Olympic champion Farah at the event launch.

“Running down the home straight to win gold for Britain last summer was one of the greatest experiences of my life and it is wonderful that people will experience the chance to run on the track as part of The National Lottery Anniversary Run.”

Read more about the National Lottery Anniversary Run here.

Visit www.nationallotteryrun.com for more details and to apply for tickets.

The National Lottery Anniversary Run, which will be the first sporting event to take place inside the Stadium since the Games, will see participants run the final 300m to the Stadium finish line on the same track that the likes of Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Jonnie Peacock and Mo Farah raced on to win gold.

Entry to the July 21 event opens on Thursday (April 25) at 9am with places allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are 10,000 spots available, with 750 of those going to Newham residents who gain a free place in a ballot.

“It is fitting that the first people to run on the track since the end of London 2012 will be members of the British public, who did so much to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games such a success,” commented double Olympic champion Farah at the event launch.

“Running down the home straight to win gold for Britain last summer was one of the greatest experiences of my life and it is wonderful that people will experience the chance to run on the track as part of The National Lottery Anniversary Run”.

The Anniversary Run follows on from last year’s National Lottery Olympic Park Run, which was the first public event inside the Stadium. Runners will have the chance to bring two friends or family members to sit in the Stadium and cheer them on to their own moment of glory.

Organised by Nova International in conjunction with the London Borough of Newham, the National Lottery and the London Legacy Development Corporation, the event will also include a shorter family fun run for which there are more than 2000 places available.

Entry to the five-mile event will cost £27.50, while family fun run entry is £7. Visit www.nationallotteryrun.com for more details and to apply for tickets.

The Brit, who won four gold medals at last year’s Games, is the only member of the field racing on home soil and faces tough competition including the fastest on paper, Canada’s Josh Cassidy.

After taking his final victory at the Paralympics last year, he said he felt that his competitors had conspired against him as the favourite.

“That’s just racing,” he said on Friday. “You deal with it and plan for that. I’ll just do my own race and hopefully that’ll get me my seventh victory.”

Weir also said he was hoping to inspire the next generation of British elite wheelchair racers, having set up with his coach, Jenny Archer, the Weir Archer Academy following his Olympic success.

He had the idea long before London 2012 when seeing a dearth of British wheelchair racers on the circuit.

“It would be nice to see more representing Britain in Rio and beyond,” he said. “I might be a bit too old when they start doing marathons. Hopefully they’ll be a bit quicker than me by then and their should be a good number of athletes coming through the academy.”

Weir picked out one member, Justin Levene, who will make his debut in the race on Sunday. “He’s only been training for six or seven weeks and I’ve never seen anything like him. He’s got the technique, the desire, everything.

“The technique is the hardest thing to get and he’s got it straight away. I think he might get under two hours in his first marathon. If I can inspire the next generation, that’s what I want to do.”

Cakir Alptekin could face a lifetime ban, with the athlete having already served a two-year doping ban after testing positive at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2004 as a teenage steeplechaser.

It is not yet known if the test was taken before or after the London 2012 Olympic Games.

An IAAF spokesman said: “It’s a biological passport case. It’s not finalised yet but we know it’s a positive case. Immediately after the London Olympic Games we discovered abnormalities. We have seen big abnormalities and it is not the only case from Turkey. More are coming.”

A blog post from the editor of Athletics Weekly caused furore in 2012 as he debated whether the Turkish dominance of the women’s 1500m at the London 2012 Olympic Games was ‘delight or doubt’ after the Turkish one-two in the event was met with cynical indifference.

Speaking after the final at the Olympic Stadium, Cakir Alptekin and compatriot Gamze Bulut who claimed silver, faced the world’s press to explain how they had managed to achieve their success. “We came here to take gold and silver,” said Cakir Alptekin at the time. “This is Turkish power.”

Following the race, world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe, who has led the way when it comes to spreading the anti-doping message, replied to one fan on Twitter who asked her what her face was like at the end of the race by saying: “It wasn’t a happy one! #lifetimebans.”

Also tweeting at the time was British steeplechaser Hatti Archer, who said: “Hate hate hate drugs cheats, ruining races wherever they go,” before ending her message with an x-rated message for cheats.

British athletes Lisa Dobriskey and Laura Weightman brought up the back of the field in the final of the 1500m at the London Olympics and Dobriskey told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.”

» Look out for a more in-depth report on this story in next week’s AW, out March 28

London played host to one of the best and most-talked about Paralympic Games in history last summer and it is hoped that next year’s Championships can build on that momentum as the event is held in the UK for the first time.

The news, which follows the announcement that London is to host the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2017, has been welcomed by UK Athletics Paralympic head coach Paula Dunn, who described the event as a ‘springboard’ for British athletes to achieve further success on the global stage.

“‬We’ve seen first hand how competing on home soil can really give our athletes a boost,” said Dunn.

“Having watched how our home crowd can push us on to medal success,‭ ‬I am delighted that the‭ ‬2014‭ ‬IPC Championships will be staged by Swansea.‭ ‬It will be a key part of our athletes preparations for Rio‭ ‬2016‭ ‬and London‭ ‬2017,‭ ‬and we would aim to use it as a springboard for even further success on the global stage.‭”

Swansea University, who submitted the successful bid, will physically host the majority of the 2014 Championships which is set to take place over five days in August.

The event, which has previously been held in Stadskanaal in the ‬Netherlands,‭ ‬Espoo in ‬Finland ‭and Assen in the ‬Netherlands, is expected to see up to ‬2000‭ ‬athletes,‭ ‬officials and visitors from across Europe head to the Welsh city along with up to ‬5000‭ ‬spectators.

Professor Richard B Davies, vice-chancellor at Swansea University, said:‭ “‬We are pleased that the IPC has recognised that Swansea University,‭ ‬working with its partners,‭ ‬can deliver a high profile Championship event and acknowledges our commitment to disability sport.‭

‭“‬The IPC European Athletics Championships have never taken place in the UK before so we are proud that Swansea is leading the way in building on the momentum of the ‬2012‭ ‬London Paralympic Games and raising the profile of disability sport across Wales and the UK.”

The British Paralympic Association‭ congratulated ‬Swansea on its successful bid, with ‬Tim Hollingsworth,‭ c‬hief executive of the association,‭ ‬commenting: ‭“‬This is fantastic news for disability sport in the UK.‭ ‬The London‭ ‬2012‭ ‬Paralympic Games demonstrated that the British public have a big appetite for disability sport and this event will provide them with a further excellent opportunity to see elite level disability sport.

“‬The success of the Swansea bid means our athletes will have the opportunity to compete at an elite level on home soil once again in ‬2014,‭ ‬and I am confident that this event will form a crucial part of their preparations for Rio in ‬2016.‭ ”

The little brother or sister for her first child Jacob, who is now three years old, is due in September, meaning the 39-year-old has shifted her focus from Moscow to winning a medal at the European Championships in 2014 before continuing with her aim of reaching her fifth Olympics in Rio in 2016.

Pavey, who is married to her coach Gavin, said: “We are so thrilled and happy. It’s going to be so lovely to have a little brother or sister for Jacob.”

She added: “Having Jacob has boosted my motivation and underpins my continued enjoyment of the sport. He really has helped to give me a balanced life.”

Pavey also revealed on Twitter recently that she hasn’t ruled out doing another indoor season between now and Rio. The athlete hasn’t raced indoors since 2007 and admitted when watching the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg at the beginning of March how she missed it.

The distance legend won English Schools 1500m gold as a teenager and has gone on to become one of Britain’s most consistent championship performers, competing in every Olympics since Sydney 2000. At London 2012 she secured seventh place finishes in both the 5000m and 10,000m.

» You can read more on this story and hear more from Jo in the current issue of AW, out March 7, which is available online here

Ethiopian long distance runners have dominated Olympic podiums with 35 medals claimed in the last twenty years.‭

In the small Ethiopian village of Bekoji,‭ ‘‬Coach‭’ ‬Sentayehu Eshetu has discovered five runners who have all gone on to compete in the Olympic Games, including Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba.

CNN’s‭ ‬African Voices‭ ‬travels to meet Eshetu as he trains his new generation of aspiring gold medalists in Bekoji and is reunited with Dibaba.

Dibaba talks about how she went from running to fetch water for her family to winning Olympic gold, as well as explaining how gold is the only medal that counts in her country.‭ ‬“You should bring back gold when you compete for Ethiopia,” she said. “Silver and bronze in our country is no better than finishing fifth or sixth.‭”

Credit: CNN International

Magistrate Desmond Nair said that the prosecution had not proved that Pistorius, who faces a murder charge for shooting Steenkamp dead on February 14, was a ‘flight risk’ or that he had a violent character.

The athlete has denied the murder, claiming that he shot his girlfriend through a bathroom door thinking she was an intruder.

As well as having to deposit 1 million rand (around £74,000), the bail conditions also state that the athlete must hand over his passport, avoid his home in Pretoria and surrender his firearms.

He is also not allowed to drink alcohol, must not communicate with witnesses and must report to a police station every Monday and Friday. Pistorius is next due in court on June 4.

Earlier today, the athlete’s coach, Ampie Louw, was quoted by reporters present at court as saying: “He’s heartbroken – he’s heartbroken… He’s just a boy”, adding that if the athlete were to get bail, he could start training again next week, and that it might allow him to “get his mind, sort of, clear.” He added: “The sooner he can start with a bit of work, the better.”

The 26-year-old, who is known as the “Blade Runner” because he races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades, made history at London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

The London 2012 Olympic 400m semi-finalist also won gold in the T44 400m at the Paralympics, setting a Paralympic record in the process.

Journalists in court today reported how they heard that Pistorius and his coach of nine years made a pact to retire on the same day. “He’s not stupid. He was at the pinnacle of his career. This was going to be his year,” Rohit Kachroo, Africa Correspondent for ITV News, tweeted the coach as saying.

Earlier this week, Louw said in a statement: “I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track.”

As well as being accused of the murder of his girlfriend, there have also been allegations of an illegal substance being found at the athlete’s home where Steenkamp was shot dead.

On Wednesday AW reported how Pistorius’ defence claimed the ‘testosterone’ found was actually a legal herbal remedy used by athletes, said to be testo compositum coenzyme, and not a banned substance.

Yesterday Inside the Games claimed that the substance found could be a sexual performance enhancer, with testo-composutim co-enzyme said to be more commonly known as testis compositum, which is “marketed to help men with sexual problems”.

If the substance comes back from testing and is found to be an illegal performance enhancer Pistorius could be removed of the medals he won at London 2012.

Although finding a banned substance at his home is a serious allegation, Pistorius has other more serious matters at hand, with the athlete denying the premeditated murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, saying he mistook her for an intruder.

AW reported last week how Steenkamp had been found shot dead in the early hours of last Thursday. A full trial of Pistorius is not expected for months, however allegations of what happened that day have been emerging at his bail hearing.

In evidence given to the court today, the prosecution referred to statements from a witness saying they heard “non-stop talking like fighting” as well as another witness saying they heard screams and gunshots from the house.

Chief investigative officer Hilton Botha also said Pistorius would face an additional charge of possessing unlicensed ammunition and that police found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the athlete’s bedroom.

However, Inspector Botha later admitted that the witness who said they heard the shouting was 600m (later amended to 300m by the Inspector) away from Pistorius’ house, with the defence also claiming that the ammunition in question belonged to the athlete’s father.

The defence also said that the testosterone found was actually a legal herbal remedy used by athletes, reported as being testo compositum coenzyme, and not a banned substance.

The International Paralympic Committee have confirmed that they dope tested Pistorius during London 2012, on August 25 (out of competition) and on September 8, and that the athlete tested negative in both.

Yesterday prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court that Pistorius – a double amputee – had got up from bed and put on his prostheses before shooting Steenkamp dead through the bathroom door.

But today Inspector Botha admitted that he does not have any proof that Pistorius attached his legs before firing his pistol and Barry Roux, Pistorius’ defence lawyer, stated that the autopsy revealed no signs of other assault on Steenkamp and that her bladder was empty, suggesting she had gone to the toilet, which is in line with the version of events presented by Pistorius.

The bail hearing was initially expected to last two days, but could now reportedly go on until the end of the week. Inspector Botha argues that Pistorius should not get bail as he considers him a flight risk.

In an affidavit read by his lawyer, the 26-year-old is reported as saying: “I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder let alone premeditated murder as I did not intend to kill my girlfriend.”

AW reported last week how Steenkamp had been found shot dead at Pistorius’ home in Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of Thursday.

Prosecutors accuse the Olympic and Paralympic athlete of premeditated murder, with prosecutor Gerrie Nel telling the court that Pistorius – a double amputee – had got up from bed and put on his prostheses before shooting Steenkamp dead through the bathroom door.

But Pistorius told the packed courtroom that he believed his girlfriend was an intruder in the house and felt vulnerable when he heard a noise because he did not have on his prosthetic legs. When he realised afterwards that Steenkamp was not in his bed he said: “It filled me with horror and fear.”

Few were surprised when the athlete’s management confirmed he had begun withdrawing from race appearances, but many were shocked to hear how the athlete is reportedly being tested for steroids by police after banned substances were said to have been found at the athlete’s home.

Tweeting from the courtroom earlier today, BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding said: “Incredibly compelling testimony from #OscarPistorius and friends.” However, he added: “Statement by #OscarPistorius doesn’t deal with reports of arguments at home that night.”

People have been left stunned over the news of the shooting, with the athlete idolised by many for having helped unite disabled and able-bodied sport.

Known as the “Blade Runner” because he races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades, Pistorius made history at London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

The London 2012 Olympic 400m semi-finalist also won gold in the T44 400m at the Paralympics, setting a Paralympic record in the process, as well as silver in the T44 200m and gold in the 4×100 relay.

But the Guardian has reported how the president of the International Paralympic Committee, Sir Philip Craven, has insisted that the momentum generated by London 2012 will not be halted by recent events.

“I’ve been amazed over the last six months how fresh and bright those memories from London still are in people’s minds,” he told the newspaper.

“This is a major tragedy but we have to differentiate it away from Paralympic sport and the Paralympic movement and what will happen in Sochi [2014] and in Rio [2016].”

Craven also voiced his thoughts in a letter to ‘Paralympic Friends’, considering the future of the Paralympic movement. You can find the full letter here.

The hearing has been adjourned until Wednesday.

The 26-year-old South African Paralympic and Olympic athlete was arrested and charged with the murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, last Thursday, and is due back in court on Tuesday.

Recent reports also indicate that this “serious charge” could become even more complex, as steroids are said to have been found at the athlete’s home, along with a cricket bat covered in blood.

City Press have said police insisted that the athlete’s blood be tested for any foreign substances “in anticipation of a possible argument that he experienced “roid rage” – extremely aggressive behaviour associated with taking large doses of steroids”, while a source told The Sun: “Steroid drugs were found at Pistorius’s home together with evidence of heavy drinking. That’s why police have specifically ordered that he be tested for steroids.”

The events Pistorius has withdrawn from include the Manchester Great CityGames in May where he was set to compete against Britain’s Jonnie Peacock, who took gold ahead of Pistorius in the T44 100m at London 2012, in a 150m race.

“I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in, to allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation,” said Van Zyl in a statement.

Other appearances cancelled include Pistorius’ season openers in Australia, with the athlete due to compete in Qantas Tour races in Sydney on March 9 and Perth on March 16.

He was also due to take part in a race against Alan Oliveira, the athlete who controversially beat Pistorius to claim 200m gold at London 2012, in Rio de Janeiro on March 31 to help promote the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

Regarding sponsors and partners, Van Zyl’s statement continued to say: “I can confirm that at this point in time, all parties are supportive and their contractual commitments are maintained. They have said they are happy to let the legal process takes its course before making any change in their position.”

Using it as an opportunity to test himself against the best in the world as well as learn the London course, the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion will start with the elite men’s field and run to the half-way point in the company of athletes such as marathon world record-holder Patrick Makau and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich.

“As a young boy growing up in London it has always been my ambition to run the London Marathon,” Farah explained. “I won the Mini Marathon when I was younger [three years in a row between 1998 and 2000] and have watched the race every year for as long as I can remember.”

The 29-year-old, who is in 3000m Indoor Grand Prix action in Birmingham today, admits that taking part in the event off the back of his success in the Olympic Stadium last summer is sure to add something to the occasion.

“To run as the double Olympic champion makes it even more special,” he said. “Dave Bedford [former London Marathon race director] and the London Marathon have always been there for me and it will be my pleasure to run my first marathon in London.”

Running half the course on April 21, he says, will allow him to “understand the course and the systems” he will need when taking on the full distance next year. Continuing his learning process on the roads, he is also due to race the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon on February 24.

With a field described as the “best ever assembled”, this year’s London Marathon will see Farah line up alongside six of the 10 quickest men of all time as well as four previous London Marathon winners including reigning London champion Wilson Kipsang and course record-holder Emmanuel Mutai.

Farah made his half marathon debut in 2011 when he won the New York City half marathon in a British-record time of 60:23. He also holds the national record for 10km and has won the Bupa London 10,000 four years in a row.

Welcoming Farah’s decision to join the 2013 event, race director Hugh Brasher said: “We are delighted that Mo wants to run with our elite runners this year. We have been following and supporting Mo’s career since he first won the Mini London Marathon 15 years ago and are full of anticipation for his marathon debut in 2014.”

The 26-year-old Paralympic and Olympic athlete appeared in court this morning and is said to have broken down in tears as he heard how the prosecution will argue he committed premeditated murder. If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius could be sentenced to life in prison.

Pistorius is to remain in police custody, with an application for bail postponed until next Tuesday.

AW reported yesterday how Steenkamp had been found shot dead at Pistorius’ home in Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of Thursday.

Police have given few further details about the shooting, other than to confirm that the 30-year-old model died of gunshot wounds. She is said to have been shot four times, with local media reporting that she was shot through a bathroom door.

Early reports said Pistorius may have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder, however, in a police press conference on Thursday a spokeswoman dismissed those early reports and also revealed that police had been called to the athlete’s address in the past to deal with “allegations of a domestic nature”. Pistorius and Steenkamp had reportedly been dating since November.

A statement issued through Pistorius’ family and management company states the athlete disputes the allegation that he murdered his girlfriend ‘in the strongest terms’.

It continued to state: “Firstly, and most importantly, all our thoughts today must be with the family and friends of Reeva Steenkamp.

“Oscar Pistorius has appeared in court here in Pretoria this morning formally charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms.

“These are now live and active legal proceedings which must be allowed to take their course through the process of proper investigation by the police, evidence-gathering and through the local South African judicial system.

“In a short hearing lawyers representing the athlete asked for a postponement for a bail application until Tuesday next week to allow time for their own investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy, which was agreed by the Magistrate, who also agreed that Pistorius would be held in custody at a local police station.

“Oscar Pistorius has made history as an Olympic and Paralympic sportsman and has been an inspiration to others the world over.

“He has made it very clear that he would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva. He would also like to express his thanks through us today for all the messages of support he has received – but as stated our thoughts and prayers today should be for Reeva and her family – regardless of the circumstances of this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

In response to a question on twitter as to whether there were ‘any signs of remorse from the accused’, Eyewitness News Pretoria correspondent Barry Bateman stated: “Yes. He appears shattered. He is battling to contain emotions.”

People have been left stunned over the news, with the athlete idolised by many for having helped unite disabled and able-bodied sport.

Known as the “Blade Runner” because he races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades, Pistorius made history at London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

The London 2012 Olympic 400m semi-finalist also won gold in the T44 400m at the Paralympics, setting a Paralympic record in the process, as well as silver in the T44 200m and gold in the 4×100 relay.

As with many sporting stars, Pistorius has a number of high-profile sponsors, including BT and Nike. Nike commented only to say that the incident “is a police matter” and that they will continue to “monitor the situation closely”. Yesterday an advert which depicted Pistorius leaving the starting blocks and included the sentence ‘I am the bullet in the chamber’ was removed from his official website.

The precise circumstances are unclear, but police have confirmed to local media that a 30-year-old woman died at the scene after being shot in the head and arm.

Early reports said Pistorius may have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder, however, in a more recent police press conference, a spokeswoman dismissed those early reports and also revealed that police had been called to the athlete’s address in the past to deal with “allegations of a domestic nature”.

Speaking earlier this morning, South African journalist Kalay Maistry told Sky News: “It is alleged that he thought his girlfriend, who’d come in to try to surprise him for Valentines Day, was an intruder. It’s alleged that he shot her at least twice in the arm and head.”

The 26-year-old, who is known as the “Blade Runner” because he races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades, made history at London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

The London 2012 Olympic 400m semi-finalist also won gold in the T44 400m at the Paralympics, setting a Paralympic record in the process.

In a statement the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said it will not be passing any comment on the incident until the official police process has concluded, but added: “The IPC would like to offer its deepest sympathy and condolences to all families involved in this case.”

“I think I’m going to go one, two and four this year,” he says. “I want to PB in all of them, to improve all those times. That’s my goal.”

Gay is joint-second on the 100m all-time rankings with 9.69 and is still the only athlete in history with a sub-10 100m, sub-20 200m, and sub-45 400m to his name.

Hampered by chronic pain for much of 2012 following hip labral surgery in July 2011, the American made the decision to focus exclusively on the 100m for the Olympics, where he finished an agonising fourth in 9.80 before earning his first Olympic medal when taking silver in the 4x100m relay.

In addition to his 100m best, which was set in 2009, Gay has run 19.58 for 200m and 44.89 for 400m. And many will be intrigued to see how he fares over 400m, although he only plans to contest the one-lap event early in the season, and hopes to contest the shorter sprint distances at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow in August.

Gay, who is based in Clermont, Florida, and is coached by Jon Drummond and Lance Brauman, was in Ireland recently to visit renowned sports injury therapist Anthony Geoghegan, and was in a positive mood about his health as he looked forward to the season ahead.

The 30-year-old said he was “very impressed” by the Irish physical therapist, and learned much during his time there which he feels will be crucial in keeping him healthy throughout 2013.

“I’m getting a little bit of treatment done, and I’m learning some things,” he says. “I can’t wait to take them back to the States and apply them.

“I’m just trying to stay healthy, taking my life in my own hands, doing what I have to do, the rehab and stuff. I think I needed to stick to the rehab, and not just fix the injury, but do the rehab all the time so it stays fixed.”

Asked if he still struggled with the hip pain which plagued him during 2012, he said: “Slightly, here and there, but it’s a lot better.

“I got through it last year, and I’m feeling a lot better. I should be able to run a lot faster, too.”

David Oliver was with Gay in Ireland and the 12.89 sprint hurdler said he planned to skip the 2013 indoor season but he is healthy and looking ahead to the summer.

On his biggest rival, Olympic champion and world record- holder Aries Merritt, Oliver said: “He had a great season last year, but that was in 2012. It’s 2013 now, so everybody just has to start over with a clean slate.

“I’m not really worried too much about what everyone else is doing, I just have to go out there and attack every race, every training session, so that’s all I worry about.”

But, with “the worst bit over”, Christine Ohuruogu, who followed up her success in 2008 with silver in London last summer, has admitted she’s now eagerly looking forward to the rest of her career and considering the possibility of employing new tactics to see what more she has to give.

“My whole career has been pretty challenging,” she said, “but it’s all about enjoying it now. I feel like I have got the worst bit over.”

In winning 400m gold in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in 2008, Ohuruogu established herself as the UK’s most successful championship athlete of recent years. It should have been a glorious countdown to the defence of her Olympic title in her home city at London 2012, yet the intervening three years were laden with problems that could easily have de-railed an athlete of lesser mental strength.

That she managed to return to anything like her best by winning a gutsy silver medal in August is a testament to her fortitude and just reward for her determination. Her immediate disappointment in failing to win gold again also revealed much about the fierce ambition that lies within her often cool and calm exterior.

Although she defied many who doubted her in medalling, Ohuruogu has stressed that is not what inspired her. “I don’t do what I do to prove anybody wrong,” she said. “I do it to prove myself right. I know what I’ve got and I know what I can do. That’s my motivation.

“I know how I want to run. I’ve not seen it from me yet,” she said in considering the possibility of experimenting more with new tactics in the future, instead of her customary final straight charge which has served her well.

“I know I can run from the front as opposed to a chasing position. That’s something I know I can do. I really feel now is the time for me to work on that, as opposed to trying to play safe.

“A lot of people tend to go out harder but still die. It’s the person who can judge it the best really. Even though the others go out harder, they are not beating me on the home straight, so it’s not really working is it?

“I think I need to probably be a lot more in contention at 300m and then rely on the strength to come down the home straight.”

This summer’s World Championships in Moscow are an obvious target where she will most likely have to overcome Sanya Richards-Ross, who claimed the gold ahead of Ohuruogu in London.

Her rivalry with the American was one of the more prominent head-to-heads in the sport before the British international’s dip in form.

Now fully fit, the rivalry is now fully rekindled and Ohuruogu is looking forward to the challenge.

“She’s a very good athlete and is in the position that she’s the one to be beaten,” she said. “I’m game if she is.

“I’ll race anybody. There’s not just Sanya, there’s lot of others. In the 400m you always keep your eyes open. You never write anybody off .

“But it’s good for the sport. It’s good for people to really engage and to feel the event like we do. If we get people to attend these events and feel the passion, then we are doing our jobs.”

» This is an extract from an interview with Christine Ohuruogu in the January 24 issue of Athletics Weekly, which is available here

The 18-year-old competed in the 3000m steeplechase during the Games last summer but was one of four Eritrean Olympians who jumped ship and he has since been embraced by Sunderland Harriers in north-east England.

He won the junior race at the North of England Cross Country Championships in Knowsley last Saturday and now has his sights set on the National Cross in Sunderland.

These are not his first races in Britain, though, and he has already popped up in the results pages of Athletics Weekly several times. After finishing sixth in the 3000m steeplechase at the IAAF World Junior Championships last year, together with 30th at the last IAAF World Cross Country Championship under-20 race, it means he will start as favourite in Sunderland.

Despite his name bearing a likeness to the legendary Haile Gebrselassie, the young Eritrean was part of an army that has been at odds with Gebrselassie’s Ethiopia in recent years. In fact, one of Ghebresilasie’s brothers died in the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute several years ago and Ghebresilasie believes he could be executed for treason if he is forced to return to his native land.

The story has already featured on BBC’s The One Show and the Sunderland Echo is also naturally following the story closely as it evolves. The latest twist, for example, has seen Sunderland Harriers’ president, George Cockburn, sponsor the athlete by giving him food together with access to his gym.

Cockburn, a former butcher and 2:52 marathoner, said: “Weynay is an exceptionally talented runner and he has joined the Harriers.

“We are doing all we can to ensure he is not lacking anything when it comes to his training. The club have rallied round him and are going out of their way to help him. I’m just doing my bit.’’

Club secretary Michael Hill added: “Weynay has joined us for training for the last three weeks. He started out with the veterans, but he was a bit too quick for us. He is now training with athletes who are a bit faster. He is ever-present at the Harriers’ training base at Silksworth and has been warmly welcomed by the members.”

Ghebresilasie, who spent time in Croydon and Huddersfield before moving to Sunderland, said: “Everyone is so friendly and the Harriers have been so good to me. They are so kind and helpful. In Eritrea I was always being told to do this and do that, but here in Sunderland I have freedom and I have made some new friends at the Harriers.’’

Suffering from a chest infection, Ghebresilasie was 10th in his steeplechase heat at the 2012 Olympics in 8:37.57, but his best is 8:28.92 and he has run 3:40 for 1500m, 7:54 for 3000m and 13:53 for 5000 metres.

Farah, who won a historic distance-double over 5000m and 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympic Games, is a regular visitor to Birmingham having set a British record of 8:08.07 to finish second over 2 miles in Birmingham last year.

The 29-year-old, who holds a UK 3000m indoor record of 7:34.47, is looking forward to returning to the track and competing against a strong field in Birmingham.

“I always love running in Birmingham and have fond memories of celebrating my Olympic success with the British fans at Alexander Stadium last August,” he said. “I always run well at the NIA.  I won this meet in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and that’s what I’ll be aiming to do for next month at the British Athletics Grand Prix.”

Farah finished fourth in the 3,000m at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul last March and then went on to retain his European 5,000m title before adding two Olympic gold medals to the gold and silver medals he won over 5,000m and 10,000m at the Daegu World Championships in 2011.

Looking ahead to the defence of his World 5000m title in August, Farah believes that competing in Birmingham is an important part of his preparations.

“The big focus this year is the World Championships in Moscow,” he confirms. “I’ve had a good winter training block and the British Athletics Grand Prix will be the first time that I compete this year, so I’m looking forward to getting back on the track in front of a home crowd.”

» Find a four-page interview with Farah in the January 17 issue of AW, which you can find here

The 33-year-old, who has won five Paralympic medals including T36 100m gold in Sydney, has had a consistent career, but says now is the time to step aside and focus on her next journey.

“I’ve been in athletics for 19 years now and I think it is the right time to retire now,” she said. “It was a hard decision, but I was always thinking about the right time to make way for the young ones coming through.

“I know I got through to the final in London, but it was tough just getting through the heats with the 16 and 17 year olds and I just can’t keep up with them now.”

Robson now holds aspirations of staying in the sport and coaching a future Olympic medallist.

“My plans now are to find a job. I’m going to keep on training, because of my cerebral palsy might get tight and I want to keep fit so I’m in the gym all the time.

“I would like to be a coach in the future and train a youngster to win medals just as I did.”

Yet, despite the adulation and deserved recognition of his quadruple gold in the T54 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon, the competitive fires are still flickering within the 33-year-old wheelchair racer supreme.

“I’ve got that drive to get back to training already, which I didn’t think I would have,” he says. “I thought after the Games I wouldn’t feel the urge to get back in my chair. But I have, which is a good thing.

“For a few years I felt like the training was a chore. But then I loved every minute of it (leading up in London 2012), which was strange for me. Now, I have been to the track and seen young athletes training and it has given me the urge.”

Weir admits that he already has a couple of goals in mind and first up is the Virgin London Marathon in April, a race he won for the sixth time in 2012 to equal the record held by Tanni Grey- Thompson.

Now he wants to have the most wins outright all to himself. “I thought it would have been my last London Marathon last year,” he says. “But I’d like to get that record. It’s going to be a tough ask, because I am leaving it late for training. It’s going to be a challenge, but I like challenges.”

Longer-term he also has an eye on the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the possibility of another major championships on British soil. “I’d like to do the Commonwealths,” he says. “I have not represented England, never raced in a Commonwealth Games. That’s the only thing that is not on my CV.”

Weir’s performances in an incredible series of races at the sport’s highest level captivated audiences and proved Weir to be head and shoulders above his peers both tactically and athletically.

The obvious incentive of a home Games was a huge motivator for Weir and, although the London Marathon and 2014 Commonwealth Games hold different appeal, he is non-committal regarding the 2013 IPC World Championships in Lyon, France, or the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

“The World Championships are on, but London was so special I don’t want to go and not do that well,” he adds. “I put so much in for London. Can I do it again for Rio? I don’t know.”

» This is an extract from an interview with David Weir from the January 10 issue of Athletics Weekly, which is available here. David spoke to Chris Broadbent.

Following newspaper reports that the IPC has decided to trial a global series of meetings in 2013 in the style of the IAAF Diamond League, the global governing body released a statement confirming that the possibility is being looked into, but that nothing has been confirmed.

“Following the success of London 2012, IPC Athletics is looking into how it can stage a number of high profile meetings to capitalise on increasing global interest and to create more competition opportunities for athletes,” said Craig Spence, the IPC’s Director of Communications.

“However, this project is still very much in its infancy,” he continued. “Absolutely nothing is agreed nor signed.

“At the moment we have a strong proposal and are having discussions with interested parties.”

It had been claimed that eight-meet series would start in April, with two events in Britain as well as meetings in Rio de Janeiro, Germany and the Netherlands.

The 34-year-old of South Milford, North Yorkshire, who also shouted abuse at Usain Bolt, was arrested on August 5 and was today found guilty of two public order offences at Stratford Magistrates’ Court.

His lawyers had said he was suffering from a “manic episode” at the time, but he was found guilty of intending to cause the 100m finalists harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or disorderly behaviour, contrary to Section 4 of the Public Order Act as well as an alternative charge contrary to Section 5 of the act.

The court had heard how Gill-Webb shouted “Usain, you are bad, you are an ****hole” as Bolt prepared to get into the starting blocks, and threw a plastic beer bottle.

The abuse did not seem to hamper Bolt’s performance, however, with the sprint star taking gold in an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds.

Gill-Webb, who has bipolar affective disorder, is said to have pushed his way to the front of an exclusive seating area, without having a valid ticket for the stadium at all during that session. After the incident Dutch world judo champion Edith Bosch, who was sitting nearby, confronted him before police carried out an arrest.

District Judge William Ashworth said: “The video, in my view, quite clearly shows Mr Gill-Webb checking to see if he is under observation before taking the risk of throwing the bottle.

“I am sure that he was at that point weighing up the chances of being caught.

“I am sure, therefore, that he was at that point acting rationally and wrongly.”

Gill-Webb, who did not give evidence at the trial, had denied the offences but his DNA was later found on the bottle.

District Judge William Ashworth granted Gill-Web conditional bail until the sentencing and said he would limit the maximum sentence to a community-based penalty.

Those are just some of the revelations in his new autobiography Running My Life and when I bring it up, he says: “All kids do that kind of thing at some stage, don’t they?”

They certainly do. Yet not many go on to not only star in an Olympics – as Coe did in 1980 and 1984 – but also later stage the greatest show on earth, as he did so magnificently in London last year.

Athletics Weekly caught up with him at the IAAF Gala in Barcelona in late November to chat everything from his autobiography to life after 2012.

“There are two things most gratifying to me,” Coe says as he reflects on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Firstly when someone comes up and says their child has just joined an archery or gymnastics or athletics club because of what they watched on television or in a stadium. And secondly when they say what a lovely summer they had.

“And they were in essence the two objectives. What did we set out to do? To get more kids playing sport and to make the nation proud.”

And make the nation proud he certainly did. The Games are, of course, featured heavily in Coe’s new autobiography, but so to is his childhood, athletics career and political spell.

“I didn’t just want to write a book about the Olympics,” Coe explains. “Many years ago my dad had been pressing me to write it down and remember it and I sort of started it but it was in fits and starts and then I thought ‘I’m 56 and my athletics career is 20 something years behind me and my political front line is behind me and I’m not returning to that and I’ve just had the most extraordinary journey’.

“So really the book was in essence written by the time we got to the Games but I obviously wanted to leave some space for my own observations going through the extraordinary journey.”

As well as giving him the chance to reflect on said journey, Coe admits that a big part of the enjoyment of putting his autobiography together was the opportunity it gave him to further investigate his roots.

“When writing about my family background I found it really interesting talking to relatives who gave me a bit more of an understanding about where I came from.

“For example lots of interesting stuff came out about my grandmother, with her sailing off to New York as part of an Indian dance group. It was quite unusual in the 1920s for an English woman to marry an Indian man and then bring up my mother ‘til she was about 10-11 in India. What came out was the powerful nature of women in my family.”

Coe’s father comes across as a huge personality in the book, and despite all of Coe’s achievements, he admits his father held on to one disappointment.

“Track and field was what he did, but his main passion was cycling,” remembers Coe. “Toward the end of my athletics career a journalist asked him if he had any regrets and without even flinching he said he was disappointed his son never won the Tour de France!

“In fact, the only sporting event he would plan his whole year around was the Tour de France. And if it was on and he couldn’t watch it, he would not come to the track with me.”

From his father’s regrets, to his own – if Coe were able to go back in time, would he make any changes to his training or preparation for races?

“No, I don’t think so. I suffered injuries like everyone else but they were never chronic or career-threatening.

“I had great people around me like my father, David Martin and George Gandy. People used to be surprised when I told them that two or three nights per week we weren’t pounding the pavements or burning Tartan but we were lifting weights or doing plyometrics in the gym. I was very lucky in that I always worked with people who were never afraid to challenge the orthodox and always wanted to look around the corner.”

So how about life after 2012? How optimistic is Coe when it comes to Britain winning athletics medals in the next few years?

“I’m optimistic because I don’t need to talk about Mo, Jess, Greg and Christine. I’m optimistic because I see what’s going on at European and world youth and junior events,” he explains. “I’ve been to the last few European youth and world youth and junior championships and we have a really good team coming.

“I always said to Charles (van Commenee) the team would perform well in London but that it would probably be marginally undercooked and that there are some really exciting years ahead – men and women and events in which we have not historically performed well in, such as the hammer with Sophie Hitchon.

“We have a much broader base than we have ever had before.”

» This is an extract from an exclusive six-page interview with Seb Coe from the January 3 issue of Athletics Weekly, which is available here

For an athlete who clocked a scorching 48.70 back in 2006 to break the US 400m record, her winning time in London was a relatively pedestrian 49.55. But in 2012, Richards-Ross wasn’t interested in fast times. This time it was purely gold on her mind, whatever it took.

“I remember when I sat down with my dad and I talked about this year, after having a very disappointing 2011 coming off of injuries, my goal this season was to win,” she says. “I didn’t care if it was 50 seconds which won the race, I just wanted to compete well every single time and beat my competition.

“I really watched how Christine (Ohuruogu) executes her race when she’s on and how Amantle Montsho was running her race, and I really just trained to try to beat them. And I think I was successful in doing that.”

When we speak, it’s three months since the Olympics and training has already begun for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow. But for Richards-Ross, her triumph is still just sinking in.

She says: “Oh it’s such a relief. Big time, big time. I’ve wanted it for so long, since I was a little girl. I of course had success in the relay, which I don’t take for granted because those were sweet moments, but it’s just great to finally have won one individually in an event I work on every day so, yeah for sure, it feels like a huge weight off my shoulders. It’s a great relief.”

To understand just how much this medal means to Richards-Ross, one has to rewind the clock four years, to a time when she was experiencing very different emotions.

She arrived in Beijing as the overwhelming favourite for gold but, beset by nerves, she went out far too fast in the final and was overhauled by both Christine Ohuorugu and Shericka Williams in the last 100m. She still came away with an individual bronze and gold in the relay but, as far as she was concerned, it might as well have been nothing.

“Man, every time I reflect on that time and talk about it I realise that it still kind of carries a little bit of sadness for me,” she says. “Sometimes I talk about it and I still cry about it, but it was a very, very, very difficult time for me.

“I took a few months off and I remember I was still crying a little bit about it and Coach (Clyde) Hart, who’s just the best ever, kept telling me, ‘You have to get past this. Your best is still yet to come,’ and so I was able to start my training and in 2009 I had an extremely successful year, a great way to rebound, but it was really difficult right after Beijing.”

But now, instead of looking back, Richards-Ross knows it’s about looking forward. So what does 2013 have in store?

“My goal now for 2013 is to get back under 49 seconds and do it more than I’ve ever done it,” she asserts. “I’m really going to start focusing in on my race again. For me, I think my speed’s always there. For me the secret is in my execution and this year I was a little bit tentative on the back stretch all season long. I had Beijing in my mind and so I was just wanting to make sure that I finished strong.

“For me the secret to running the fast times is really executing my back stretch well and not losing too much momentum as I build back up my speed. In 2013 I really want to knock some more off my American record. I think it’s time to do that.”

» This is an extract from an interview with Sanya Richards-Ross from the January 3 issue of Athletics Weekly, which is available here

But the double Olympic eighth-placer is looking forward to leading a strong British women’s outfit at tomorrow’s Bupa Edinburgh Cross Country, viewing it as a ‘stepping stone’ to the major championships of 2013, and has been putting in the miles to make sure her year gets off to the right start.

“I’m looking forward to getting stuck in to my first cross country race in over 12 months now,” said the 31-year-old. “I can’t wait to get running in the mud and working incredibly hard and seeing where I’m at.”

Bleasdale, whose impressive Christmas day training session (four sets of 4x500m at 2,750m in Ethiopia) was revealed in The Independent yesterday, admitted she is thrilled to be captaining the Great Britain team for the women’s 6km race in the picturesque Holyrood Park. With a junior team also competing earlier in the day she is keen to pass on as much of her experience and encouragement as possible.

“It’s a great honour to be women’s team captain here,” she said. “I’m looking forward to encouraging the girls to work well as a team and put in a really strong performance.

“I believe we’ve got a good chance of lifting the team trophy if we run as a united front.”

Last year saw Bleasdale shave 42 seconds off her 5,000m personal best taking it to 15:02.00 whilst improving her 10,000m lifetime best from 34:20.77 to 30:55.63. Now, rather than suffer from the post-Olympic blues, she’s excited to see what more she can do to progress on the world scene, with tomorrow’s meet her stepping stone to the Moscow World Championships and the World Cross Country Championships.

“There are lots of challenges ahead so it hasn’t been hard to pick myself back up,” she said.

“I really want to make the progression to being a true medal contender at global championships.

“My two focuses this year are the Moscow World Championships and the World Cross Country Championships so this will be a great start to the New Year and a good stepping stone to those major champs.”

» Find a full preview to the Bupa Edinburgh Cross Country in the Jan 3 issue of AW, out now

» Read more about Bleasdale’s amazing breakthrough season in our spotlight feature in the Nov 15 issue of AW, which is available here

Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, of South Milford, North Yorkshire, was arrested at the Olympic Stadium on August 5.

The court heard how Gill-Webb shouted “Usain, you are bad, you are an ****hole” as Bolt prepared to get into the starting blocks, and threw a plastic beer bottle.

The abuse did not seem to hamper Bolt’s performance, however, with the sprint star taking gold in an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds.

Gill-Webb is said to have pushed his way to the front of an exclusive seating area, without having a valid ticket for the stadium at all during that session. After the incident Dutch world judo champion Edith Bosch, who was sitting nearby, confronted him before police carried out an arrest.

When police initially arrested Gill-Webb the court heard how he pretended to be Scottish actor Alan Cumming and said that it was a Dutch spectator that had thrown the bottle.

A statement from Bosch read out in court detailed how the judoka was ‘flabbergasted’ at Gill-Webb’s actions and how she had confronted him saying: “Dude, are you crazy?”.

The court heard that Gill-Webb has bipolar disorder and that he had been suffering a “manic episode”.

He initially denied throwing the bottle but has since admitted to doing so, but says that he does not remember the incident. He denies the charge of intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Although the prosecution accepts Gill-Webb was unwell, the argument about intention was dismissed.

“He had somehow, without a ticket ever being found on him, made his way into very exclusive seats indeed,” said prosecutor Neil King.

“He was mingling with members of the Dutch Olympic team.

“Whilst there, he hurled abuse towards the athletes in the final, particularly towards the eventual winner Usain Bolt.”

The trial continues.

Well said, Mr Rogge.

Ah, the Olympic and Paralympic Games. That six-week period that cemented this year as the greatest ever for British sport.

GB’s track and field stars secured an impressive 35 medals in London (six at the Olympics, 29 at the Paralympics), and along with them, a lifetime of memories.

But great things didn’t just occur within those six weeks in 2012. Far too much has happened this year for us to mention everything in depth in this one article, so we’ve gathered links to AW coverage from 2012 to allow you to reminisce and reflect at your leisure. Enjoy!

January

» It was not much of a surprise when Asbel Kiprop prevailed in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross-Country 3km invitational race, but Jonny Hay’s silver in his first race as a senior wasn’t quite so expected.

» Holly Bleasdale obliterated the UK pole vault record in Lyon, while Robbie Grabarz set a world-leading high jump mark in Wuppertal.

» Team GB took a commanding victory from Russia and the United States at the Aviva International in Glasgow, with Mo Farah setting a stadium record of 3:39.03 in the 1500m.

February

» Seven British victories were celebrated by a full house at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix in a month that also saw the historic 125th English National Cross Country Champs hit by a heatwave, with Gemma Steel and Keith Gerrard taking virgin victories.

March

» The first weekend presented noteworthy results from opposite ends of the age spectrum. Twenty-year-old Sophie Hitchon became the first British woman to break through 70 in the hammer with 70.40m, while Anthony Whiteman set a world indoor masters’ record of 3:44.12 in the 1500m.

» Strong performances from the GB team at the World Indoor Championships saw them secure nine medals and finish second on the medal table behind the US. Yamilé Aldama’s impressive 14.82m in the triple jump – her best in six years – saw her win her first global title five months shy of her 40th birthday, while memories of the 1991 World Championships came flooding back with GB’s thrilling victory in the women’s 4x400m.

April

» Wilson Kipsang secured one of the most decisive victories in Virgin London Marathon history and Claire Hallissey snapped up the third spot on the Olympic team by finishing top Brit in the women’s race.

» The Mt SAC Relays saw Lawrence Okoye kick off the first day with a world-leading discus throw before Sophie Hitchon improved her own British record in the hammer, while Adam Gemili opened with a 10.23 100m PB in Gainesville.

May

» In a vintage month for British athletics, Lawrence Okoye set a UK discus record of 68.24m in Halle while Greg Rutherford equalled the British long jump record in California.

» Andy Pozzi posted one of the best perfornamces in BUCS Championships history by winning the 110m hurdles in a European age-19 best of 13.35 which confirmed the Olympic Stadium track as a fast one.

» After losing two world titles within seven months, Jess Ennis resumed her dominance in Götzis with a score of 6906.

June

» Mo Farah ran his second fastest ever 5000m time of 12:56.98 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene while Barbara Parker smashed the UK steeplechase record.

» Despite only dedicating himself to athletics at the beginning of the year, Adam Gemili stormed to a European age-18 best of 10.08 in Regensburg and went on to run the fastest time by a British junior since 1998 in the 200m with 20.61 in Bedford.

» Katarina Johnson-Thompson sealed Olympic heptathlon selection with her ‘A’ standard UK junior record of 6248 in Kladno, while the Aviva Olympic Trials in Birmingham hosted a dramatic weekend of action with selection for many events far from a foregone conclusion.

July

» The Brits put on a fine show for the home crowds once more at the Aviva London Grand Prix with the juniors also shining in Barcelona.

» TV audiences peaked at a staggering 26.9 million viewers for the London 2012 Opening Ceremony with the British athletes tuning in from their training camp in Monte Gordo.

August

» Two words – ‘Super Saturday’.

» Usain Bolt may have been the star of the show on the third day of athletics at London 2012, but there was plenty for the host nation to cheer for too as Christine Ohuruogu came within inches of defending her Olympic 400m title, taking silver behind Sanya Richards-Ross.

» Robbie Grabarz grabbed high jump bronze before Mo Farah completed his golden double with victory in the 5000m.

» Later that month Farah continued his winning ways with victory over two miles at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix in a modest 8:27.24 as Robbie Grabarz came out on top in the high jump.

September

» From ‘Super Saturday’ to ‘Thrilling Thursday’ as Hannah Cockroft, David Weir and Jonnie Peacock contributed to Paralympics GB’s total of 11 gold medals.

» Gold medal-winning performances from Richard Whitehead, Aled Davies, Mickey Bushell and Josie Peason, along with additional golds from Cockroft and Weir, completed the golden tally.

» Mo Farah’s form continued as he ran supreme at the Great North City Games.

October

» The British team finished fourth in the women’s race at the IAAF World Half-marathon Championships in Kavarna thanks to strong performances from Gemma Steel and Caryl Jones.

» Jo Pavey took the women’s top honour at the Bupa Great South Run, finishing 43 seconds ahead of Jess Coulson in 53:00.

November

» But the positive run didn’t continue for Pavey who, having said her preparations had gone perfectly, was devastated to drop out of the Yokohama Marathon following an illness.

» There were surprises at the GB Euro Cross Trials as athletes challenged for spots at the European Cross Country Championships in Budapest.

December

» Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers claimed the top club honour in the annual AW/Ronhill Club Awards while Mo Farah and Jess Ennis were voted by AW readers as international man and woman in the the Readers’ Choice Awards.

» Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton defended her title in style at the Euro Cross Country Championships while every GB athlete in Hungary won a medal.

» Jess Ennis finished runner-up at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, as Lord Seb Coe and Usain Bolt also received honours.

» December also saw Ennis receive further recognition, this time alongside Mo Farah and David Weir, as the trio were rewarded in a London 2012 sporting stars-dominant New Year Honours List.

“I went back home for my birthday in September so I spent some time with family and friends and you know, it was very crazy!” James laughs, shaking his head. “Everyone wanted to see me and congratulate me. Everyone was happy, exuberant. I mean it was a very unique feeling just seeing everyone back home celebrating.

“It was my first Olympics so I can’t really compare it to anything else, but the atmosphere throughout that fortnight was crazy, you know. When you see 80,000 people in the stadium at 8 o’clock in the morning, you know that people are really interested in our sport and really passionate to come and support us. It was quite unique.”

James’ success in the past two years has seen his countrymen scurrying to bestow greater and greater accolades. After winning in Daegu last year, a street in the capital city of St George’s was named after him and now rumour has it that a new stadium will be constructed in his honour.

“I don’t think anything’s official yet or anything like that, but I think the construction of the stadium’s going to start in February so we’ll see what happens,” he says. “The chance of having a stadium named after me is very humbling.”

Until you visit Grenada, it’s impossible to appreciate how iconic a figure the 20-year-old has become. Each of James’ races at London 2012 were beamed across the tiny Caribbean island with big screens set up in every park and public place.

But knowing that the entire nation was fixated on his every move during the Games, did that not add to the pressure, especially when it came to the final?

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” James says flatly. “My main thing was just that I wanted to represent my country and make everyone proud. It wasn’t about winning or losing. As long as I’m out there competing and performing to the best of my ability, they’ll be proud so there was no pressure at all.

“I just concentrated on my race strategy and tried not think too much or make too much of the race. It’s just 400 metres you know, it’s important not to get too excited or too anxious about it.”

James became the first non-American to go sub-44 with his 43.94 gold medal run in London and for the neutral fan, the breathtaking aspect of his performance was not just the time but the fact he ran it despite still having many obvious flaws in his technique. Working as a pundit for the BBC, four time Olympic champion Michael Johnson was in no doubt that his world record of 43.18 could soon be under threat.

“I don’t really think about world records or anything like that,” James said. “I just think about improving my times at each and every meet. With the world record, if I happen to break it one day then it’s meant to happen, if I don’t then I guess it’s just not meant to be.

“So you know, I don’t think about it that way but for him to say something like that, to me it’s very humbling and it shows that I’m on the right track to do some great things but it doesn’t guarantee anything. I still have to work for it.”

James has shown some raw potential over 200m in the past, winning gold at the 2009 World Youth Championships and clocking 20.41 in an early-season meet last year. One suspects that if he gave the event a little more attention he could potentially move into medal contention, but James is quick to dismiss any suggestions of doubling up.

“I won’t run the 200m at major events. I’ll probably do it at a couple of meets just to get some work in on something, but I’ve always felt the 200m is a very big field and me just walking into that, I think it would be a disrespect to guys who are 200m specialists. If it happens in the future then it happens, but for now I’ll just focus on the 400m.

“My goals for the next few years are just to remain consistent, you know. There is no perfect 400m – you can always get better and improve something. I just want to improve on everything, my technique, my conditioning, my character as a person – everything that comes into play to be a successful track and field athlete.

“I’m just going try not to take anything for granted and just try to be myself because this sport is all about longevity and trying to make sure your name’s a household name. And to do that I want to be consistent over the next, whether it’s 10, 15, 20 years, and just try to be on top as much as possible.

“I just try to take it day by day. When I was younger (James began running at his local athletics club at age 12), I wasn’t thinking about trying to be a professional athlete. I was just focusing on being the best I can, the best person I can possibly be. You have to take your chances and right now everything is working out.”

Right from the opening pages there are startling stories of how he learned to sprint at an early age after shoplifting apples from a market, was caned at school and skipped religious education lessons in order to go training.

Later, there are tales involving dodgy payments, details of his private life, personality clashes galore and even occasional f-words (and worse) as Coe paints a blunt and detailed picture of his colourful and extraordinary life.

Running My Life is split into definitive sections – first there is his childhood and family background, which is fascinating in itself; second there is his heyday as an athlete with its considerable ups and downs; afterwards follows his foray into politics as Conservative MP and chief-of-staff to William Hague; and finally there is the London 2012 triumph where he earned the right to stage the Games in Britain and then delivered the event in stunning style.

One of the best stories is in the initial pages as Coe explains his first running experiences (that’s if you don’t include legging it away from angry market traders). More than a decade before his first Olympic appearances, he says some of his early memories of running were travelling into the countryside with his family and jumping out of the car at every cattle crossing, opening the gate and then sprinting to catch the car up. “It was classic interval training,” he realised years later.

The opening chapters also include some mild surprises which I am not sure have been publicised too widely in the past. We learn, for example, that Coe’s first coach was a man called Hubert Scheiber – a Czech discus coach in Sheffield – before his father, Peter, eventually took over the role.

Peter is mentioned perhaps more than any other characters in the book, too. With good reason, as Coe says the influence on his career was extraordinary and indeed Peter’s fascinating background is chronicled in fair detail, together with Coe’s Indian heritage which came from his mother Angela’s side of the family.

Like most good books, it contains a number of life lessons, too, and one of those is the value of strong and supportive parents. Cynics who wonder whether coaches are over-rated might also consider whether Coe would have “made it” alone or whether his father was an essential part of the jigsaw.

The book really begins to gather pace, though, in the chapter entitled Dodgy Business. Here, Coe explains the awkward period where the sport staggered from ‘shamateurism” and into more professional and aboveboard sport we see today.

At one point, Coe tells the story of standing in a queue of athletes to be paid their “expenses” after a meeting and getting into a row with the organiser over the amount he’d been promised. At this point Coe was helped by Roger Moens, the 1960 Olympic 800m silver medallist and head of Interpol in Europe!

“Here he (Moens) was,” Coe writes, “handing out under-the-counter dosh, which I would have to smuggle back into England, putting me in double jeopardy thanks to the currency restrictions then in operation.

“I wasn’t the only one collecting a share of the gate money,” he continues, “as I queued up in the hotel corridor. From what I saw everyone was doing it, from athletes at the beginning of their career, to star names, the bulk of the envelope being the only visible difference. At the top end, substantial sums were involved. In the mid-Seventies, in the infancy of my career, I might pocket £100, but for big names it could run into many thousands.

“In Italy, lire was the usual currency on offer, and thanks to galloping inflation, my father and I would spend as much time figuring out how to bring back carrier-bags full of notes as thinking about the race. The pair of us would end up stuffing wads of cash inside linings, up sleeves, down underpants until we’d find ourselves going through customs giving a passable impersonation of Errol Flynn.”

In addition to Interpol, the Met Police was also involved, mainly through the most dominant and influential character at the time in British athletics, Andy Norman. Coe describes Norman as “a rogue”, but adds that he got on with him very well and there is no doubting the massive impact he made on the sport.

At the time, the media portrayed Coe as the nice boy-next-door, so this image of stuffing dodgy payments down his pants before going through customs might surprise a few people. Similarly, Coe was perhaps seen as the establishment figure who played ball, whereas Steve Ovett was the bad guy and rebel. But, again, the truth is somewhat different.

Coe says he often had brushes with officialdom, mainly due to his father’s blunt and uncompromising attitude. On one occasion, this nearly caused him to miss the race that saw his first-ever world record – an 800m in Oslo – when British officials tried to stop him travelling to Norway as he did not have “a permit”. Yet later that summer the same bullish officials effectively saved his life when, much to his annoyance, they prevented him travelling to Italy on a small flight with athletics journalist James Coote and the plane crashed, killing Coote and a fellow passenger.

By now, we are into the guts of the book and the core of Coe’s superb career as a middle-distance runner. Yet still, the book hardly trundles through the performances in a dull fashion. Instead, Coe plucks out the most fascinating elements to focus on. For example, in the run-up to the Moscow Olympics he talks at length about the frustration involved in the boycott and how his garage was daubed with a Swastika one night by hooligan activists.

Then of course there is Ovett. No story about Coe could be complete without reference to his greatest rival, but the book doesn’t dwell on him hugely and also, somewhat surprisingly, does not say a massive amount about Steve Cram, Said Aouita, Joaquim Cruz and Peter Elliott either. All of the comments, however, are full of respect for his rivals and on Ovett he says: “The public wanted a rivalry of Homeric proportions, gladiatorial combat minus the gore.”

Despite the threat of a British boycott, the public got what they wanted in Moscow with Coe and Ovett sharing the spoils. Interestingly, though, Coe adds that he believes the entire landscape of the era might have been altered if Ivo van Damme, the talented Belgian who had won silver in the 800m and 1500m at the 1976 Olympics, had not been killed soon after the Montreal Games.

In my favourite part of the book, Coe also tells some terrific tales, such as the occasion when the BBC made the unprecedented decision to interrupt its news at 9pm in order to show one of Coe’s record attempts in Zurich and a key figure from the BBC told Coe, “Don’t screw up, as my job’s on the line!”

Such anecdotes pepper the pages of the autobiography. Coe tells the detailed story, for example, of the punch-up he had with a Swiss wind surfing instructor over a misunderstanding in 1982 – an incident that landed him in a local police station! There is also the time Linford Christie called BBC Five Live while Coe was in air and the radio host, Simon Mayo, suddenly said “Linford from London” was on the line and sat back while Coe squirmed his way through an embarrassing war of words with the ex-sprinter.

There is also plenty of humour. Coe (or ‘Newbold’, as he says some friends call him) tells the story about how he once ran so fast and hard on a treadmill that he caused it to start smoking. “F*** it’s on fire!” exclaimed his dad.

Jokes and anecdotes are always nicely written as well. At one point, for example, Coe is talking about Juantorena’s brilliance and mentions that his middle name was “Danger”. He adds at the end of the paragraph, simply: “I kid you not.”

As we reach the mid-Eighties, Coe’s career on the track was beginning to reach its climax. He talks about the decision to train alone away from his father in the run-up to the 1984 Olympics as the “toughest decision of his life” and how he ended up under the guidance of US track coach Joe Newton. This does not devalue the importance of his father during his career, though, as he names Peter Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch as having the biggest single influences on his athletics and political careers.

As Coe’s political life begins, however, the book starts to slow down for breath. This was not a period of stunning success for Coe. He eventually lost his position as MP in Falmouth and Camborne as the Conservatives were defeated by Labour in the 1997 General Election. Coe also talks candidly about the break-up of his first marriage and how the strains of travelling to his constituency in Cornwall were hardly a formula for a stable family life.

The level of detail Coe goes into with his family life is also a surprise for a man who has always kept his private life separate from his public life. The many excellent photographs in the book, for example, include pictures of his children and also his second wife, Carole. Entwined in this, are strong suspicions that his – or Carole’s – phones have been hacked in the past by unscrupulous media.

On a more touching note, there is a picture of a painting that his father did of him when he was eight years old. Coe describes it as “one of my most treasured possessions” – further evidence of the degree that Coe has opened up when penning this book.

Finally, Coe regales the story behind London 2012. First there is a gripping behind-the-scenes account of how the votes were won at the IOC meeting in July 2005. Then he talks in detail about the organisation of this mammoth event.

Again, colourful stories abound. He talks, for example, about how hugely important Tony Blair’s appearance was in Singapore on the eve of the votes to pick the 2012 host city and also how Cherie Blair went for Jacques Chirac “like a heat-seeking missile” in Singapore after the French president had slated British cuisine.

After the slight lull during the section of the book that talks about his early forays into politics, the book soon gathers pace again as it reaches the crescendo of London 2012. Here, among other things, Coe paints the scene of the Singapore success of 2005 and how his strategy was to tell the IOC “what London could do for it, rather than what the IOC could do for London”. Later, we hear Coe describe himself as feeling like “a timeshare salesman on the Costa del Sol” when he first showed the IOC the disused land that would later stage the greatest show on earth.

Not surprisingly, in the rush to publish this book after the Olympics, not a huge amount is written about the Games itself. But there is enough to sate the reader’s appetite and, as Coe says, it will take some time for the spectacular events of the summer of 2012 to sink in.

More than anything, I was left with two conclusions after reading Running My Life. First, that this is not so much about Coe, but Coe’s story of the many fascinating characters who have lit up athletics and the Olympic scene during the past 30-40 years. Secondly, whether you like him or not, he is one of life’s undoubted winners and this book can be considered a success manual, with advice on far more than simply how to run fast.

»Running My Life by Sebastian Coe is published by Hodder & Stoughton and costs £20

» See the January 2 issue of AW for an in-depth interview with Seb Coe

That figure includes £276.4 million which has been invested in Olympic sports for Rio cycle – a 5% increase in investment from the London cycle.

With regards Paralympic funding, there is an overall increase in funding from the London cycle of 43%, with a total of £70.2 million confirmed over the Rio cycle.

Elite athletics received £25,148,000 from UK Sport in the London 2012 cycle. This has risen to £26.8 million for the Rio cycle, while disability athletics receives £10.7 million.

The £37.5m goes towards funding in the form of the Athlete Personal Awards, coaching salaries, sports science and medical support, warm-weather training, international competition schedule, athlete development programmes and access to training facilities.

UKA performance director Neil Black said: “We’re very pleased to receive the increased levels of support across both Olympic and Paralympic performance programmes.

“The investment in athletics reflects the progress made over the last four years and demonstrates confi dence in our plans for the next Games cycle.

“We look forward to further medal successes starting at next year’s World Championships where we will aim to build on the strong performances achieved in recent events.”

Other than athletics, the biggest winners from the funding announcement are boxing, canoeing, cycling, rowing, equestrian and taekwondo, who, along with Paralympic cycling, have all received a major funding boost thanks to London 2012 successes.

The investment announcement comes after Sport England revealed an increase to grassroots sports funding earlier this week.

The body says that more than 2 million people are now running and doing track and field and that the £22m legacy investment in athletics will boost numbers further.

Sport England’s Director of Sport, Lisa O’Keefe, said: “Over 400,000 more people have taken up running in the past four years and there is an enormous appetite for the sport. This investment will enable UK Athletics to lead the athletics sector in ensuring those that want to can get involved in the sport.

“We’re making a really significant investment in the sport, and in return we expect to see UK Athletics to continue to increase its pace and scope of delivery so that more people can get involved.”

Britain’s premier event is scheduled to be held at Crystal Palace as usual and UKA has already begun selling tickets.

However, last week the London Legacy Development Corporation, which takes over the running of the Olympic Park today, said it was exploring the possibility of holding sporting events and concerts next summer.

Since then UKA has held brief discussions over the idea of staging the capital’s Diamond League meeting there on July 26-27. But a spokeswoman said: “UKA has not committed to anything as we are waiting for LLDC to confirm details and the possibilities that may be open to us.”

Day two of the Diamond League marks the first anniversary of the London Olympics opening ceremony. West Ham were last week installed as the top-ranked bidder to take over the stadium lease by the LLDC, but the two parties are yet to agree terms, including financial considerations.

Two of the four bids for the stadium have been rejected – one from Leyton Orient FC and another from Intelligent Transport Solutions, which wanted to organise a F1 Grand Prix around the Olympic Park. If full agreement is reached with West Ham, the LLDC will then explore the possibility of accommodating the other bid, University College of Football and Business, in the stadium.

If a deal is met, retractable seating over the athletics track will be installed for football use. The stadium will be used for the 2017 IAAF World Championships and is favourite to hold the IPC World Championships prior to that.

However, the staging of events such as the UK School Games, Diamond League and UK Trials could be delayed until 2016 – two years later than planned – because of delays in starting the work to adapt the stadium.

And so too, she tells AW, has her approach to training for 2013. “It’s always going to be a different situation going into next year,” says Britain’s female athlete of the year.

“I did virtually start back training when I normally do – at the end of September, but obviously different things happen and things are going on and I’m very aware that I want to enjoy this moment as much as possible because it’s not going to happen again, so it’s kind of been trying to juggle that and training.”

Ennis admits her build-up to the Moscow World Championships will have to be adapted. She has contested the winter’s major indoor championships for the past three years but is unlikely to defend her European pentathlon title in Gothenburg in March.

“After Olympic year I don’t want to rush back into it,” she says. “I want to compete when I’m ready – I don’t want to say, ‘the indoors are here, now I’ve got to compete.’ I want to do well when I compete. Before I was always like, ‘I want to do as many championships as possible’, now I’m more like, ‘I’ve just achieved some great things and I want to compete sensibly.’”

Much has been made of the 7000-points barrier, which the Sheffield athlete missed by just 45 points with her British record at the Games. Only three women have broken into that territory and that is at least one challenge remaining for her.

Another will undoubtedly be taking on the 100m hurdles as an individual event. The discipline had become Ennis’ best points-bagger of the seven even before her sensational 12.54 British record in London set her on the way to the Olympic gold.

“I really want to give hurdles a serious go,” she says. “Next year I’ve committed myself to doing the heptathlon and that’s the focus, but we’ll have to see. We’ll see how I’m hurdling next year. I might be rubbish!

“Probably when I’ve decided I’ve done enough with the heptathlon, when I feel I’ve reached my potential, I think that’s when I might give it a go. It’s a step down in training and a new challenge.”

» This is an excerpt from an interview with Jessica Ennis in Athletics Weekly. To see the full article, get the December 6 issue of AW.

According to the report, £377m of the £9.3bn budget is likely to stay unspent, however that figure will not be confirmed until 2014.

“Few could have envisaged how successful the London 2012 Games would turn out to be,” commented Amyas Morse, head of the NAO. “The construction programme was completed on time and within budget, 11 million tickets were sold and our athletes excelled.”

The report stressed the importance of building on that success to deliver legacy benefits, with the Cabinet Office responsible for coordinating and assuring delivery. It was noted that the Cabinet Office will need to provide strong leadership to make the most of the momentum created by the Games.

“There has been progress in setting up arrangements to strengthen coordination and oversight of delivery of the planned legacy of the Games,” continued Morse.

“The Cabinet Office will now have to exercise strong leadership to ensure the longer-term benefits are delivered.”

In his new role as the government’s adviser on legacy issues, Lord Coe, based within the Cabinet Office, will report back to a committee chaired by the prime minister every 12 weeks.

Linked to this legacy, particularly for fans of athletics, is the question of who is to occupy the Olympic Stadium. Currently West Ham United remain the preferred bidders after the London Legacy Development Corporation listed the Premier League football club’s bid as their first choice after a meeting earlier this week.

LLDC chairman and Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “My position on the future of the stadium remains what it has always been; that we can secure a terrific future for this much loved and iconic venue with or without a football team playing there.”

If the bid is to go through, other events, such as the 2017 World Athletics Championships, are still planned to be staged at the stadium.

Discus ace Robert Harting retained his status as ‘the lord of the ring’ by becoming Germany’s first Olympic champion in any track and field event since Heike Drechsler won the long jump in Sydney 2000. In doing so, he hopes that he can lead the way in increasing interest in the throws.

The 28-year-old from Berlin became the first discus thrower to be world, European and Olympic champion all at the same time and further emphasised his dominance in the discipline by extending his winning streak to 33 competitions, dating back to August 2010.

The 2009 and 2011 world champion wants to retain his global crown in Moscow next year but is also determined to continue his winning ways and overhaul one of the all-time greats of the discus circle, Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna, as the holder of the most consecutive victories in the event.

The 2000 and 2004 Olympic champion Alekna owns this record with 37 straight wins, but Harting is confident that he can gain at least five more to knock his rival off the top spot.

Having launched the 2kg implement to a PB of 70.66m in 2012, Harting credits his improved power for enabling him to stay one step ahead of his rivals. Although he is still some way short of former East German thrower Jürgen Schult’s world record of 74.08m, he doesn’t rule it out and believes in a very simple motto: “Don’t think, just do it.”

The fact he is yet to resume winter training following knee surgery to an injury that bothered him all season does not worry Harting. He is, however, keeping an eye on his rivals, not least Britain’s Lawrence Okoye, who is rapidly becoming a serious contender internationally.

“With more training, he will be the man to beat in the next few years,” says Harting. “This year I met him a lot and we even swapped vests. I look forward to throwing against him next year.”

—–

» This is an excerpt from an interview with Robert Harting in Athletics Weekly. To see the full article, get the November 8 issue of AW, out now.

For athletics fans the world over, there were iconic moments aplenty that will without doubt be passed on from generation to generation.

From ‘Super Saturday’ to Usain Bolt’s triple gold and David Rudisha’s ground-breaking 800m win – all of these moments and more have been documented in Athletics Weekly‘s latest bookazine, The Greatest Games Ever.

Competition closed.

It is the third year in succession that these two athletes have picked up British athletics’ top prize, and both have now been named athletes of the year four times by the sport’s writers.

Neither winner could be present at the lunchtime ceremony at London’s Tower Hotel, but Ennis’ coach Toni Minichiello was there to accept his athlete’s award on her behalf, while Alan Watkinson, the school teacher who discovered and nurtured the teenaged Mo Farah, collected the men’s award for his former pupil.

Farah first won the award in 2006 and dominated voting for the John Rodda Award this year after his thrilling double victory over 5000m and 10,000m at the London Olympic Games. Olympic long jump gold medallist Greg Rutherford was runner-up and high jumper Robbie Grabarz was third after winning a bronze medal in London.

Farah has now won the men’s award more times than any other athlete, moving ahead of all-time greats Lynn Davies, Sebastian Coe, Linford Christie and Jonathan Edwards who were all triple winners.

Ennis retained the Cliff Temple Award for female athlete of the year which she has held since 2009. The 26-year-old from Sheffield was a comfortable winner of the 2012 vote after her emphatic and emotional heptathlon victory in London, which kick-started Britain’s golden hour in the Olympic Stadium on ‘Super Saturday’. Ennis also won a pentathlon silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul in March.

Christine Ohuruogu was runner-up in the vote after winning a silver medal over 400m at London 2012, while the world indoor triple jump champion Yamilé Aldama was third. Ohuruogu was female athlete of the year in 2007 and 2008.

With four BAWA awards to her name, Ennis is now equal with fellow multi-eventer Denise Lewis, the 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion, and one behind Paula Radcliffe who was athlete of the year five times between 1999 and 2005.

Aldama’s triple jump victory in Istanbul also earned the 40-year-old east London resident BAWA’s 2012 Inspiration Award given in recognition of an athlete who made an outstanding performance in a single event, performed well against the odds, or is retiring after a long and distinguished career.

Aldama broke the world masters record to win world indoor gold in March then battled back from a shoulder injury to finish fifth at the Olympic Games.

The season’s sprint sensation Adam Gemili won the Jim Coote Memorial Award for junior men. The east Londoner was virtually unknown before 2012, but ended his first full season in the sport as world junior 100m champion, British junior record-holder, and silver medallist at the British senior championships where he won a place on the British Olympic team.

The Lillian Board Memorial Award for junior women went to Katarina Johnson-Thompson who won the world junior long jump title in Barcelona before finishing 15th in the heptathlon at London 2012. The Liverpudlian set four personal bests at the Olympics and broke the British junior record twice in 2012.

Wheelchair racer David Weir won a special award for Outstanding Achievement by a Paralympic Athlete, a category introduced by the athletics writers to mark the success of the 2012 Paralympic Games. Weir won four gold medals at London 2012 just a few months after claiming a record-equalling sixth London Marathon victory.

The Ron Pickering Memorial Award for Services to Athletics was presented to veteran athletics writer Mel Watman, a founder member of British Athletics Writers’ Association and the organisation’s honorary president. Watman, a former long-time editor of Athletics Weekly and author of numerous athletics books, is currently co-editor of the highly respected newsletter Athletics International.

It speaks volumes that the biggest global icon of track and field, Usain Bolt, was not the sole headline act of the Games like he was in Beijing. Of course his triple victory in London was superb, but so too was the likes of David Rudisha’s ground-breaking win in the 800m, Ashton Eaton’s all-round dominance in the decathlon, and Sally Pearson’s flawless display in the 100m hurdles.

All of these are up for the ‘moment of the year’ accolade, alongside the world record-breaking performances from Aries Merritt, Yelena Isinbayeva and Nataliya Dobrynska.

And who can forget ‘Super Saturday’ where Britain won three gold medals within the space of a couple of hours, thanks to Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon, Greg Rutherford in the long jump and Mo Farah in the 10,000m.

Rutherford and Farah are up for ‘British man of the year’, alongside Olympic high jump bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz.

Ennis, meanwhile, is joined by Olympic silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu and world indoor triple jump champion Yamile Aldama in the women’s equivalent.

Bolt, Eaton, Farah, Merritt, Rudisha and Robert Harting will scrap it out for votes in the ‘international man’ category, while Ennis features in the ‘international woman’ voting alongside Pearson, Valerie Adams, Tirunesh Dibaba, Allyson Felix and Barbora Spotakova.

There are also categories for top British juniors of the year. Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Adam Gemili both struck gold at the World Junior Championships before representing Britain at the Olympics. World junior medallists Emelia Gorecka, Jessica Judd and Jazmin Sawyers also feature in that category, as do the likes of James Gladman, Charlie Grice and Zak Seddon, who all went rocketing up the junior all-time lists this year.

For the first time, this year we have also added categories for top British veteran, British breakthrough athlete of the year and British paralympian of the year.

These accolades are just a bit of fun and there is no real hardware up for grabs. But it gives you the chance to have your say as to who the top performers were this season.

——

For athletics fans the world over, there were iconic moments aplenty that will without doubt be passed on from generation to generation.

Who can forget, for example, ‘Super Saturday’ where Jessica Ennis triumphed in the heptathlon, Mo Farah won the first of his two gold medals, and Greg Rutherford landed a surprise victory in the long jump.

And then there were international stars such as David Rudisha, Usain Bolt and Ashton Eaton who wowed the packed-out crowds inside the Olympic Stadium.

All of these moments have been documented in Athletics Weekly‘s latest bookazine, The Greatest Games Ever. The build-up, the atmosphere, the legacy, and – of course – how each gold medal was won. 164 pages packed full of profiles, iconic photos and stats.

Competition now closed.

The decision-making process is a complex one, as individual members of the British team meet with a selection panel comprising the Olympic head coach, a national performance centre director, the head of coaching and development, and a statistician, among others.

UKA has issued a 28-page document on their website which outlines the full decision-making process. Some of the selections will be easier than others. The ‘podium’ category of funding, for example, is split into three levels – A, B and C. As explained on page 17 of UKA’s document, medallists from the London 2012 Olympics will be put on level A funding. Medallists from last year’s World Championships who have the potential to win a medal at next year’s World Championships will also be included on level A.

Level B is for athletes who achieved a top-eight finish at the London Olympics, and for those who finished in the top-eight at the Daegu World Championships with 2013 medal potential.

But level C is where the tougher decision-making has to be made. This is for athletes who are considered to have top-eight potential at next year’s World Championships and medal potential at the 2016 Olympics.

And then there’s the ‘development’ category of funding, which is split into levels D (for athletes who have top-eight potential at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, and medal potential at the 2020 Games) and E (those who are soon likely to progress to level D and with characteristics to become a future podium athlete at a global championships).

Levels C, D and E could be open to subjectivity and educated guess work, but UKA has set out a range of criteria – such as specific performances and medals from major junior championships – that would strengthen the cases of those hoping to be included on the programme.

Of course until next week no one will know exactly who has made it on to the programme, but by using the criteria to assess performances achieved by British athletes this year, it’s possible to hazard a guess as to which athletes are facing promotion – or demotion – on the world class performance programme.

On the rise

Robbie Grabarz – Cut from funding last year, the high jumper committed himself to the sport and it resulted in a staggering breakthrough, winning the European title and taking bronze at the Olympics. He is now set to be added to the top level of podium funding, joining his fellow British Olympic medallists (Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Christine Ohuruogu) who were all already funded.

Adam Gemili – The young sprinter was funded as a ‘development’ athlete for the 2012 season, but his remarkable season saw him win the world junior 100m title and miss out on making the Olympic 100m final by one place. His potential for a top-eight finish at next year’s World Championships and a medal in 2016 should see him added to level C of podium funding.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson – Like Gemili, Johnson-Thompson struck gold at the World Junior Championships, winning the long jump despite being a heptathlon specialist. She finished 15th at the Olympics and has met UKA’s performance criteria for level C funding with two heptathlons in excess of 6163.

Lawrence Clarke – His fourth-place finish in the 110m hurdles was one of the most overlooked British performances of the Games, but the selection panel will be well aware of his result and could reward him with level B funding. Meanwhile training partner Andy Pozzi appears to have done more than enough to satisfy the criteria for level C funding.

Julia Bleasdale – Another success story of 2012, the distance runner returned to the track and smashed her PBs in several events. Her top-eight finishes in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Olympics should be enough for level B funding.

Andrew Osagie – On development funding for a couple of years, the 800m runner now looks set for promotion to podium level funding after having the season of his career so far, taking bronze at the World Indoors before making the Olympic final and smashing his PB.

Laura Weightman – An injury-free winter resulted in a big breakthrough over 1500m, setting a huge PB to qualify for the Olympic final. A development athlete last year, she could be promoted to level C podium funding.

Lawrence Okoye – Although his big breakthrough happened last year, the discus thrower has continued to improve this season and has become far more consistent. He made the finals at both the European Championships and Olympics, but missed out on a top-eight finish which means he’ll likely be put on level C funding.

Sophie Hitchon – The UK hammer record-holder just missed out on podium level funding last year, but after another great season which saw her smash through the 70-metre barrier and set a PB to make the Olympic final, she could well be added to the level C list for 2013.

Facing the cut

Nathan Douglas – Extremely talented, but just as unlucky. The triple jumper suffered a freak training injury last year and made a long-awaited return earlier in 2012. But after one competition he picked up another injury and was out for the season. After several years of podium funding while on the sidelines, he could be dealt another blow by being taken off the programme.

Marlon Devonish – One of the most reliable members of the British team, but now aged 36 he missed out on making the Olympic team and wasn’t even included in the relay squad. Ranked just ninth in the country over 200m, UKA may believe that Britain’s future hopes of relay medals rest with the younger generation.

Nicola Sanders – A former world silver medallist over 400m, niggling injuries mean that she has not broken 51 seconds since 2009. She has produced numerous stunning relay legs in the past, but didn’t feature in the final four at this year’s Olympics and may miss out in future championships.

Paula Radcliffe – One of Britain’s most successful athletes and an ever-present on the world class performance programme ever since it began. But the latest injury blow that saw her miss out on the Olympics could be the beginning of the end of her sensational career.

The tough decisions

Women’s 800m – As with the Olympic team selection, this event could witness a bit of controversy. Lynsey Sharp – who was given the sole Olympic place ahead of athletes with faster qualifying times – has not met the performance standards for level C funding, but her silver medal at the European Championships could go in her favour. Meanwhile, Jenny Meadows – who missed out on the 2012 season through injury – will have to state her case to the panel to prove she’s worth podium funding for another year. So too will Marilyn Okoro, who hasn’t met the time standards for level C funding (three performances below 1:59.69), but produced the fastest time of the year by a British woman and was consistent on the international circuit.

The relay teams – Last year saw a notable drop in the number of athletes funded as part of the relay squads. After another disappointing year which saw no Olympic medals for any British team, and the women’s 4x100m failing to even qualify for the Games, it will be interesting to see which athletes are kept on funding for their potential as future relay medallists.

Jo Pavey – Any athlete who has been off the world class performance programme for a year or more will be at the mercy of a selection panel’s decision, regardless of how well they have performed in 2012. Pavey – who was cut from funding a few years ago – missed out on making the Olympic team at the marathon, but turned her fortunes around to qualify for the 5000m and 10,000m, finishing seventh in both Olympic finals and setting a PB in the latter. But with many funding decisions based on progression and future potential, Pavey – who will turn 40 next year – will have to convince the panel that she is worth backing.

Having already won the T54 800m, 1500m and 5000m, Weir was today in action in the marathon on the final day of competition. In much the same way he won his previous titles, Weir’s sprint at the end proved too strong for the rest of the field.

Two of his biggest arch-rivals – Marcel Hug of Switzerland and Kurt Fearnley of Australia – put up a good fight, but finished a second behind as Weir crossed the line triumphant in 1:30:20.

“The support was amazing all the way through,” said Weir of the crowds along The Mall. “The first six miles were the hardest and felt I had no energy and I thought ‘if they keep this speed up I’m going to die’.

“But then I blocked it all out and thought all of the training. I have done sprints 10 miles out, 20 miles out but I didn’t know how my body would react with the pressure and the other races. Kurt and Marcel were talking and working together but it doesn’t bother me.”

The women’s T54 marathon got underway just two minutes after the start of the men’s race and Britain’s Shelly Woods took silver, finishing just one second behind USA’s Shirley Riley, who won in 1:46:33.

It had otherwise been a quiet few days in Paralympic athletics from a British perspective. Josie Pearson’s gold in the women’s F51/52/53 discus on Friday morning was to be the final medal of any colour won by the host nation inside the London 2012 Stadium.

Aside from Weir’s fourth gold medal, the biggest race of the weekend was the men’s T44 400m final where Oscar Pistorius – the worldwide poster boy of the Games – enjoyed an emphatic victory.

Earlier in the Games the South African blade runner was handed a rare defeat in the 200m and was outside the medals in the 100m. But he turned his fortunes around in the second half of the week with a world record in the 4x100m, and yesterday he finished three and a half seconds ahead of his nearest rival over one lap, winning with a Paralympic record of 46.68.

David Weir, who is fast becoming one of the stars of the Games, picked up his third gold medal of the Games with a stunning display in the T54 800m that was just as dominant as his victories in the 5000m and 1500m.

He allowed China’s Zhang Lixin to take the early lead and followed him closely before hitting top gear on the final bend with what has now become his trademark finish to move into the lead. He crossed the line in 1:37.63 with Switzerland’s Marcel Hug in second.

“That was hard work tonight, I had to dig deep,” admitted Weir, who has the marathon yet to come. “You always have doubts because it’s a strong field. You can’t underestimate anyone.

“I knew the Chinese guy Zhang had a better top speed than anyone tonight so I knew if he was going to go out quick I had to match his speed. That’s what I said to Jenny (Archer, his coach), I’ll make sure I get on whoever’s wheel in the first 200m if it was Marcel or the Chinese guy.”

Weir’s win completed lifted the stadium but just moments after the capacity crowd fell silent for the start of the men’s T44 100m. It had been billed as the race of the Games – South African superstar Oscar Pistorius was out to defend his title, Alan Oliveira – the Brazilian who beat Pistorius in the 200m – was looking for another medal, USA had a strong presence with three finalists and host nation hopes were high for Britain’s Jonnie Peacock.

After a faulty start from Oliveira, and a plea from Peacock for the crowd to quieten down after they repeatedly chanted his name, the race got underway at the second time of asking.

The 19-year-old got off to the best start and by half way he had a lead over his nearest challenger, USA’s Richard Browne. Peacock continued to pull away and he stopped the clock in 10.90, smashing the Paralympic record. Brown took silver with South Africa’s Arnu Fourie finishing third, one place ahead of team-mate Pistorius.

“This is absolutely amazing,” said Peacock, who trains alongside Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford. “To run in front of so many people here was crazy. I hadn’t been able to sleep in the three nights before this.

“I knew I had potential coming into this, I would have liked to have ran a little quicker but it was enough in the end. This will live with me forever, I could not have wished for better. It is such a relief because the last year has just been one huge build up.”

Earlier in the evening Hannah Cockroft won her second gold of the Games with an utterly dominant victory in the women’s T34 200m. Having broken the Paralympic record in the heats with 33.20, she went significantly quicker in the final with a 31.89 clocking – just a few tenths outside the world record.

“I could have gone quicker but I can’t complain, the gold medal was what I wanted,” she said. “This summer has been breathtaking, this is what all the training has been for. I hope we’re doing everyone proud; everyone’s excited and I don’t want this to ever end, it’s been amazing.”

Five other athletics medals were won by British athletes today. In a highly competitive F44 discus final, Dan Greaves took silver behind USA’s Jeremy Campbell as both athletes surpassed the previous Games record.

Paul Blake picked up a bronze in the T36 800m, while Ben Rushgrove finished third in the T36 200m. Ola Abidogun was third in the T46 100m, and Bev Jones was third in the F37 discus.

China’s Liu Yang, the 100m silver medallist, shot into the early lead as Weir positioned himself in third. The field began to bunch at half way but Weir did well to stay out of trouble.

Unlike his 5000m victory, when he only took the lead in the home straight, this time Weir hit the front with 400m to go. He pushed hard as the field began to give chase, but he maintained his lead to win in 3:12.09 from Thailand’s Prawat Wahoram.

“I’m very proud. Shocked,” said Weir after winning his fourth career Paralympic title. “The 1500m field this year is so strong and I’ve only won a couple races. Coming into this race I was probably only fourth fastest on paper.

“I wasn’t so nervous tonight,” revealed Weir, who still has two more events – the 800m and marathon – yet to come. “The plan was hopefully to win on the first night and I did. Once you’ve got one under your belt you can start relaxing and do the talking on the track.”

It was Britain’s sixth athletics gold of the Games, following Mickey Bushell’s dominant victory in the T53 100m yesterday. That race was effectively over after just 10 metres as Bushell hit the front and was never challenged, winning in a Paralympic record of 14.75.

“The 100m is my main event, my strongest event and the one I wanted to win most,” he said. “Conditions were perfect and it went better than I hoped. I think I got out second but after the first push I started to pull away and I was confident I could win.

“Gold was the only thing I wanted, it’s been a long, hard four years to get here,” added Bushell, who took silver in Beijing four years ago. “Last night I watched Dave Weir and I was bouncing off the walls; Dave has been massive for me as a team mate; he’s a fantastic guy and a great role model.”

There were three more medals for Britain tonight inside the Olympic Stadium. Less than an hour before Weir’s 1500m final, Paul Blake took silver in the T36 400m, smashing his PB by a second with 54.22. It took a world record to beat him though as Russian Paralympic star Evgenii Shvetcov took his second gold of the Games in 53.31.

Britain’s David Devine was also in record-breaking form, setting a European record of 3:49.79 in the T13 1500m. But in a high-quality race it was only good enough for third place as Abderrahim Zhiou of Tunisia and David Korir of Kenya, a T12 athlete, set world records for their respective categories with times of 3:48.31 and 3:48.84.

The evening ended on a high for the host nation with bronze in the women’s T35/T38 4x100m relay. Britain led going into the final leg, but a scrappy changeover between Katrina Hart and Jenny McLoughlin cost them dear. McLoughlin would have been hard pressed to hold off Russia and China though, as their anchor leg runners stormed through over the final 100m.

That in itself would be headline news the world over, but Pistorius whipped up a media frenzy after his race when he accused Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira of using blades that were too long.

Pistorius looked to be on his way to a guaranteed victory as he had a comfortable lead at half way. But Oliveira made up significant ground in the second half to catch the South African before the line and hand Pistorius his first ever defeat over the distance, 21.45 to 21.52 – notably slower than the 21.30 world record Pistorius had set in yesterday’s heats.

Pistorius, more than anyone, is familiar with debates over prosthesis as he was involved in a long dispute with the IAAF as he fought to be allowed to compete against able-bodied athletes.

But after arguing with the IAAF that his blades give him no advantage over able-bodied athletes, the 25-year-old is now claiming that there’s too much leeway within the International Paralympic Committee’s rules with regards to blade length, allowing some athletes to run “ridiculous times”.

“The IPC don’t want to listen, the guy’s legs are unbelievably long,” said Pistorius after his race. “I’m not taking away from Alan’s performance; he’s a great athlete, but these guys are now a lot taller than they were a year ago and you can’t compete with their stride length. You saw how far he came back. We’re not racing a fair race here, but I gave it my best.

“The IPC have their regulations, but they allow for athletes to make themselves unbelievably high and they’re running ridiculous times. We tried to make our case heard, but it’s just fallen on deaf ears. I think Alan’s a great athlete, but his knee height is four inches higher than it should be.

“This is a very strong race of mine; I run at 10 metres per second, and I don’t see how you can come back against that from eight metres behind at half way. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

The IPC were quick to react, and in an official statement Craig Spence said: “All blades are measured and Oliveira’s passed the test. There’s been no infringement of the rules.”

Oliveira also defended his blades. “The length of my blades are alright, I went through all the procedures with the referees,” said the 20-year-old. “I’m here competing because I’ve been allowed to do so, and I believe Oscar knows that.

“I’ve not changed my blades between races, and they follow the IPC rules. I’ve been using them for a month.”

The following morning Pistorius’s management leapt into damage-limitation mode and released a statement from the sprinter where he apologised for the timing of his comments.

“I would never want to detract from another athletes’ moment of triumph and I want to apologise for the timing of my comments after yesterday’s race.

“I do believe that there is an issue here and I welcome the opportunity to discuss with the IPC but I accept that raising these concerns immediately as I stepped off the track was wrong.

“That was Alan’s moment and I would like to put on record the respect I have for him. I am a proud Paralympian and believe in the fairness of sport. I am happy to work with the IPC who obviously share these aims.”

Both athletes are due to clash again in three over events – the 100m, 400m and 4x100m – throughout the course of the Games.

David Weir contested four events at the last Paralympics in 2008, winning gold in two of them. The wheelchair racer is once again tackling four events, and tonight in his first final of the 2012 Games he took gold, timing his finish to perfection in the T54 5000m.

Roared on by a capacity crowd, the 33-year-old hit the front as he came off the final bend to push clear of his rivals. He crossed the line in 11:07.65 to beat Australia’s Kurt Fearnley and Julien Casoli of France.

“I was in great form coming into this and everything I’ve done in the last year has been for this,” said Weir. “It was amazing out there, a dream come true. You can hear the noise all the way round, it’s scary at first, but you can block it out.

“I was confident coming into the final bend because I raced it well tactically,” added Weir, who will be in action tomorrow morning in the 1500m heats. “I’ve got a tough heat tomorrow but I feel more relaxed and confident now I’ve got the first race out the way. It was special to win in my home town.”

Weir’s win was the second British victory of the day. During the morning session, Aled Davies struck gold in the F42 discus to add to the bronze he won in the shot two days prior.

The 21-year-old’s opening throw of 45.31m would have been enough to win. But he improved by six centimetres in the third round before unleashing a throw of 46.14m on his final attempt to guarantee the title.

“It was a tough competition, but I dug deep,” said Davies, who entertained the crowd on his lap of honour. “It wasn’t going to be easy as there’s a lot of incredible athletes out there. I’m just speechless. It’s surreal. It hasn’t sunk in yet.

Along with the two gold medals won today, Britain also scooped three silver medals. Stef Reid produced the farthest jump of the F42/44 long jump final, but with it being a mixed category event it meant that points are assigned to each performance. The 4.38m achieved by Australia’s Kelly Cartwright – who has an above-knee amputation – gained 1030 points, while Reid’s Paralympic record of 5.28m was good enough for 1023 points.

Graeme Ballard vastly improved on his eight-place finish from the 2008 Paralympics in the T36 100m. Russian star Evgenii Shvetcov was a clear winner with a Paralympic record of 12.08 while Ballard took second in a close finish in 12.24.

Just minutes later Libby Clegg successfully defended her T12 100m silver medal, smashing her PB with a European record of 12.13. China’s Zhou Guohua – who set a world record of 11.91 in the heats – took the gold in 12.05.

Whitehead, who was born without the lower half of his legs and uses prosthetics, often takes a while to get into his running before coming on strong in the second half. A slight stumble at the start of the 200m final could have been costly, but once he hit the home straight he soon hit top gear and he blasted through the field to finish in 24.38 seconds, taking more than half a second off the world record he set earlier this year.

“That wasn’t for me, it was for everyone who has supported me,” he said after the race. “I was fighting back tears towards the end and I had to take a couple of minutes to pull myself together.

“There are so many people wanting you to win so it’s a big weight to carry on your shoulders, but I’ve got broad shoulders so I can bear the weight.

“The race didn’t really go as expected,” he added of a race in which all nine finalists set PBs. “I got off to a terrible start – I slipped – but I know my start isn’t quick and I run with what inspires me and I did that for my friend Simon Mellows who died recently.”

It was Britain’s second athletics gold medal of the Paralympics, following Hannah Cockroft’s victory in the T34 100m. Her performance was every bit as dominant as Whiteheads as she won by almost a second and a half, stopping the clock on 18.06 to improve her own Paralympic record.

“I’ve been waiting four years for that,” said the 20-year-old. “It’s a little bit surreal when you’re dreaming about it for so long and then it just kind of happens in, what, 18 seconds. You’re kind of like, ‘I want to do that again, I can do that better’. But I’ve got it now and I can’t complain. Everyone went mental. It was absolutely amazing. I can’t describe it, it was phenomenal.”

Britain’s first athletics medal of the Games came during Friday’s morning session, where Aled Davies took the bronze medal in the F42/44 shot. He was some way down on his PB of 14.56m – a mark which would have been good enough for silver – but his final-round throw of 13.78m guaranteed him the bronze.

Denmark’s Jackie Christiansen – who is classified as an F44 while Davies is an F42 – took the gold with a Paralympic record of 18.16m.

Three more British bronze medals in throwing events followed in today’s morning session. Robin Womack was just two centimetres off taking silver in the F54-56 shot, but could at least take some consolation in the fact that his 11.34m was a PB. Iran’s Jalil Bagheri Jeddi was the winner, throwing 11.63m on his final attempt.

Gemma Prescott improved significantly on her seventh-place finish from the 2008 Olympics by adding almost one metre to her PB in the F31/32/51 club throw with a national record of 20.50m to place third. The winner, Maroua Ibrahmi of Tunisia, set a world record of 23.43m to take gold.

Having finished fifth in the F11/12 discus at the past two Paralympics, visually-impaired thrower Claire Williams was desperate to make it on to the podium. And she did exactly that with a throw of 39.63m to land the bronze medal.

Elsewhere, sprint world records were set by Oscar Pistorius and Jason Smyth – two Paralympic stars who in recent seasons have crossed over into able-bodied competition.

Double amputee Pistorius – who reached the semi-finals of the 400m at the Olympics in August – impressed in the T44 200m heats with a 21.30 world record, despite easing down towards the end.

Meanwhile, visually impaired sprinter Smyth – who competed at this summer’s European Championships and reached the 100m semi-finals – successfully defended his T13 100m title in 10.46, although he boasts a PB of 10.22 set against able-bodied competition.

The morning after achieving an historic second gold medal at the London Olympic Games, Mo Farah allowed himself a rare treat for breakfast.

The distance running phenomenon, still basking in the glory of his remarkable 5000m and 10,000m double, chose a croissant as his first meal of the day.

Usually that would be off-limits during his gruelling training regime. And Farah was keen to point out that it wasn’t going to become a habit.

He said: “I’m not letting it go completely but I’ve had a croissant for breakfast and it’s not often I do that. I’m still going to train hard but I’m going to come off the gas a little bit.”

The 29-year-old will need some time too, to simply allow what he has achieved to sink in.

“Crossing the line first is an unbelievable feeling, the best in the world, something you have worked so hard for,” he said.

“To get it right in your home town, with the home crowd making such a difference is amazing.

“It is still sinking in now, and I think it might take some time.”

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Robbie Grabarz insists he is content with his Olympic high jump bronze medal, although he admits an upgrade to silver could have been possible.

The Birmingham-based 24-year-old’s personal best is 2.36m, a bigger height than the 2.33m managed by American silver medallist Erik Kynard in the Olympic Stadium.

European champion Grabarz, who last year was outside of the top 40 and had his lottery funding cut, twice clipped the bar with his heels at the height Kynard cleared, and was forced to settle for bronze alongside Canadian Derek Drouin and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim. Russia’s Ivan Ukhov won gold with a clearance of 2.38m.

While that put the gold out of reach for Enfield-born Grabarz, on form he knows he could have moved up a step on the podium.

“I won an Olympic medal in front of my home crowd and not a lot of people get the opportunity to do that, and I did it,” he said.

“It was really, really enjoyable and I had an absolutely great time. The pressure has increased, especially as in the public’s eye I’ve come from nowhere and all of a sudden people were telling me I’m a medal favourite. To try and live with that is not easy.

“To be able to perform up to those expectations was something to be really proud of.

“There was an opportunity for me to grab silver, but the Games are the Games.

“It’s really difficult to perform at a championships. The reigning Olympic champion and the reigning world champion were not even in contention for medals so that proves how difficult it is.”

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Christine Ohuruogu has revealed she values her silver medal in London more than the gold she won in Beijing four years ago.

The 400m runner lost her Olympic title to American Sanya Richards-Ross, despite posting a season’s best time of 49.70 seconds.

In the immediate aftermath of the race, the 28-year-old admitted she was heartbroken to miss out on a second successive gold.

But upon further reflection Ohuruogu, who was born in Stratford and whose family live within walking distance of the Olympic Stadium, has spoken of her pride in her performance.

“I’m happy that for this Games I gave it everything, there is nothing I can say that I could have done better,” she said.

“I wanted to win, and that is not something I verbalised but in my heart that is something I was going for.

“My coach said we don’t train to come second, and I am happy that I set my standards high.

“It wasn’t meant to be, but that silver for me probably means more to me than gold in 2008.

“I should be really proud of myself, it could have been a lot worse and I could have come back with nothing.

“Having had three years that were not that great I think I should be quite happy.”

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Ostapchuk, 31, put together her best ever series at a major championships to defeat world champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand. With four throws over 21 metres, Ostapchuk’s 21.36m was the best winning mark at the Olympics since 1988.

But the IOC today announced that Ostapchuk had given a urine sample the day before the final and one after the final. Both samples showed traces of the banned substance metenolone, an anabolic steroid.

It means that Adams will move into the gold medal position, her second Olympic title following her victory in Beijing four years prior. Russia’s Yevgeniya Kolodko is promoted to the silver, while Gong Lijiao of China will get the bronze.

Ostapchuk has long been one of the world’s top shot putters. A former world junior and European junior champion, Ostapchuk won the world title in 2005 and the European title in 2010.

Although she had often been beaten by Adams at major championships in recent years, Ostapchuk had been in better form this season with a string of 21-metre throws and an outdoor national record of 21.58m. In 2010 she set an absolute PB of 21.70m.

Okay, the class of 2012 did not hit the target of eight medals. Personally, I was even predicting double figures for the Brits before the Games. Stan Greenberg, a statistician who witnessed his 273^rd world record in London, was talking about as many as 16 medals.

But six medals and four victories to place fourth on the medals table is still a fine achievement. Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, long jumper Greg Rutherford and 5000m and 10,000m winner Mo Farah gave Britain some truly golden moments. At the Montreal Games, let’s not forget, Britain won just one track and field medal – a bronze – courtesy of Brendan Foster in the 10,000m.

Track and field athletics is the most competitive sport in the world by far. More than 200 nations send athletes to compete. I am a big fan of cycling and swimming, but those sports are nowhere near as ‘global’.

There are huge parts of the world, for example, that have no access to decent bicycles, or even roads to ride them on, plus swimming pools. In comparison, everyone runs at school. So when the 100m final or marathon take place, you know you’re watching the best of the best.

The real heats and rounds for popular events like these began, effectively, at a zillion school sports days in every corner of the planet a decade or so ago. Athletics draws from a mammoth talent pool and medals are therefore far harder to win.

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, the sport was struggling. There were serious concerns that the host nation would perform disastrously in the No.1 Olympic sport – and the fears were justified.

At the IAAF World Championships, the GB team won two medals (one gold) in 2001, three medals (no gold) in 2003 and three medals (one gold) in 2005, before improving to five medals (one gold) in 2007, six medals (two golds) in 2009 and seven medals (two golds) in 2011.

This is more about mere medals, too. Athletics has won the credibility contest in the run-up to the London Games. In short, it has rediscovered its mojo.

The British athletics team in the past has often been peppered with championship passengers or journeymen. Yet the team who performed at London 2012 is one we can be truly proud of. They have given their all and left nothing on the track or training field.

Dave Collins, the former UKA performance director, was criticised for not having a background in athletics, but he probably did more good than people give him credit for. With his military background, he banged heads together and put in place systems to measure performance and improvement.

Then, when Collins’ work was done and structures in place, Van Commenee arrived as UKA head coach after the Beijing Games and has proved the perfect man for the job.

Unlike Collins, Van Commenee has a strong knowledge and feel for the sport, including an understanding of the intricacies of British athletics, together with useful wider experience gained from a stint as Dutch chef de mission at Beijing 2008. The only string he has not had to his bow, in fact, is the slice of luck that might have nudged some of the half-dozen British athletes who placed fourth or fifth on to the podium.

If he now resigns – as he always threatened to do if the GB team “failed” hit the eight medals target - it would be a travesty. Not to mention a major error for the sport as it heads towards Glasgow 2014, Rio 2016 and London 2017.

In fact, it is painful to even write the word “fail” in conjunction with the British team at these Games. Four gold medals has not been matched by a British athletics team at the Olympics since the boycotted Games of 1980, so to use the word ‘fail’ in the same sentence is an insult to the class of 2012.

Seb Coe has already given Van Commenee his support by saying the “team has done more than enough”. I would completely support that and British athletics will be far poorer if Van Commenee decides to walk.

» Jason Henderson is covering his fourth Olympics for AW and tweets at @Jason_AW

The race was expected to be a simple Kenya-Ethopia battle. However, Kenya – steeplechase and David Rudisha aside – have had a relatively poor championships. They took two medals in this race, albeit not the gold they wanted, but they did at least fare better than the Ethiopian men who have had a miserable championships and it didn’t get better here as all three dropped out.

The Ugandan’s PB was just 2:07:20 from Enschede last year and he was ninth at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. But Kenya can at least claim some of the glory, as Kiprotich has been based in Kenya since he was 17 years old.

His track pbs are solid – 3000m in 7:48.06, 5000m of 13:23.70 and 10,000m of 27:58.03 – and he was fourth in the Manchester 10km earlier this year. But there was little on his CV that would suggest he’d ultimately win the race with ease.

The leaders passed 5km in 15:23, with the top 81 covered by 21 seconds. Brazils’s Frank de Almeira had pulled eight seconds clear at 10km in 30:38, but the lead pack, now numbering 35, wasn’t concerned.

Wilson Kipsang burst clear himself at 15km, but as he covered that stretch in 14:11, it perhaps wasn’t surprising and the 2:04:44 London Marathon winner had a 13-second gap to a group of eight.

The gap was 14 seconds at 20km as the leader passed 20km in 59:57. By halfway he was 16 seconds clear on 63:15 with two-time world champion Abel Kirui heading the half-dozen pack of 63:31.

Gradually the gap closed, and at 25km (74:58) Kipsang had seven seconds advantage on Kirui, Kiprotich and Ethiopia’s world leader Abele Abshero, who were 16 seconds ahead of Brazil’s Marilson dos Santos.

The pace was slowing at 30km (1:30:15) but now there was a leading trio of Kirui, Kipsang and Kiprotich with Abshero fading and Dos Santos (1:30:55) closing on the Ethiopian. At 35km the lead pack was still three as they passed in 1:46:03 and the Ugandan looked to be struggling as he dropped 10 metres behind. But then suddenly as they passed the 23 miles, Kiprotich surged clear with a ferocious burst and only Kirui could take up the chase.

Further back at 35km, Dos Santos (1:47:17) was a minute up on Kentaro Nakamoto on 1:48:15 with Meb Keflezighi right behind.

At 40km (2:01:12), Kiprotich was 100m ahead of Kirui with Kipsang fading in third, but with a huge gap to Dos Santos with Nakamoto and Keflezighi closing.

Kiprotich won in 2:08:01, 26 seconds clear of Kirui with Kipsang hanging on for bronze in 2:09:37, though undoubtedly suffering from his early mid-race burst.

“This means a lot,” said Kiprotich, who won Uganda’s second ever Olympic track and field gold after John Akii-Bua’s 400m hurdles win in 1972. “I am very happy to be Uganda’s second Olympic champion.”

USA’s Keflezighi, second in Athens in 2004, finished strongly for fourth in 2:11:06, just ahead of Dos Santos and Nakamoto. Emmanuel Mutai, one of the Kenyan favourites, finished a distant 17th, while all three Ethiopian contenders failed to finish.

Of the Brits, Lee Merrien – who had to fight for his place in the team – had a very solid well-paced run. He was 58th at 10km (31:25), 50th at halfway (66:33), 40th at 30km (1:35:39) and as others faded he moved all the way up to 30th in 2:17:00 – a respectable mark, given the conditions.

Scott Overall had a less happy time. He was 43rd at 10km (31:00), 29th at halfway (65:30), and continued moving up the field through to 30km, where he was 27th (1:34:36). But he then began to suffer and ended up 61st in 2:22:37, having taken a painful 77:07 for the second half.

This is the great fear as the Games of the XXX Olympiad draw to a close. Not including the opening and closing ceremony and road events like marathons and race walks, more than one million people have passed through the Olympic Stadium in recent days to watch athletics. But how many will continue to follow the sport in future.

Are they ready to follow in Mo Farah’s footsteps by lacing up their spikes to race in grassroots cross-country leagues this autumn? Will they travel to watch Greg Rutherford or Jessica Ennis compete indoors next winter? Is the Paralympics going to be watched and covered so avidly later this month? The GB team will need their support again at the European Team Championships in Gateshead next summer, but will they lend their support?

Surely, London 2012 could not have been more inspirational. From Usain Bolt’s triple crown, to David Rudisha’s ground-breaking 800m record, to the double delight of Farah, heptathlon heroics of Ennis and long jump joy from Rutherford, the athletics action has been thrilling.

Bracing itself, the sport is as ready as it can be to soak up the new interest. UKA has liaised with LOCOG so that the fans who paid a small fortune to watch Olympic athletics might be tempted to spend a little less watching future meetings more regularly. England Athletics and other home country federations, meanwhile, have worked hard in recent years to get ready for this post-Olympic period.

If you have Olympic fever and its subsequent withdrawal symptoms, the antidote is obvious. Join an athletics club and get stuck into some winter training.

Or, if you’re more of an armchair athlete, then update your subscription to Britain’s only athletics magazine, make sure you have the right TV channels, and settle down to enjoy a sport that literally never sleeps. Most sports have an off-season, but athletics takes place every weekend of the year and not for a few weeks every summer as some people seem to believe.

Ominously, the Premier League starts again soon. But perhaps Britain is finally realising that its greatest sportsmen and women are the Olympians and not footballers.

Don’t take my word for it. Hunter Davies, the well-known football writer, said it himself in the football-obsessed tabloid The Sun during the Games. He wrote: “I feel so sorry for our professional footballers – icons of our times, or so they believe – as they get ready for a new, exciting season. I don’t think since 1888, when the first football league started, have our pro players been so utterly embarrassed, humiliated and shown up. How can they ever hold up their arrogant heads again, compared with our Olympics lads and lasses?”

He added: “Now, thanks to the Olympics, our eyes have been opened. All those lovely, humble, ungreedy, unselfish, sweet young men and women have shown us how sportsmen can and should behave. For four years, most of them have been up at five in the morning slogging away in the dark and cold, often on their own, for no money, little encouragement, with no fame, no fans, no groupies, no security screen around them. And yet, they have ended up not just nicer, more admirable humans — but also more successful.”

For followers of the premier Olympic sport, the Games started on Friday August 3 and finish with the men’s marathon. After such a dazzling few days, there is the danger we are going to suffer the hangover from hell. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

When major championships drew to an end in the past, one of my old colleagues at AW used to quote the old Arab saying: “The dog barks and the caravan moves on.” The point being that same old faces – athletes, coaches, agents, journalists and die-hard fans – inevitably form the core audience at the next meeting … and the next … and next.

After the London Olympics, though, hopefully the athletics caravan will have more new faces. The London 2012 hangover is about to hit us hard, but there needn’t be any withdrawal symptoms if you keep up your interest in the No.1 Olympic sport.

» Jason Henderson is covering his fourth Olympics for AW and tweets at @Jason_AW

It was the identical quartet to the one which won gold in Daegu of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Bolt and they smashed through the sub-37 barrier with a glittering time of 36.84.

The Jamaicans didn’t really make too much of a dent into the American quartet on their outside for the first two changeovers although Blake forged a slight advantage over Tyson Gay on the third leg to hand Bolt a marginal lead on the anchor leg.

As good an athlete as Ryan Bailey is, it would have been impossible to bet against Bolt even if the Jamaicans came into the anchor leg with a slight deficit. Bolt duly extended their advantage to about three metres to cross the line in a world record time.

Their winning time was the first sub-37 performance in history and the fact the record before the 2008 Olympic Games stood at 37.40 is testament to how the athletes in yellow and green have revolutionised sprinting over the past four years.

Their time was also achieved without the world’s most prolific sub-10 100m performer Asafa Powell who pulled up injured in the 100m final.

Kudos to the Americans too. Their sprint quartet of Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Bailey equalled the previous world record of 37.04 and they took another chunk off the pre-Games US record of 37.40.

Track and Field News report the splits for the Jamaicans as 10.1 for Carter, 9.0 for Frater, 9.0 for Blake and 8.8 for Bolt while the American notched up 10.2 for Kimmons, 8.9 for Gatlin, 9.0 for Gay and 8.9 for Bailey.

Perhaps tonight was the last time we saw Bolt racing in the Olympic arena and if it is, what a way to sign off your Olympic career! He initially sounded confident about competing in the next Games but after the race, he said quite ominously: “I’ve thought about it, I think it is going to be very hard. Yohan is coming through and I’m sure a lot of the other young guys are coming up, so I will see what happens in four years.

“This was my goal. I’ve done that so right now I’m going to sit down and think about it. But I’m going to the city tonight to celebrate.”

A US procession in the 4x400m

The women’s 4x400m final was supposed to be a close contest between the United States and Russia for the title but it proved to be a demonstration from the reigning champions who retained their titles from Beijing.

Individual bronze medallist Dee Dee Trotter gave the United States the lead with an opening 50.5 split and this was extended when Allyson Felix produced one of the fastest second-leg relay splits of all-time of 47.8.

Sanya Richards-Ross anchored the quartet with a 49.10 leg and their winning time of 3:16.87 was the equal fifth fastest ever.

Russia took silver again in a season’s best of 3:20.23 while Jamaica retained their bronze medals with 3:20.95.

Britain had nothing more than an outside chance of a medal and they finished fifth in 3:24.76.

Lashmanova shocks Kaniskina with world record

Elena Lashmanova produced a supremely measured race in the 20km walk to hand reigning Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina her first defeat in a major championships since the European Championships in 2006.

Kaniskina’s early-season form wasn’t too distinguished but she normally judges her peak for the championships well and it looked as though she would become the first athlete to retain the 20km walk title as she led Liu Hong by 22-seconds and Lashmanova by 43-seconds at 10km.

However, Kaniskina’s searing early-race pace caught up with her. The gap was cut to 24-seconds at 16km and 17-seconds at 18km. Lashmanova, who defeated Kaniskina at the World Cup this year, markedly accelerated and caught her tiring team-mate in the final kilometre. She waited until the finish was in sight to make her decisive move and Kaniskina couldn’t respond to her younger opponent’s surge.

Lashmanova was rewarded with a world record of 1:25.02 to take six seconds from Vera Sokolova’s previous mark. It might be too presumptuous to say this race marked a changing of the guard of race-walking as Kaniskina almost walked under the previous mark taking silver with 1:25:09.

Qieyang Shenjie wasn’t the most fancied of the Chinese walkers but she came through for the bronze medal in an Asian record of 1:25:16. Team-mate Liu Hong bravely went with Kaniskina’s early-pace but faded back to fourth in 1:26:00.

Anisya Kirdyapkina, the wife of Sergey who won the 50km walk this morning, finished fifth in 1:26:26.

Commonwealth Games champion Johanna Jackson had a disappointing campaign as she was disqualified before the halfway stage.

A golden night for Russia

Mariya Savinova was head and shoulders above one of the strongest fields on the track as the Russian ran a trademark astute tactical race to win the 800m title. The world champion, like she did in Daegu last year, sat off the fast early pace which was set by Alysia Johnson-Montano through 400m in 56.31.

Reigning champion Pamela Jelimo, as she did at her peak back in 2008, kicked hard down the back-straight but Savinova, who ran an even-paced race, moved into second at 600m and looked the likely winner coming off the final bend.

Savinova passed Jelimo with 80m and she came through for an unchallenged gold medal in 1:56.19 to become the first Russian winner of the title since Svetlana Masterkova in 1996.

Fastest into the final, Caster Semenya moved from sixth at the top of the home straight to snatch the silver medal in 1:57.23 while Russian champion Ekaterina Poistogova set a PB of 1:57.53 to pip the tiring Kenyan on the line for bronze.

Russia also took gold and bronze in the high jump as Anna Chicherova cleared 2.05m for the title ahead of Brigetta Barrett and Svetlana Shkolina who both cleared PBs of 2.03m for silver and bronze respectively.

Reigning champion Tia Hellebaut from Belgium normally raises her game for the major competitions but she could only finish fifth with a 1.97m season’s best while Chaunte Lowe, who defeated Chicherova at Crystal Palace last month, was bitterly disappointed with sixth in the final.

Gold for Trinidad & Tobago…in the javelin!

Seventh at the Pan-American Games last year, Keshorn Walcott produced the shock of the week with the gold medal in the javelin. His pre-2012 PB stood at 75.77m and while he had some pedigree from winning the world junior title last month, he wasn’t expected to challenge for a medal.

Nobody in the final even set a season’s best apart from Walcott, who improved his national record from 82.83m to 84.58m in the second round and this proved sufficient for a shock gold medal for the Caribbean nation.

In a competition which didn’t really catch fire, Oleksandr Pyatnytsa from Ukraine won the silver medal with 84.51m while Antti Ruuskanen won bronze for Finland with 84.12m.

Viteslav Vesely produced a 88.34m PB in qualifying but he was exactly five metres down on this throw in the final while reigning two-time champion Andreas Thorkildsen had to settle for sixth.

Farah displayed the best sprint finish in the 10,000m and the greatest prowess on the last lap at the World Championships last year so the early-pace played right into his hands. The pace for most of the final was slower than it was in the heats until Dejen Gebremeskel and Yenew Alamirew, who are both ranked inside the world’s all-time top-ten for 5000m, injected a series of 61-second and 62-second laps in the third and fourth kilometres.

Farah moved onto the shoulder of the Ethiopians with three laps to go. As noted by the commentators, Farah is in his element when he’s at the front with 600m to go and nobody made a marked effort to get ahead of him. This is where he started his bid for his second gold medal of the Games.

Even if someone got in front of Farah, it would have been a tough ask to defeat the gold medallist from the 10,000m as he covered the last lap in 52.9 which is impressive finishing-speed regardless of the sedate early pace.

Farah had to battle down the home straight but it never really looked like he was going to lose his winning position. He crossed the line in 13:41.66 ahead of world-leader Gebremeskel in 13:41.98. Thomas Longosiwa, perhaps the lesser of the three Kenyans before the Games, claimed bronze in 13:42.36.

After winning his second gold medal, Farah said: “It’s unbelievable. Two gold medals, who would have thought that?”

“I didn’t feel great in the heats, but it was pretty good. The American guy tried to come past me but I knew I just had to hold on.’

He concluded: “It’s been a long journey of grafting and grafting.”

For the next few weeks, Farah will be preoccupied with life away from the track. His wife is due to give birth to twins very soon and he also plans to host a charity auction to raise money for the Mo Farah Foundation.

However, he’s due to run in the Birmingham Diamond League at the end of the month before the Great North Run in September.

When he crossed the line it was 7:46pm on a slightly chilly Saturday night at the final session of the athletics programme in the Olympic Stadium. The trackside temperature was 19C but up in the stands – block 212, row 63 to be precise – a cold wind swirled around our laptops, occasionally whipping results sheets randomly into the air.

David Bowie’s “Heroes” blasted out from the stadium’s impressive sound system. Not that anyone could hear it, such was the incredible din from 80,000 screaming (and standing) spectators.

Even hardened hacks had a lump in their throat; a tear in their eye. For years Britain has yearned for a British male distance runner who can conquer the world and in London 2012 we have witnessed a home-grown hero winning not just one but two distance events on the track.

This was never going to be easy either. Dejen Gebremeskel, the main Ethiopian danger man, had a PB of 12:46.81 set this year, he is coached by one of Haile Gebrselassie’s former coaches, and his sprint finish is so red-hot he out-kicked Farah to win the 3000m at an indoor meet in Boston last year wearing only one shoe.

Yet he controlled the race with sublime confidence. Challenging Usain Bolt for the title of coolest athlete at the Games, he sat casually at the back during a first kilometre run at 14:35 pace, looking totally unruffled when there were minor surges at the front.

Later, he hit the front with 700m to go and with a final lap in 52.9 and the last mile in four minutes dead he held off Gebremeskel et al with aplomb to Mobot his way into the history books. The winning time was only 13:41.66, but who cared?

Farah is a bona fide superstar now and he will doubtless be the most sought-after debut marathoner in history following his double triumph in the London Olympics.

Farah aside, the achievement will act as inspiration for club runners of all ages and standards. Like Paula Radcliffe, the world marathon record-holder, he has matured from something of an also-ran on the world stage to become king of distance running.

At the last Olympics four years ago, after all, he got dunked out in the heats with a dreadful run that convinced him he had to get serious about his sport. He had plenty of other defeats as well before he began his golden streak.

He was only fifth and seventh in his early Euro Cross races as a junior, for example, and beaten by fellow Brit Chris Thompson to the European under-23 5000m title in 2003 and again by Anatoliy Rybakov in 2005.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games 5000m he was only ninth. By this stage he was aged 22, too. Yes, it has been a long hard road for him to finally reach world and Olympic titles aged 28-29.

But he has done it, with sustained hard work, determination, the sacrifice of training abroad at monastic altitude camps, and finally the gamble of leaving a programme that was already working quite well by moving to Alberto Salazar in the United States.

As Farah said in his late-night press conference after his victory, the gold medals were down to hard work what he described simply as “grafting”. This included running 120 miles per week. “I look at my training diaries and sometimes cannot believe how much I do,” he added. Also, success was due to ”believing in myself and having great coach”.

It shows that massive improvements are possible with the right plan and the willpower to follow it through. It is one of the reasons running is so popular – if you work hard, you get results.

The first time I remember seeing Farah was at the 1999 English National Cross Country Championships in Newark near Nottingham. He won the under-17 men’s race that day and warmed down with an impromptu football kick-about in the fields while the senior races were going on.

It amazing to think the scrawny teenager from the National in 1999 is now an Olympic legend. If you are a young athlete with a bit of talent reading this (or even a haggard veteran searching for improvements), do you dare to dream as Mo Farah once did?

» Jason Henderson is covering his fourth Olympics for AW and tweets at @Jason_AW

The US women not only won gold in great style, they broke the world record by 0.55 seconds, improving the East Germany’s 27-year-old mark to an almost unbelievable 40.82.

Tianna Madison lost hardly any ground on Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and they had a slightly better change over. On leg two Allyson Felix eased slightly ahead down the back straight from Sherone Simpson and again they had the better of the change overs. Bianca Knight could have been seen as a weak link but she actually went away from Veronica Campbell-Brown on leg three. Carmelita Jeter went away from Kerron Stewart on the anchor as to a tremendous roar, USA rewrote the record books.

Jamaica were a clear second in a national record 41.41, and only just missed the old world record, while Ukraine also ran faster than ever before to take bronze in 42.04.

Bahamas shock USA in 4x400m

Bahamas ended USA’s reign as the world’s top 4x400m nation to win their first ever global title in 2:56.72, moving to third on the world all-time lists. Ramon Miller had too much speed for Angelo Taylor down the straight and he timed 44.01. Of the other Bahamians Chris Brown ran 44.9, Demetrius Pinder a superb 43.5 and Micahel Mathieu 44.25.

The depleted USA team were second in 2:57.05 with good legs from Joshua Mance, who ran 43.5, and Tony McQuay, 43.41.

Some way back there was a dust up for third with Trinidad taking the honours in a national record 2:59.40 from Britain’s 2:59.53.

For Britain, Conrad Williams ran a solid opener of 45.2 – probably his best ever relay leg – and handed over in third ahead of Belgium’s Kevin Borlee. Hurdler Jack Green ran a good 44.6 and finished strongly before handing over to training partner Dai Greene.

But the world 400m hurdles champion produced the slowest split of the team with 45.53, perhaps not justifying his inclusion to the removal of Nigel Levine, and Britain handed over in fifth.

Martyn Rooney ran another superb anchor leg of 44.09 but could not catch Trinidad & Tobago, falling an agonising metre short of a bronze medal to match their Beijing position.

Defar defeats Dibaba in 5000m

Meseret Defar regained her title  from 2004 with a 60-second last lap as favourite Tirunesh Dibaba failed to win a record fourth individual, title despite a brave effort over the final mile.

Britain’s Jo Pavey was one of the early leaders and took the field through 3000m in 9:27.75. With just under a mile to go, Dibaba picked up the pace and only had her Ethiopian team-mates and the Kenyan trio for company as she reached the bell.

Whether it was tiredness from the 10,000m or the effects of the leading, Dibaba couldn’t respond in the home straight when first Defar and then double world champion Vivian Cheruiyot came past her.

Defar won by half a second in 15:04.25, marking a strong return to form having not won a major outdoor title since 2007.

Pavey outsprinted British team-mate Julia Bleasdale, 15:12.72 to 15:14.55, and they were again the leading Europeans as both exceeded all expectations in both races.

Lavillenie too good for the Germans

His winning vault wasn’t seen by too many as it happened during the last 20 seconds of a pulsating 4x400m final, but European champion Renauld Lavillenie won gold in the pole vault with a second-time clearance at an Olympic record 5.97m in a top class competition.

After leading early on, a failure at 5.91m dropped him to third behind German duo Bjorn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe, who both cleared the height first time. But Lavillenie was the only one to clear 5.97m, giving him the gold.

In equal fifth, Steve Lewis’s second-time clearance at 5.75m put him briefly in a share of the bronze medal before having two very good attempts at a British record 5.85m.

Drug cheats take gold in 1500m and hammer

The women’s 1500m had an exciting finish but was a poor race generally as Turkish duo Asli Cakir and Gamze Bulut repeated their one-two finish from the European Championships.

Cakir, who has previously served a drugs ban, had the best sprint on the final lap and won in 4:10.23, closely followed by Bulut who came back again down the straight. Former world champion Maryam Jamal just beat another former world champion – and drugs cheat – Tatyana Tomashova to bronze.

The other joint favourite, Abebe Aregawi, accelerated too hard down the backstraight and she faded from second to fifth in the home straight.

The two British runners were never in a good position and lacked the finishing speed on this occasion. Lisa Dobriskey was a very disappointed tenth in 4:13.02, with Laura Weightman, in her first major final, 11th in 4:15.60.

USA’s Morgan Uceny, who fell in Daegu, fell again on the last lap and she punched the ground in frustration.

In the hammer, world champion Tatyana Lysenko – who was absent in Beijing because of a drugs ban – won gold in a top-class competition.

The Russian started well, opening with an Olympic record 77.56m which she improved to 78.18m in the fifth. European champion Anita Wlodarczyk won silver, improving to 77.10m and 77.60m in the last two rounds.

Zhang Wenxiu threw 76.34m which she thought had given her bronze but it was later found that world record-holder Betty Heidler’s fifth-round throw had been mismeasured. After the competition, officials found her original mark and remeasued it at 77.13m – good enough to take the bronze ahead of Zhang.

Britain’s Sophie Hitchon, who had done well to make the final after setting a national record in qualifying, was 12th with a respectable 69.33m.

Britain through to women’s 4x400m final, but drop baton in men’s 4x100m heats

In the women’s 4x400m heats, Jamaica won the first race easily in 3:25.13 with Ukraine and France also qualifying with plenty in hand.

The final looks a simple USA v Russia match up, and the teams – even though not at full strength – look a class apart. USA won the second heat in 3:22.09 from Russia’s 3:23.11. Britain showed they have a good chance of a bronze medal by being third fastest overall in finishing third, helped by a 50.61 leg from Christine Ohuruogu.

But the  British relay demons came back to haunt the men in the heats of the 4x100m. Despite anchor leg runner Adam Gemili coming to a halt to take the baton, the team clocked a fast 37.93, but the baton was passed a few metres too late and the team were disqualified.

Jamaica – with a team that did not include Usain Bolt or Asafa Powell – won the first heat in 37.39, the second-fastest time in Olympic history and a UK all-comers’ record.

But it only lasted a few minutes as USA – anchored by Justin Gatlin – ran a national record of 37.38 to set up a thrilling final.

With both women talking through an interpreter, the runner-up Bulut added: “It is like winning two golds and I would like to say again, this is Turkish power.”

With a time of only 4:10.23 in a slow tactical race, this was the slowest winning mark (by five seconds) since the event was introduced into the Olympics in 1972. Yet that did not prevent a wave of surprise on Friday night as Twitter, especially, raised a giant proverbial eyebrow in cyberspace as athletes and fans viewed the action with a dubious cynicism.

Paula Radcliffe, the world marathon record-holder who has led the way when it comes to spreading the anti-doping message, replied to one fan on Twitter who asked her what her face was like at the end of the race by saying: “It wasn’t a happy one! #lifetimebans.”

Anthony Whiteman, an Olympian and world record-breaker in the masters 800m, 1500m and mile in 2012, added: “The 1500m used to be the Blue Riband seen as one of the highlights of the OG now it’s an embarrassment to Middle Distance running! #sad.”

Some athletes were even fiercer with their views. Hatti Archer, the British steeplechaser, tweeted: “Hate hate hate drugs cheats, ruining races wherever they go,” before ending her message with an x-rated message for cheats.

Nick McCormick, the British Olympian at 5000m, put it more succinctly when he said: “1500m #restinpeace”.

Why such reaction? Well, for starters, Cakir Alptekin had served a two-year doping ban when she tested positive at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2004 as a teenage steeplechaser. Later, she competed at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships over barriers but failed to break 10 minutes.

Bulut, meanwhile, has never failed a drugs test but she has made the giant leap this year from a 4:18 runner to 4:03.42 on the eve of the Games and then 4:01.18 in her London 2012 semi-final. The steeplechase has also seen her make massive improvements in 2012 – from 10:13 to 9:34.

It is important to stress that these athletes have not failed drug tests recently and their performances in London have to be considered clean until proved otherwise. This did not stop athletes venting negative feelings on the internet, though, and their suspicions were fuelled by terrible reputation that the 1500m has at present.

Cakir Alptekin and Bulut have their own countrywoman Süreyya Ayhan to partly blame for this. Ayhan broke through spectacularly in 2002 to win the European 1500m title but she missed the 2004 Olympics after drug testers were obstructed in their duties and then received a lifetime ban after testing positive for steroids in 2007.

Alarmingly, when Cakir Alptekin won the European title earlier this summer in Helsinki – with a 57.9 last lap in a 4:05 race – she told the IAAF: “The success of Turkish athletes in the middle distances began in 2002 when the first Turkish woman (Ayhan) got a gold medal. That inspired me back then. We’re happy that we got gold and silver today, the next time we want to get all three!”

Further soiling the reputation of the event, Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, one of the leading contenders for 1500m gold in London courtesy of a 3:56.15 clocking, failed a drugs test for a diuretic in July and has been suspended. Being her second offence, the Moroccan now faces a lifetime ban.

Selsouli was, thankfully, not in the Olympics. But Tatyana Tomashova toed the line in the 1500m final on Friday. The Russian placed runner-up to Kelly Holmes in the 2004 Olympic 1500m final and has won two world titles at 1500m, but she had all her results from 2007 and 2008 annulled for attempted tampering of a drugs sample and returned from a ban in April last year.

Hopefully the medallists from Friday’s final in London are clean, but if any positive tests emerge, then Tomashova will step on to the podium as she finished fourth in the race behind the Turkish runners and third-placed Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain.

British athletes Lisa Dobriskey and Laura Weightman brought up the back of the field in the final. Yet rather than maintain an honourable silence, Dobriskey spoke her mind on the matter.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.”

Dobriskey has experienced heartbreak in the past when she finished fourth in the 1500m at the 2010 European Championships behind French silver medallist Hind Dehiba, who was arrested in 2007 when vials of human growth hormone were found in her luggage at an airport.

Dehiba, who was subsequently banned for two years after testing positive for the banned blood-booster EPO, was just one of three runners in the 2010 European final who had served doping suspensions.

More recently it emerged that Ukraine’s Nataliya Tobias – who finished one place ahead of Dobriskey to take bronze at the 2008 Games – tested positive at last year’s World Championships.

It is a depressing scenario to consider and it follows in the footsteps of a men’s 1500m final at the London Olympics that was diplomatically described by TV commentators and writers as “surprising”. Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria has come from virtually nowhere in 2012 to win the men’s metric mile title, with considerable ease.

Like the Turkish athletes in the women’s 1500m, he has not failed a test, but when previously unknown athletes win with such ease it is only natural that ex-athletes and observers are left scratching their heads. And of course his victory follows that of Rashid Ramzi, the Moroccan-Bahraini athlete, who finished first in the 2008 Olympic 1500m final but was later banned for doping and had his result annulled.

There was a moment after the men’s 1500m final in London when the BBC cameras span around to show Seb Coe and Sir Roger Bannister – and one can only wonder what the two legends of the mile were thinking. This has been a magnificent Olympic Games, but it’s fair to say the 1500m races aren’t exactly the highlight for many.

» Jason Henderson is covering his fourth Olympics for AW and tweets at @Jason_AW

So who will we remember from London 2012 in years to come? Who has stamped their mark so firmly on these Games that their name will echo down the ages?

The issue of ‘the greatest’ came up prominently during interviews in the two hours following Thursday night’s athletics session in London. Trey Hardee, the world decathlon champion and Olympic silver medallist this week, declared Ashton Eaton the best athlete in history due to the all-round ability needed for 10 events. Eaton, on the other hand, was more reserved and refused to get into what he called “a fight” with Bolt for the title of World’s Greatest Athlete.

David Rudisha, the Olympic 800m champion, was quizzed about a possible head-to-head over 400m against Bolt “to decide the greatest” and the Kenyan took the question surprisingly seriously by saying: “If we can compete in 400m one day, just for fun, it would be great.”

Of course such a race is unlikely to materialise. You may remember speculation surrounded a possible Bolt v Kenenisa Bekele race over 600 metres in the past, but it never happened.

So when Bolt was asked, he not surprisingly began by saying it would “probably never happen” but ventured that he “would take Rudisha over 400m” and would probably lose over longer distances. Although he added that if Rudisha was not able to run much quicker than 60-61 seconds for 500m, then he might have a good chance over that distance.

Bolt was even asked to compare himself to a couple of legends mentioned at the start of this article: Owens and Lewis. Without hesitation, Bolt chose Owens and added that he has “no respect for Lewis” due to the American’s controversial drug-related comments in the past.

As I write this, shortly after Thursday’s terrific evening session, these Games are not quite over. So this is a work in progress. But here are my current gold, silver and bronze standard legends from London 2012.

Gold: David Rudisha

With a spectacular exhibition of front running, the 23-year-old became the first man to break the 1:41 barrier with 1:40.91. Scorching through 200m splits of 23.4, 25.88 (49.28), 25.02 (1:14.30) and 26.61 , the Kenyan etched his name in to the history books by completing that rare feat – a world record in an Olympic final.

On a balmy night with temperatures hovering at around 23C and an 80,000-strong audience that included former world record-holder and Games mastermind Seb Coe, Rudisha led the way in a game-changing race that saw five athletes under 1:43 and Britain’s Andrew Osagie last in a big PB of 1:43.77.

Coe, Juantorena, Joaquim Cruz, Wilson Kipketer and other two-lap legends must have been mightily impressed. How many good club runners, after all, can run 49.2 for 400m, let alone keep going at a similar pace for a second lap?

Not only is Rudisha a great athlete either. He is handsome and articulate. Given this, it has always been something of a travesty that he does not have the worldwide fame he deserves.

I think that will change in future, though. The 800m is one of the classic events and his name is sure to be etched in legend.

Silver: Usain Bolt

I love Bolt. Who doesn’t? He has completed a marvellous double at these Games with a super-fast 19.32 win for 200m on Thursday night, a performance that followed his 100m victory on the Super Saturday of the Olympics when he clocked the second-fastest time ever of 9.63.

Unlike the modest Rudisha, who goes about his business in a much quieter, no-fuss fashion, Bolt throws some golden polish on to his athletics achievements courtesy of his charismatic personality and post and pre-race antics.

In Thursday’s 200m final, for example, his pre-race routine involved hushing the noisy crowd by putting his finger over his mouth while he was on the big screen, not to mention having a casual chat with a London 2012 volunteer by cheekily asking her if she was nervous. Then, at the finish, he banged out 10 press-ups and delighted the world’s press at the post-race interviews.

So why is Bolt merely runner-up in this unofficial Legend of the 2012 Games contest? To be honest, it’s a very, very close call. If he anchors the Jamaican team to victory in the 4x100m at these Games, he might nudge past Rudisha. If you catch me tomorrow when the wind’s blowing in a slightly different direction, he might nudge past Rudisha.

Yet more seriously, there were no world records (so far) from Bolt in London and I believe when we remember him in years to come we are more likely to picture him winning in Beijing than London. These Games were merely a confirmation of his brilliance as opposed to the moment he made a name for himself.

Remember, too, this article talks about who we will remember as the stars of London 2012 and not athletics generally. If we’re talking about athletics in its entirety, then Bolt is the sure-fire No.1.

The Jamaican is the greatest athlete in history. Certainly, no one could disagree with his opinion this week that he is now a “living legend”.

Bronze: Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah

From a purely British perspective, Ennis and Farah are undoubtedly the top names from these Games. Perhaps Farah might also leapfrog Bolt and Rudisha on this list if he seals a golden double by winning the 5000m on Saturday.

For now, though, as beautiful as their performances were in the heptathlon and 10,000m, neither Ennis nor Farah came close to breaking world records. They withstood massive pressure and beat quality fields, but their marks didn’t make a dent in the all-time lists.

Similarly, while Greg Rutherford’s long jump triumph was magnificent and the epic part he played in Super Saturday will never be forgotten, the harsh truth is that Mike Powell wasn’t worried about his world record falling. Rutherford is in strong company, too, alongside track and field superstars like Sally Pearson, Allyson Felix, Ashton Eaton and Tirunesh Dibaba on the legends short list.

So, reluctantly, I will pencil Ennis and Farah in joint third on this list. Not that this is a poor ‘result’. A mere handful of athletes from London 2012 will truly be remembered in half a century or a century’s time – and the British duo are definitely among them.

Running in a style not to dissimilar to previous world record-holder Wilson Kipketer when he was at his peak, Rudisha oozed on the pace from the gun, passing through 200m in 23.4 and 400m in 49.28 before the Kenyan kicked again down the back-straight, passing 600m in 1:14.30 which was 0.29 faster than his corresponding split when he set his previous world record in Rieti in 2010.

As great as Kipketer was, he never did what Rudisha achieved tonight, which was setting a world record at a major outdoor championships as his gun-to-tape 800m victory was rewarded with a world record of 1:40.91.

To underline the rarity of what Rudisha achieved, this was the first time a world record has been set in a middle-distance major outdoor championships race since 1980 when Nadezhda Olizarenko won the women’s 800m on home-soil at the Moscow Olympics.

This was also just the second time in post-war Olympic history a world record has been set in the men’s 800m final after Alberto Juantorena ran 1:43.50 in 1976.

Rudisha created more history by becoming the first athlete in history to simultaneously hold Olympic and world titles as well as the world record.

After the race, Rudisha commented: “I am very happy. I’ve waited for this moment for a very long time. To come here and get a world record is unbelievable. I had no doubt about winning. Today the weather was beautiful. I decided to go for it.”

As imperious as Rudisha was this evening, the Kenyan might not go unchallenged in upcoming seasons.

The silver medallist was 18-year-old reigning world junior champion Nijel Amos from Botswana, who didn’t even make the medals at the World Youth Championships last year. His PB this time last year stood at 1:47.28 but he came through strongly behind Rudisha in 1:41.73 to move to equal third on the world all-time lists with Sebastian Coe.

Timothy Kitum, who doesn’t turn 18 until November, took bronze in 1:42.53 to move into the world’s all-time top-ten.

What’s more, the silver and bronze medallists are also faster than Rudisha at their respective ages.

This was the greatest 800m in depth as every finisher set a best time for placing record. Andrew Osagie decimated his PB with a 1:43.77 performance but this could only suffice for eighth although he moves to fourth on the UK all-time lists behind Coe, Peter Elliott and Steve Cram.

Bolt became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic 200m title and in doing so, he also became the first sprinter to win back-to-back Olympic 100m and 200m titles.

In recent Olympic history, the closest an athlete has come to achieving this feat was Carl Lewis who won 100m and 200m gold in 1984 before 100m gold and 200m silver in 1988.

There were question marks to Bolt’s fitness before the Games as he was beaten by Yohan Blake over 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Championships and he also pulled out of a Diamond League meeting in Monaco but Bolt, who thrives in the cauldron of the major championships arena, got his mojo back after defending his Olympic 100m crown before sauntering into the 200m final in trademark show-boating style.

Drawn in lane seven, Bolt blasted from the blocks and immediately drew up a sizeable lead over Blake, who holds the second fastest time ever at 19.26. The gap off the bend wouldn’t have been an unassailable one if Blake was racing anyone else other than Bolt but the reigning champion drew away again in the final 50m and he could afford to ease back and glance at his rival as he crossed the line in 19.32.

The conditions had many people musing about the possibility of a world record but Bolt, who by his own admission was only 95% fit heading into the Games, said: “I knew it would be possible. I came off the corner but I was not quick enough. I could feel the strain in my back a bit.”

Blake, who chased Bolt in vain in the home straight, ran his second fastest time ever of 19.44 which was the fastest ever mark for a runner-up spot.

Emulating the United States in 2004, Warren Weir completed a Jamaican clean sweep with bronze in a PB of 19.84.

So, what’s next for Bolt after the 2012 Games? He said earlier in the week he’d like to continue until 2016 and he’s mused about the possibility of moving up to the 400m but after race, he said: “I’ve got nothing left to prove. I’ve showed the world I’m the best and, right now, I just want to enjoy myself.”

Eaton, who finished the 1500m in 4:33.59, tallied a score of 8869 which was the second highest in Olympic history, bettered only by Roman Sebrle’s Olympic record of 8893. The US took a one-two as Trey Hardee, who needed elbow surgery after winning the world title last year, won silver with a season’s best of 8671.

Leonel Suarez from Cuba set an Olympic decathlon javelin best of 76.94m en route to the bronze medal.

Taylor takes triple jump gold
Reigning world triple jump champions have a good record in Olympic competitions. Christian Olsson won the gold medal in 2004 after winning the world title in 2003, Nelson Evora defeated Phillips Idowu in 2008 to add to his world title in 2007 and multi-talented world champion Christian Taylor from USA maintained this trend this year.

The 22-year-old won gold with a season’s best of 17.81m ahead of team-mate Will Claye in 17.62m. The gold and silver medals very much went to form while erratic Fabrizio Donato from Italy, who turns 36 next week, won his first global medal with 17.48m.

Spotakova defends in the javelin
World record-holder Barbora Spotakova became the first athlete since Ruth Fuchs in 1976 to defend the Olympic javelin title. The Jan Zelezny-coached athlete had four valid efforts which would have all been sufficient for her second gold medal.

Her best effort of 69.55m came in the fourth round as she defeated Christina Obergfoll from Germany by more than four metres with team-mate Linda Stahl taking the bronze medal.

Beijing silver medallist and 70m-performer Mariya Abakumova had a disappointing competition in tenth with 59.34m.

Semenya back in shape, US 4x100m team sub-42
Caster Semenya only broke the two-minute barrier twice in the build-up to the Games but the South African is hitting optimum form at just the right time. The 2009 world 800m champion set a season’s best of 1:57.67 to qualify fastest ahead of European under-23 champion Yelena Arzhakova, who was one of three Russians to make the final along with Ekaterina Poistogova and reigning world champion Maria Savinova.

UK champion Lynsey Sharp finished seventh in the first semi-final in 2:01.78.

United States dropped the baton in the heats in Beijing but their 4x100m squad, which can be strengthened by the inclusion of Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter, still set one of the fastest times in Olympic history of 41.64.

Russia, the reigning champions, had at least two awful changeovers and finished out of contention in the heats with 43.24.

With high hopes of winning a medal in the final, the team of Nigel Levine, Conrad Williams, Jack Green and Martyn Rooney didn’t disappoint, finishing a close second to Trinidad and Tobago with both teams clocking 3:00.38.

Green showed he had bounced back well from the disappointment of falling in the semi-final of the 400m hurdles, recording one of the fastest splits of all the teams with 44.42. Although Bahamas and the United States ran quicker times in heat two – both recording 2:58.87, the fastest ever time in the heats at the Olympics – Great Britain can realistically challenge for a podium finish in the final tomorrow evening.

There was plenty of drama in the heats too. One of the South African runners, Ofentse Mogawane, collided with Kenya’s Vincent Kiilu and both fell to the floor. While Kiilu got back on his feet and continued, Mogawane was badly injured and was unable to finish. It meant that double amputee Oscar Pistorius, the third-leg runner for South Africa, was unable to run. But after an appeal, South Africa were given a spot in the final in the extra ninth lane.

The other heat was equally as dramatic. Jamaica saw their hopes of a medal disappear as Jermaine Gonzales pulled up injured. The Dominican Republic – helped by an impressive 44.19 anchor leg by teenager Luguelin Santos – initially grabbed one of the time qualifiers, but were later disqualified, so too were Venezuela.

The fastest splits of the round came from USA’s Tony McQuay with 43.65, Demetrius Pinder of the Bahamas with 43.7, Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee (44.1) and Santos (44.19).

The women’s high jump qualification got underway, with 1.93m proving sufficient to advance to the final. 2008 Olympic champion Tia Hellebaut of Belgium was safely through, with first-time clearances at every height.

The other main protagonists are likely to be European champion Ruth Beitia of Spain, world champion Anna Chicherova of Russia, and world indoor champion Chaunté Lowe, all of whom looked impressive in qualifying.

The decathlon continued, and world record-holder Ashton Eaton of the USA leads the way almost 100 points clear of team-mate Trey Hardee. The pair were the fastest two in the 110m hurdles, with Hardee clocking 13.54 to Eaton’s 13.56.

At this point, Eaton had a more than 200-point advantage over his team-mate, but that closed to just 99 after the discus as Eaton threw 42.53m to Hardee’s 48.26m. After a 5.20m clearance in the pole vault, Eaton looks on course to break the Olympic record en route to taking an almost guaranteed gold medal.

Hardee’s position in second place looks relatively safe, but the battle for bronze is going to be a close one between Belgian record-holder Hans Van Alphen, defending bronze medallist Leonel Suarez and Canada’s Damian Warner.

After back-to-back silver medals at the past two Olympics, Allyson Felix dominated tonight’s 200m final and the three-time world 200m champion set the tone for the sixth evening of athletics.

The world-leader at 21.69 ran a superb bend and maintained her form well in the straight to pull further clear of Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaica.

Felix clocked 21.88 while Fraser-Pryce was rewarded with her first major 200m medal in a PB of 22.09 with Carmelita Jeter taking bronze in 22.14.

Veronica Campbell-Brown was looking to become the first female athlete to win three successive Olympic titles in the same event but her 200m form hasn’t been a hot commodity this year and she finished fourth in 22.38.

Reese takes long jump crown

Since finishing fifth in 2008, Brittney Reese hasn’t lost at a major championships and the 25-year-old staked her claim for the Olympic gold medal with a second-round effort of 7.12m. This was the longest jump at the Olympics since 1996 and nobody else had jumped further this year.

Prior to London, Yelena Sokolova was a regular underperformer at major championships but the Russian champion responded to Reese’s effort with a PB of 7.07m.

The gold and silver medal positions didn’t change after the second round although Janay DeLoach moved into bronze with a fifth-round jump of 6.89m.

UK record-holder Shara Proctor was expected to challenge for a medal but she wasn’t on form tonight, finishing ninth with 6.55m. If she reproduced her 6.83m performance from qualifying, she would have finished fifth.

Merritt wins sprint hurdles

World indoor champion Aries Merritt has barely lost this year and the 27-year-old would have been a tough customer in the final even if Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles were at full fitness.

Merritt produced a polished performance with gold in 12.92 which was a well deserved PB. He has produced three successive 12.93 performances in the build-up to the Games as well as 12.94 in the semi-final.

Merritt’s time was just one-hundredth short of Liu Xiang’s Olympic record and the US took a one-two as world champion Jason Richardson took silver in 13.04.

Hansle Parchment produced a Jamaican record of 13.14 in the semi-final and he lowered it to 13.12 for the bronze medal – one of the more surprising medals for the Jamaican team.

Lawrence Clarke clocked a 13.31 PB in the semi-final and he performed commendably in his first appearance in a major final with fourth in 13.39.

Antyukh spoils US golden sweep

Natalya Antyukh was the sole non-American winner of the evening as the Russian champion won gold in the 400m hurdles, proving her switch from the 400m flat in 2009 was a profitable move.

The European champion from 2010, who is tall enough to skip over the barriers, didn’t take the final flight particularly well and she was being closed down by a fast-finishing Lashinda Demus but Antyukh just held on for the title.

Her winning time of 52.70 was a PB and the second-fastest time in Olympic history, while Demus lowered her season’s best to 52.77 for the silver medal. Zuzana Hejnová from Czech Republic came through for bronze in 53.38.

Casual qualifying for Bolt and Blake

Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake didn’t need to expend too much energy in qualifying for the 200m final. There were doubts to Bolt’s fitness before the Games but the world record-holder clearly has his mojo back as he sauntered to a 20.18 victory in the second semi-final.

Blake also made light work of his semi-final. He turned off the accelerator midway down the home-straight to qualify fastest in 20.01 but who can bet against Bolt in the final?

Competing in his fourth Games, a record for a British male sprinter, Christian Malcolm was third in his semi-final in 20.51 and just missed out on a fastest loser spot.

Dobriskey and Weightman progress

Great Britain has fielded a finalist in every Olympic 1500m final since 1996 and Lisa Dobriskey and Laura Weightman maintained this tradition. Dobriskey usually likes to sit towards the back of the pack but knowing her semi-final was devoid of a committed front-runner, the Beijing finalist ran a more positive race and was with the leaders at the bell.

Dobriskey covered the final lap in around 60 seconds to cross the line in fourth in 4:05.35 along with European champion Asli Çakir-Alptekin from Turkey and Russian champion Ekaterina Kostetskaya. Hannah England missed a large block of training after she was badly spiked in an early-season race in Hengelo and the world silver medallist lacked her usual pace on the last lap. She finished ninth in 4:06.35.

Laura Weightman was in the faster semi-final and she had a battle-royal with Lucia Klocová in the home straight for the seventh qualifying spot. The UK champion prevailed by the thickness of her vest in a PB of 4:02.99. In fact, Klocová was given the same time and was also eventually allowed to advance to the final.

Evening round-up

Ashton Eaton has a 220-point lead over Trey Hardee after the first day of the decathlon. While he might not be on his world record pace, Eaton is comfortably ahead of schedule for an Olympic record which stands to Roman Šebrle at 8893. Sadly, Šebrle was forced to drop out after the 100m with a heel injury.

A Czech fared better in the javelin though as Vítěslav Veselý led qualifying with a PB of 88.34m. Two-time champion Andreas Thorkildsen has been injured this year but he threw as well as he’s done all season with 84.47m.

Hitchon clearly responded to the energy of the home crowd and pulled out her best throw on her final attempt. “I’ve never competed in front of a massive crowd like this and 90 per cent of the whole crowd is cheering for you,” said the 2010 world junior champion.

“Everyone just wants you to do really well. I did the same at the Europeans (leaving it to the last throw) and I don’t know why. I like to put a lot of pressure on myself for some reason.”

Former world record-holder Anita Wlodarczyk led the qualifiers with 75.68m – the second-best mark in Olympic history and just 66cm shy of the Games record – while medal favourites Tatyana Lysenko, Betty Heidler, Zhang Wenxiu and defending champion Oksana Menkova all made it through. American Amber Campbell’s 69.93 was the longest distance ever not to make an Olympic final.

There was success for another British record-holder, as Steve Lewis cleared 5.50m on his first attempt in the pole vault to secure his place in Friday’s final. The final will comprise 14 athletes, including defending champion Steve Hooker, but the top two from last year’s World Championships – Pawel Wojciechowski and Lazaro Borges – failed to make it through.

Last year’s European under-23 silver medallist Lynsey Sharp showed that she had not let the controversy surrounding her selection for the 800m affect her. The Scot looked in control throughout and crossed the line in second place behind defending champion Pamelo Jelimo in 2:01.41 to book her spot in the semi-final tomorrow.

Newly-crowned Olympic 10,000m champion Mo Farah looked comfortable in his 5000m heat and was never in any danger of not qualifying. Farah was happy to sit back and conserve energy and came home third in 13:26.00 in a race won by Azerbaijan’s Hayle Ibrahimov in 13:25.23.

The second heat was notably faster and was won by world leader Dejen Gebremeskel, whose 13:15.15 is the fastest time ever recorded in a heat or semi-final at the Olympics. Britain’s Nick McCormick was unlucky not to qualify after finishing twelfth in 13:25.70.

After getting his decathlon campaign off to a fantastic start with a 10.71 100m PB to win race four, Britain’s Daniel Awde recorded two fouls on his first two attempts in the long jump – the first of which was almost certainly better than his 7.47m PB.

But after his second jump he appeared to be in some pain, and his third jump was measured at just 6.83m. He later withdrew from the decathlon and did not compete in the shot.

After three events, world record-holder Ashton Eaton is leading. He clocked 10.35 in the 100m – the fastest ever at the Olympics within a decathlon – and followed it with an 8.03m long jump and a 14.66m throw in the shot.

The American is comfortably on course for gold, but the battle for silver looks set to be a close one between two-time world champion Trey Hardee, Belgium’s Hans Van Alphen, European champion Pascal Behrenbruch and Dutchman Eelco Sintnicolaas.

Former world record-holder and Olympic champion Roman Sebrle also withdrew from the competition, having been carrying a heel injury leading into the Games.

From Bedford & County which is more renowned for producing long-distance runners than vertical jumpers, the 24-year-old cleared 2.29m to share the bronze medal with Mutaz Essa Barshim from Qatar and Derek Drouin from Canada.

Grabarz had three very close attempts at 2.33m. A first-time clearance would have taken the UK champion into the silver medal position on countback but the 24-year-old, whose pre-2012 PB stood at 2.28m, was still satisfied with bronze.

Grabarz, who accounts his breakthrough to a newfound commitment to athletics, follows in the footsteps of Germaine Mason, who took silver in this event at the Beijing Games.

The gold medallist was Ivan Ukhov who won Russia’s third title in the past four Games. Coached by the 2000 champion Sergey Klyugin, Ukhov was previously renowned for good performances indoors, as well as his drunken antics in Lausanne in 2008, but he won the Russian title with an outdoor PB of 2.39m and he carried this form into the Olympic final.

He cleared 2.33m, 2.36m and 2.38m at his first attempts for a five centimetre victory over surprise silver medallist Erik Kynard from the USA.

Pearson imperious

World champion Sally Pearson added the Olympic title to her growing medal haul although Dawn Harper put up a stern defence of her crown and pushed the Australian right to the line.

Pearson enjoyed her trademark explosive start but she was closed down by fast-finishing Harper off the final barrier. However, Pearson held on and crossed the line in an Olympic record of 12.35.

Pearson has been the dominant sprint hurdling force in the past two seasons and very few have come as close to beating the Aussie as Harper did this evening. After setting a PB of 12.46 in the semi-finals, Harper improved to 12.37 to take the silver medal.

Kellie Wells claimed the United States’ second medal with bronze in 12.48 and their respective times were the fastest ever times for silver and bronze in Olympic history.

Interestingly, Jessica Ennis’ 12.54 hurdles performance in the heptathlon would have sufficed for fourth in the Olympic final.

Harting completes golden set

Since finishing fourth in the Olympic final in 2008, Robert Harting has claimed world titles in 2009 and 2011 and the European title this year and the German added the only major title missing from his collection with gold in the discus.

His vest-ripping celebration has become his trademark and while his reactions after winning in Helsinki were rather muted, he said he would do it again if he won the Olympic title. Harting kept true to his word after claiming the title with his fifth-round throw of 68.27m.

For an athlete who hasn’t lost since August 2010, it wasn’t his best performance and Harting trailed Ehsan Hadadi from Iran for the first five rounds as he set the pace with a 68.18m opener. This sufficed for the silver medal although his fifth-round effort, which was deemed a narrow no-throw, would have regained the lead.

Reigning champion Gerd Kanter had to settle for bronze with a season’s best of 68.03m while UK record-holder Lawrence Okoye, who was the youngest competitor in the final, finished twelfth with 61.03m.

Makhloufi wins as favourites fall

Algeria has a rich tradition in the middle-distances and Taoufik Makhloufi became the second Algerian man to win the Olympic 1500m title after Noureddine Morceli in 1996. The 24-year-old was initially disqualified from the final for a lack of effort in yesterday’s 800m heats but the 24-year-old, after a protest, was reinstated and he prevailed with a scorching final 250m.

The African 800m champion, who was only eleventh in his semi-final at the World Championships last year, crossed the line in 3:34.08 ahead of USA’s Leonel Manzano in 3:34.79.

Reigning champion Asbel Kiprop was the pre-Games favourite but the Kenyan fell out of contention on the last lap and drifted back to last. Team-mates Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chepseba and Beijing silver medallist Nick Willis from New Zealand also finished in the bottom-half of the race.

Richards-Ross leads 200m semis

Olympic 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross posted the fastest time in the 200m semi-finals of 22.30 but the most impressive qualifier was team-mate Allyson Felix. The three-time world champion is yet to win an Olympic gold medal but the world-leader at 21.69 had plenty in reserve as she coasted to a 22.31 clocking in her semi-final. Veronica Campbell-Brown is looking to become the first woman in history to win three successive Olympic titles in the same event but the Jamaican looked to be working hard in winning her semi-final in 22.32.

Neither of the British representatives made the final. Abi Oyepitan was sixth in her semi-final in 23.14 with Margaret Adeoye seventh in hers in 23.28.

Good news for the Brits

Andrew Osagie was on the cusp of elimination in the 800m heats but the UK champion brought his A-game to the semi-finals. Osagie perhaps didn’t run his best tactical race but he was in contention at the top of the home straight and fought off Nick Symmonds for the second automatic qualifying spot behind David Rudisha. He became the first British man to reach the Olympic 800m final since 1992.

Shara Proctor qualified for the long jump final in the best possible manner. Perfect on the board with her first round effort, the UK record-holder went out to 6.83m to qualify by right with the longest mark of the evening. This mark was also one centimetre better than Brittney Reese’s winning distance at the World Championships last year.

Triple jumper Phillips Idowu and national javelin record-holder Goldie Sayers had both been touted as genuine medal hopes, but despite trying to compete through the pain, both athletes saw their Olympic dreams end in the qualifying round of their respective events.

Just last month Sayers had beaten the world’s best throwers by improving her own UK record to 66.17m at the London Diamond League, but she tore a ligament in her elbow in that same competition.

Here, Sayers didn’t look fit to compete and, clearly in pain, recorded three fouls that all landed short of the 50-metre mark. 2008 Olympic champion Barbora Špotáková qualified strongly with 66.19m, as did German pair Christina Obergföll and Linda Stahl and world leader Sunette Viljoen, who all threw in excess of 64m.

After the controversial lead up to the Games surrounding the form of Phillips Idowu, the 2009 world champion was also found to be short of form, recording a best mark of just 16.53m and failing to qualify.

Favourite Christian Taylor of the USA and defending bronze medallist Leevan Sands qualified with the farthest jumps of 17.21m and 17.17m respectively.

The heartbreak continued in the heats of the men’s 110m hurdles. Having enjoyed a massive breakthrough this year which saw him place fourth at the World Indoor Championships, there was high hopes that Andy Pozzi could progress to at least the semi-final.

But he had been suffering with a hamstring injury since the London Diamond League and here looked uncomfortable from the gun before pulling out after the first hurdle.

He was by no means the only big name to crash out though. After bitter disappointment in front of his home crowd four years ago, 2004 Olympic champion Liu Xiang once again bowed out of the heats in dramatic fashion, hitting the first hurdle and having to be carried off the track in a wheelchair.

Britain’s Andy Turner ended up winning that heat in 13.42, while team-mate Lawrence Clarke placed second in his behind world champion Jason Richardson.

The other heat winners included European Champion Sergey Shubenkov of Russia, Cuban pair Orlando Ortego and defending champion Dayron Robles and world leader Aries Merritt of the United States. Merritt’s 13.07 was the fastest ever clocking in the first round or quarter-finals at the Olympics.

Fresh from their PB runs to finish seventh and eighth in the 10,000m on Friday, Julia Bleasdale and Jo Pavey returned to the track for the heats of the 5000m and qualified comfortably for the final.

Clearly in the form of her life, Bleasdale clocked a personal best of 15:02.00 in fourth, while Pavey was seventh in a season’s best of 15:02.84. Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka and 10,000m medallists Vivian Cheruiyot and Sally Kipyego were the top three in that race, while 10,000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba won the first heat with a fast 14:58.48. Despite running a personal best of 15:12.81 in that heat, Barbara Parker finished ninthand failed to qualify.

In the men’s 200m heats, Christian Malcolm indicated that he could be finding his best form at the right time, finishing second in 20.59. James Ellington a long way off his best in heat seven, clocking just 21.23 for sixth.

But Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake cruised through as heat winners in 20.39 and 20.38 respectively, while team-mate Warren Weir also looked relaxed, winning his heat in 20.29. France’s Christophe Lemaitre spearheads the European campaign having won the first heat in 20.34.

James’ form in the build-up to the Games wasn’t wholly convincing. His fastest time of the year in the run-in to London was a modest 44.72 and he also lost to Jonathan Borlée just before the Games in Monaco.

However, the world champion saved his best form for the big occasion. James ate up the track in the third segment of the race before pulling further clear of his rivals in the home straight.

His winning time was 43.94 and he became the tenth athlete to break the 44-second barrier. This performance was something of a landmark run as he also became the first non-American athlete to break this elusive barrier.

After gold for Felix Sanchez in the 400m hurdles, 18-year-old Luguelín Santos won the silver medal for Dominican Republic in a PB of 44.46 while Lalonde Gordon from Trinidad & Tobago concluded a Caribbean-themed podium. He hadn’t broken 45-seconds before the Games but he came away with bronze in a PB of 44.52.

For the first time ever in a non-boycotted Games, no American athletes contested the final. Reigning champion LaShawn Merritt pulled up injured in the heats but he would have needed to have been at his very best to beat James today.

Sanchez stuns Greene

At the age of 34, Felix Sanchez became the oldest ever 400m hurdles winner and regained the title he last won in 2004. What’s more, he matched his winning time from the Athens Games to the hundredth of a second with a world-leading 47.63. That was his fastest for eight years and his best since he won in Athens.

It was a great race as Sanchez fought out the gold medal with previous world leader and favourite Javier Culson, and defending champion Angelo Taylor over the first 300m. There was little in it but Sanchez had the greatest strength and he eased away to win over the final hurdle to win by a clear two metres.

Sanchez was fourth in Daegu, showing he was on the way back having only run 51.10 in his heat in Beijing. Now the last four 400m hurdles winners have been Taylor, Sanchez, Taylor, Sanchez, so is it Taylor’s turn in Rio?

Getting second was Michael Tinsley. The American, who came to London with a 48.33 season’s best and five-year-old PB of 48.02, bettered that with a 47.91 clocking on his debut at a major championships. Culson faded but held on for bronze by a metre with 48.10, to win Puerto Rico’s first ever athletics medal.

World champion Dai Greene said he felt his injury and late start affected his endurance but after being well back over the first half, he finished strongly for fourth to pip Taylor on the line to get fourth in a good 48.24, which was quicker than he ran to win gold in Daegu.

Jehue Gordon was way outside his semi final form, where he run 47.96 and he ran 48.86 for sixth, Leford Green (49.12) and Kerron Clement (49.15) also seemed to struggle in their third race of the Games. Former world champion Clement was almost a second down on his semi time of 48.12.

“It came right at the right time,” said Sanchez, who had a photo of his grandmother pinned to his vest. “I felt I could win and I was waiting for them to catch me and they never did. It’s unbelievable. I dominated for so long but with injuries or being out of shape I still made finals but I never quite did it. Now I’m back.”

Isinbayeva surrenders pole vault title

Awkward wind conditions played havoc with the pole vaulters and gold went at a surprisingly low 4.75m as defending champion and the world’s greatest ever pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva had to settle for a bronze, failing in her attempt to win a third successive gold medal.

The winner was Jenn Suhr, who went one better than her silver from Beijing. The American crucially cleared 4.55m and 4.70m first time and then 4.75m at the second attempt. She failed 4.80m three times but didn’t need that height for her biggest win to date.

The surprise silver medallist was Cuban Yarisley Silva who equalled her PB with 4.75m. Silva crucially needed two jumps at 4.45m, a height Suhr passed, before clearances of 4.55m, 4.65m and 4.70m and, like Suhr one failure at 4.75m.

Isinbayeva, though some way short of her peak form of a few years ago, was still in the hunt for gold. She failed her opening jump at 4.55m, but cleared her first jumps at 4.65m and 4.70m and failed to go any higher.

Germany’s big hope Silke Spiegelburg, who has been in such sparkling form this year, struggled and could only clear 4.65m for fourth.

Britain’s Holly Bleasdale also struggled and only cleared her opening height of 4.45m at the third attempt. She bowed out at 4.55m, though her final attempt was close after two very poor initial attempts.

Bleasdale, who finished sixth equal said: “It was the same for everyone but I found it hard to cope with the conditions and quite enjoyed it out there and I’m pleased to make the top eight.”

Front-running Zaripova wins steeplechase

Yulia Zaripova from Russia also added the Olympic title to her world title from last year and her European crown from 2010. Employing her trademark front-running tactics, Zaripova burned off a deep field which included a trio of sub-9:10 performers.

Zaripova boasts the best technique over the barriers and the 4:01 1500m performer displayed a nifty turn of pace over the final 200m to defeat Habiba Ghribi from Tunisia and Sofia Assefa from Ethiopia.

Her winning time of 9:06.72 was the fourth fastest time ever while Ghribi improved her national record to 9:08.37.

Reigning champion and world record-holder Gulnara Galkina has been short of form this year and dropped out at halfway.

Ostapchuk stuns Adams

Nadezhda Ostapchuk is renowned for producing monster throws in Belarus and underperforming outside of her homeland but the world-leader delivered a shot-putting masterclass tonight in handing reigning champion Valerie Adams a shock defeat. Prior to the Olympic final, Ostapchuk had never recorded a 21m-plus put in non-domestic competition but she achieved four in succession in the final.

After a solid 20.01m opener, Ostapchuk effectively sealed the competition with a 21.31m second-round effort. Nobody else had threw further this year and it was also in excess of Adams’ PB of 21.24m.

Ostapchuk, who took the bronze medal in 2008, improved to 21.36m in the third round before two more 21m-plus puts for good measure. She became the first Belarussian winner of this title since Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchyk in 2000.

Adams, who is normally such a dependable championship performer, lacked the explosiveness she normally possesses in the circle and the New Zealander’s best effort of 20.70m didn’t threaten Ostapchuk on today’s form.

This was Adams’ first defeat at an outdoor championships since 2005 which also came at the hands of Ostapchuk at the World Championships.

Shakes-Drayton misses out

Expectations were high after Perri Shakes-Drayton decimated a world-class field at Crystal Palace last month but the European bronze medallist ran a nervous race in the 400m hurdles semi-finals. She was third in her semi-final in 55.19 which was slower than her time in the heats and more than a second outside of her lifetime best.

It looked like Shakes-Drayton would sneak into the final after two disqualifications from the third semi-final but Denisa Rosolová and Hanna Titimets were briskly reinstated to shunt the Brit out of a qualifying place.

However, the most reputable athlete to miss out was reigning champion Melaine Walker, who never got into contention in the third semi-final. She finished an inauspicious sixth in 55.74 with Eilidh Child seventh in 56.03.

Sanya Richards-Ross didn’t exhibit any signs of fatigue in the heats of the 200m as she qualified fastest with 22.48.

Former Olympic finalist Abi Oyepitan was the fastest Brit at 22.92 while UK champion Margaret Adeoye set a PB of 22.94 to also qualify by right. Anyika Onuora missed out though with 23.23.

Reports emerged England was making great strides in the pre-Games training camp and she demonstrated a good turn of pace on the final lap, qualifying by right in 4:05.73.

Beijing fourth placer Lisa Dobriskey admitted she was nervous as the second heat ambled through 800m in 2:23.47 but she coped well with the slow pace, winning the second heat in 4:13.32.

Laura Weightman is renowned for her tactical nous and the UK champion ran a well-measured heat on her senior international track debut. The Steve Cram-coached athlete qualified automatically with 4:07.29.

The two casualties from the heats were world indoor champion Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia who pulled a hamstring and was taken off the track in a wheelchair and 3:59 performer Ekaterina Martynova from Russia.

Pearson leads 100m hurdles heats

Sally Pearson lost to Kellie Wells at Crystal Palace last month but the world champion was commanding in the heats, qualifying fastest with 12.57. Lolo Jones set a season’s best of 12.68 to qualify comfortably along with Wells in 12.69.

World fourth placer Tiffany Porter’s build-up hasn’t been perfect but she progressed as one of the fastest qualifiers into the semi-finals with 12.79 from the first heat. As expected, Jessica Ennis elected not to compete.

The most noteworthy non-qualifier was former world champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton who, at 37, had got herself back into superb shape after a myriad of injuries. The 12.51 performer from Jamaica was distraught after clattering a hurdle mid-race which ended her Olympic campaign.

Borzakovskiy squeezes through

Athens Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy looked on the verge of elimination from the 800m after finishing fifth in heat four in 1:46.29. At this point, he was the third of three fastest qualifiers but none of the non-automatic qualifiers ran faster in the remaining heats.

World record-holder David Rudisha barely drew breath as he qualified with 1:45.90.

Andrew Osagie left it late but the UK champion narrowly qualified by right with 1:46.42. He was only three-hundredths ahead of fourth-placed Wesley Vazquez who didn’t qualify so Osagie didn’t give himself any margin for error.

Gareth Warburton, fifth in heat three with 1:46.97 and Michael Rimmer, fifth in heat five in 1:49.05, didn’t make it.

Okoye leaves it late

Lawrence Okoye wasn’t in a qualifying position for the first two rounds but the UK record-holder qualified for the discus final with a clutch third-round throw of 65.28m.

Abdul Buhari and Brett Morse, who threw 60.08m and 58.18m, didn’t come close to making the final.

Nadzeya Ostapchuk and Valerie Adams set the two longest marks in the history of Olympic shot put qualifying of 20.76m and 20.40m respectively. They were more than a metre ahead of Russian champion Yevgeniya Kolodko and the final is fully expected to be a head-to-head as between them, they hold the eleven best puts in the world this year.

World bronze medallist Jillian Camarena-Williams and European champion Nadine Kleinert surprisingly failed to progress from qualifying.

Bolt is the Muhammad Ali of track and field; the Pele of athletics. He has turned the simple act of putting one foot in front of another into an art form. Bolt in full flight is the most majestic sight in sport.

He did not just win in London either. He demolished the opposition with the second-fastest time in history of 9.63 in chilly conditions that led most experts to dismiss any world record speculation.

The only superior performance is the 9.58 he ran in Berlin in 2009. Some thought those days were over and that the Bolt of today was no match for the doppleganger that tore the German track to bits.

How wrong they were. Bolt is just as good now as he was then. He is only 25 years old and when free of injury niggles there is no one who can touch him.

His rivals – led by training partner Yohan Blake – are no mugs either. In any other generation they would be lauded as superheroes.

To those who doubted he would win in London had a decent case to be fair. Bolt had admittedly not looked at his best since 2009. In 2010 he took a six-week break with a sore Achilles and looked rusty on the European circuit.

He false-started in the World Championships final in Daegu last year, leaving Blake clear to take gold. Then, earlier this year, he was beaten by Blake convincingly in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Championships and the defeats were followed by stories about him suffering an injury niggle that might scupper his Olympic defence.

All along, Bolt said he’d be fine. That he would win. And that he would win spectacularly.

Yet many doubters remained. They popped a few dollars on Blake, Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin and convinced themselves that a new era was about to begin.

The new era will not begin for a while, though. He has speed, strength, power, confidence and charisma.

He also has something many of us lack. Belief.

Bolt’s time – an Olympic record – was helped by a tailwind of 1.5m/sec and was quicker than the 9.69 he ran to win in Beijing four years ago but second only to his world record of 9.58 from Berlin in 2009.

“I was slightly worried about my start,” he said. “I didn’t want to false start again. So I think I sat in the blocks a bit.

“My coach said ‘don’t worry about the start. The best part of your race is the start’. So I didn’t worry about it and I executed it so it worked.”

Blake said: “He’s the fastest man in the world and to get a silver medal in my first Olympics – what else can I ask?”

Tyson Gay of the United States ran a blistering 9.80 but was outside the medals, while fellow American Ryan Bailey was fifth in 9.88, Churandy Martina of Netherlands sixth with 9.94, Richard Thompson seventh in 9.98 and Asafa Powell of Jamaica trotting home a disappointed last in 11.99.

Bolt’s form had been in question in the run-up to the Games. He was beaten by Blake over 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Championships and was suffering from a minor injury niggle.

But he put this behind him during a thrilling final on Saturday night. With his trademark mid-race surge he blew his rivals away and then delighted the crowd with his lightning poses.

Racing on the third night of the track and field programme, the 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium was busting at the seams for the blue riband event of the Games. Here were the heavyweights of athletics, the rock stars of the Olympics, the ultimate gladiators of global sport – and it was a final that everyone wanted to watch. Nay, had to watch and a global television audience of more than a billion people.

London could not provide the kind of sweaty, warm conditions that sprinters usually love, though. Instead it was a cool 17C at 9:50pm in the UK – a contrast to the heat of Beijing in 2008 and Athens in 2004.

Before the final, the bookmakers had Bolt as favourite with the following odds: 1/4 Bolt; 3/1 Blake; 14/1 R Bailey; 16/1 Gatlin; 25/1 Gay; 50/1 Powell. This was based on semi-final results that saw Gatlin win the first semi-final in 9.82 with Powell only third; Bolt took the second semi in 9.87 looking relaxed and shutting down metres; while Blake took the final semi in 9.85 with Gay second in 9.90.

The British challenge finished at the semi-final stage. Dwain Chambers, who was drawn next to Bolt, clocked 10.05 in fourth – just ahead of former English Schools champion Gerald Phiri, who now competes for Zambia.

World junior champion Adam Gemili again performed superbly but his 10.06 in Blake’s heat was not quite good enough as he finished third. James Dasaolu completed the GB trio as he finished seventh in Gatlin’s semi-final with 10.18.

But she couldn’t quite catch the 2009 world champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who has been the dominant one-lap performer over the past decade.

Sixth in Athens and third in Beijing, Richards-Ross ran a more measured race than she did in 2008 when she bolted from the blocks and faded in the home straight. The US record-holder started fast but, having learnt from her experience from the 2008 final, she left something in reserve for the closing stages and came through to claim the gold medal in 49.55.

Ohuruogu wasn’t in a medal position at the top of the home straight but then she unleashed her trademark finish. She passed, among others, world champion Amantle Montsho from Botswana and world-leader Antonina Krivoshapka from Russia and, for a moment, it looked as though the reigning champion would repeat what she did in Beijing.

She was undoubtedly moving the fastest in the final 50m but she just ran out of room although she still came away with a glorious silver medal in a season’s best of 49.70. Such a performance wouldn’t have seemed remotely feasible twelve months ago when she trailed home eighth at Crystal Palace and was disqualified from her heat at the World Championships for a false-start.

To exemplify the reliability of Ohuruogu’s championship credentials, her five fastest times have all been achieved in major championships and her time for the silver medal was her third fastest ever.

DeeDee Trotter from USA won the bronze medal in 49.72 while Montsho took fourth and was under 50-seconds at 49.75.

Rypakova strikes triple jump gold

Kazakhstan are enjoying a superb Olympics and Olga Rypakova won her country’s sixth gold medal of the Games and just their second ever in athletics.

It wasn’t a vintage competition and the distances weren’t helped by a stiff headwind. Her winning distance of 14.98m was the shortest gold medal-winning mark in Olympic history but this sufficed for victory over Colombia’s Caterine Ibarguen by 18cm with Olha Saladuha taking bronze with 14.79m.

Competing in her fifth Olympics, world indoor champion Yamilé Aldama came into the final as a medal contender but the veteran was disappointed with her performance. However, she was a very creditable fifth in 14.48m.

Pars prevails in hammer

Krisztián Pars finally delivered the goods in a major championships final as he won gold for Hungary with the only 80m throw of the competition. His third-round throw of 80.59m was enough for victory ahead of reigning champion Primoz Kozmus from Slovenia and 2004 champion Koji Murofushi from Japan who set season’s bests of 79.36m and 78.71m respectively.

Alex Smith became the first British man to reach an Olympic final since 1984 and he finished twelfth with 72.87m.

Kemboi regains steeplechase title

World champion Ezekiel Kemboi was only second at the Kenyan Trials but he prevailed in a slow-run Olympic final in 8:18.56. The 30-year-old unleashed a devastating sprint finish to regain the crown he first won in Athens although his task was perhaps made easier when reigning champion and arguable pre-race favourite Brimin Kipruto fell during the final kilometre.

Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad won his second successive Olympic silver medal while Kenyan champion Abel Kirui won the bronze.

Qualifying round-up

Perri Shakes-Drayton defeated a world-class field at Crystal Palace last month and the Londoner finished ahead of reigning Olympic champion Melaine Walker in the heats of the 400m hurdles. Shakes-Drayton qualified as the sixth fastest into the semi-finals with 54.62 while team-mate Eilidh Child also progressed with 56.14.

The heats were led by world-leader Natalya Antyukh at 53.90 and Zuzana Hejnova at 53.96.

The top seven from the second 1500m semi-final qualified for the final but Beijing finalist Andy Baddeley narrowly missed out, finishing eighth in 3:36.03. Senior debutant Ross Murray placed tenth in the first semi-final in 3:44.92.

Kenyan athletes lead the world-rankings and their triumvirate comfortably progressed although African 800m champion Taoufik Makhloufi from Algeria was the most convincing qualifier from the first semi-final.

Britain fielded three 400m semi-finalists but none of them went any further. 2008 finalist Martyn Rooney was the fastest of the triumvirate at 45.31 but the main news was the demise of the Americans and for the first time, bar the boycotted 1980 Olympics, none of their athletes made the final.

Bryshon Nellum missed the final by three-hundredth after finishing third in his semi-final in 45.02 while Tony McQuay was fourth in the second semi-final in 45.31. Reigning champion LaShawn Merritt pulled up injured in the heats.

World champion Kirani James ran his fastest time of the year of 44.59 but the quickest qualifier was Lalonde Gordon from Trinidad & Tobago who ran under 45-seconds for the first time with a 44.58 PB.

European champion Robbie Grabarz was the only athlete with an unblemished card in high jump qualifying as he progressed with a 2.29m clearance.

Meanwhile pre-race favourites Liliya Shobukhova and Mary Keitany – the second and third-fastest women of all-time respectively – had a bad day at the office. Shobukhova pulled up injured while Keitany faded in the closing stages and finished outside of the medals.

It meant that Kenya – despite having greater depth in this event than any other nation – are still yet to win an Olympic gold in the women’s marathon.

A torrential downpour soaked the athletes as they waited on the startline, and it eventually let up a few miles into the race. The rain came back in the closing stages, but despite the conditions the course was lined with thousands of cheering fans to support the athletes.

Priscah Jeptoo, who ran 2:20:14 in London this year and was second at the World Championhips in Daegu, had to settle for another silver medal, five seconds behind the Ethiopian.

As expected, this proved to be a Kenya-Ethiopia affair with possibly a Russian intervention but that didn’t come from 2:18:20 Chicago winner Shobukhova as she dropped out after halfway. Instead the main opposition came from Tatyana Arkhipova (nee Petrova), and it was she who took a surprise bronze.

She had previously been a steeplechaser, finishing fourth in Beijing and taking the silver medal at both the 2006 Europeans and 2007 World Championships, boasting a speedy 9:09:19 PB. Her marathon credentials looked less impressive with a PB of 2:25:01, but she smashed that by more than a minute and a half.

The big favourite was Keitany, a two-time winner at the Virgin London Marathon and the African record-holder, but despite doing much of the work, she ultimately finished outside of the medals.

The first 5km was passed by the leaders in 17:20 with 10 seconds covering 66 runners. That was down to 54 at 10km which was passed in 34:46 and 52 at 15km in 52:10.

Italian record-holder Valeria Straneo officially led at 20km in 1:09:26 and halfway in 1:13:13. That was when the real race began and the Kenyans picked up the pace.

Keitany was ahead at 25km in 1:26:23, which meant that 5km stretch was covered in 16:55. Also in the group at this time were fellow Kenyans Edna Kiplagat and Jeptoo and Ethiopians Gelana, Mare Dibaba and Aselefech Mergia. Four seconds back was US champion Shalene Flanagan.

At 30km Keitany still led at 1:42:44, having covered that 5km in 16:21. Arkhipova had moved up to sixth, nine seconds back, and she was two seconds up on Flanagan as Mergia faded badly to 14th.

Dibaba dropped off at 31km and she was quickly passed by the Russian who caught the lead pack at the 20 mile mark which they passed a fraction inside 1:50. A surge from Keitany saw the Russian drop 10 metres back along with world champion Kiplagat, but Arkhipova responded while Kiplagat dropped back further and it was down to four.

At 35km, the Russian led on 1:59:29 with her only medal challengers Gelana, Keitany and Jeptoo, as they ran a mere 17:15 for that 5km. Kiplagat was four seconds back then a 22 second gap to Dibaba and Flanagan with Albina Mayorova and Jessica Augusto on 2:00:12, and therefore around 150 metres back on the leaders.

Arkhipova briefly dropped back a few metres at 38km around Blackfriars but got back as the quartet passed 40km in 2:16:10. After 2:19 of running, the first one to slow was Keitany and she dropped back and then Gelana kicked in and the Russian faded at 2:20 and it was down to two.

Gelana Gelana – the niece of 2000 Olympic champion Gezahegn Abera – gradually moved away and she had a 10-metre lead as they passed Buckingham Palace at 41.5km. She kicked hard all the way down the Mall and she won in 2:23:07, having covered the second half in less than 70 minutes. The time was four minutes outside the 2:18:58 Ethiopian record she set earlier this year, but today was all about getting gold and was the biggest victory of her career.

Jeptoo was second in 2:23:12 as Arkhipova took bronze in 2:23:29 with Keitany a tired fourth in 2:23:56.

The fastest runner over the final section was Ukranian Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko, who was just 15th at Daegu. She was 23rd at 25km, 18th at 30km, 13th at 35km, sixth at 40km and she finished fifth in a national record 2:24:32.

With four women under 2:24 and 10 under 2:26, it was the highest-standard women’s marathon in Olympic history. And the wettest.

At halfway, the British team’s late replacement Freya Murray was 46th in 74:12, but ended up a solid 44th in 2:32:14 and was the first Briton to finish. Claire Hallisey was 65th at halfway in 1:17:04 and ended up 57th in 2:35:39.

Mara Yamauchi – who finished sixth in Beijing four years ago – didn’t even to get to 10km as she pulled out with a heel injury which she has been carrying for some time.

“I thought about withdrawing but it’s not that bad and I could do the race,” she said. “It wasn’t to be and I need to rest it”

Defending champion Constantina Dita finished 86th in 2:41:34.

What a difference four or five years can make. On a super Saturday night in the Olympic Stadium, Farah and Rupp destroyed the best that Ethiopia and Kenya had to offer with a tour de force of distance running that could, if repeated in the 5000m, knock Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins off his BBC Sports Personality front runner perch.

Beijing was a turning point for Farah. I remember speaking to him for Athletics Weekly after he won the mile at the Great North Run Weekend at the end of that season and he was clearly rattled by the Olympic disappointment and vowed to take his running more seriously than ever.

He had been guided by ultra-experienced, no-nonsense distance coach Alan Storey and was part of Craig Mottram’s training group. But Farah and his manager Ricky Simms realised that he needed to learn from the best, so he began to increasingly spend spells living with Kenyans both in Teddington and out in Kenya itself as he ramped his training up.

Then came the big move to join Alberto Salazar’s group in mid-winter 2011. Some people were dubious, including myself. Despite being a bona fide marathon legend, Salazar had a slightly shaky record as a coach and Farah seemed to be doing pretty well anyway after having won the European 5000m and 10,000m double in Barcelona in 2010.

So Farah decamped to America with his young family. It was a gamble for sure – but Farah must have had total confidence in the plan for it to culminate in global gold in 2011 and 2012.

Now, the world of distance running will be more desperate than ever to tap Salazar’s brain for the secrets to his coaching success. The brain-sucking process starts on Sunday lunchtime when a HydroWorx media event with the US coach near St Pancras in London is expected to be packed.

His short-term success with Farah has been tremendous. But let’s not forget he has coached Rupp for a decade or more, with many of their sessions based in Oregon, where Salazar is based as a Nike coach.

A few clues can be found, though, with some of Salazar’s comments from the past. He has said: “We’re very thorough. We have a plan and any plan, even if it is a bad plan, is better than no plan at all. Absolutely no stone is unturned.”

In a past interview with the Telegraph, Salazar explained there were three reasons for Farah’s improvement: greater body strength from weights sessions, better structure to his workouts and increased pace of his training runs.

“He used to run all his mileage very slowly,” Salazar said. “His average pace was probably 6:45 per mile. Now the average pace that he and Galen run is about 5:45, and that’s 17 to 20 miles a day. They sometimes do 20 miles and go 5:30 pace, and that isn’t a particularly hard day.”

In addition, Salazar has been keen to sharpen Farah and Rupp’s finishing speed in the run-up to the Olympics. He has also employed aqua-jogging, plyometrics and an almost obsessional interest stride mechanics and running style.

Credit, too, should go to UKA, as the governing body’s head of endurance Ian Stewart put Farah in Salazar’s direction and has masterminded the UKA and London Marathon-sponsored training camps in Kenya and Font Romeu – the latter venue in the French Pyrenees being the altitude camp they used on the eve of these Games.

Such hard work and attention to detail led to such a turnaround in form that Farah and Rupp became the first non-African medallists in the Olympic men’s 10,000m final since Salvatore Antibo of Italy in 1988. The last British medallist in the event, meanwhile, is Mike McLeod, the silver medallist from 1984, while the closest Britain has come to claiming this title was back in 1920 when James Wilson won bronze just five seconds behind Paavo Nurmi. And of course Brendan Foster, a friend and big fan of Farah, won bronze at the 1976 Olympics – Britain’s only athletics medallist – period – at those Games incidentally.

Rupp was following in the footsteps of Billy Mills, the last American to win a medal in the men’s 10,000m when he won the gold in 1964. Although Salazar, ironically, did not succeed at the Olympic Games – he missed the 1980 Games due to the boycott and was then 15^th in the 1984 marathon after starting as many people’s favourite.

So this medal will be valued immensely by Salazar. And Rupp paid credit to the coach when he said at Saturday’s press conference: “He is meticulous. There is no stone unturned.

“I remember talking about this (Olympic success) with him in high school. He said this is going to take a long time. We’re not going to take any short cuts. And there are definitely going to be some bumps in the road. I’m really indebted to him. He’s like a father figure to me – not just in running but life.”

Farah agreed with Rupp’s sentiments and the duo headed back to the track at gone 11pm to do some circuits of the grassy in-field in preparation for the 5000m later this week. No stone unturned indeed.

» For more on Salazar’s coaching philosophy, keep your eyes out for a feature in Athletics Weekly soon.

Taking full advantage of the capacity home crowd support, Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah ensured a truly magical night for British athletics, winning three golds within the space of 40 minutes.

Thriving on the electric atmosphere in the stadium created by Ennis’ British record, Rutherford more than rose to the occasion and added to Britain’s gold rush by securing the long jump title with 8.31m. After taking the lead in round two with 8.21m, the Milton Keynes athlete was never headed and used the roars of the crowd to catapult himself to his winning distance in round four.

Australia’s Mitchell Watt replicated his silver medal position from last year’s World’s with 8.16m, while triple jump favourite Will Claye of the USA was third with 8.12m. Britain’s Chris Tomlinson performed well for sixth place with 8.07m from round four.

Just when athletics enthusiasts thought things could not get any better, Farah lived up to his expectations as one of the world’s best distance runners, becoming the first British man in history to win the Olympic 10,000m title.

After a relatively slow first 5000m of 14:05.79, there were twelve athletes still bunched tightly together with two laps to go. However, Farah was in total control and the win never looked in any real doubt.

With the crowd going wild as the pace gradually sped up, Farah bided his time until he hit the bell when he began to pull clear. Unlike in Daegu last year, the world 5000 champion left something in reserve for the home straight and kicked away to win in 27:30.42 from training partner Galen Rupp, taking silver for the USA in 27:30.90.

Ethiopian Tariku Bekele took the bronze in 27:31.43, finishing a second ahead of his more esteemed brother, Kenenisa Bekele, the 2008 champion.

It was the first time that only one African athlete has made the podium in this event since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, when Mike McLeod claimed silver for Britain behind Italian Alberto Cova.

The final event of the evening, the women’s 100m, provided the level of excitement that was fitting to complete such an exhilarating few hours of athletics. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica successfully defended her Olympic title in a fast 10.75 to take victory from American Carmelita Jeter (10.78) and team-mate Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.81).

Taking advantage of the fast track, the first six athletes all broke eleven seconds. Earlier on in the evening Britain’s Abi Oyepitan exited in the semi final after finishing eighth in 11.36.

Away from British interest, the women’s discus competition was a top-class affair, with Croatia’s European champion Sandra Perkovic winning with a national record of 69.11m ahead of Russia’s Darya Pishchalnikova (67.56m) and China’s world champion Li Yanfeng (67.22m).

In the men’s 20km walk, China’s Chen Ding won in an Olympic record of 1:18:46 from Guatemala’s Erick Barrondo (1:18:57) and team-mate Wang Zhen (1:19:25). It was an historic race as China had never before won an Olympic race walking medal. Chen also became the youngest ever Olympic race walking champion, one day before his 20th birthday. Barrondo, meanwhile, won Guatemala’s first Olympic medal of any colour and in any sport.

There was drama all the way for the Brits in the semi finals of the men’s 400m hurdles. World Champion Dai Greene only scraped through to the final as the second fastest loser, having finished only fourth in the opening semi-final, albeit in 48.19.

Although ultimately the time was fast enough to see him progress, it would not really have been the send-off that the British team captain would have wanted ahead of his bid to add the Olympic title to his world and European crowns. He looks set to have a tough battle on his hands in the final, as 34-year-old Felix Sanchez won Greene’s semi-final in a world-leading 47.76 – his fastest time since winning Olympic gold in 2004.

World leader Javier Culson won the second race in 47.93. It was heartbreak for the other British representatives, with European under-23 champion Jack Green clattering the third hurdle and failing to finish and Rhys Williams coming home fourth in the third semi-final in 49.63.

One athlete you can always rely on for the big occasion though, is Christine Ohuruogu. The 2008 Olympic 400m champion did not disappoint, finishing second to American Sanya Richards-Ross in semi-final one in a season’s best of 50.22.

Ohuruogu looked to have more in the bag too and appeared totally focussed on the job in hand. As is her customary trademark, she showed great strength in the latter stages to book her place in the final and go one step closer to retaining her title.

In what is shaping up to be an exciting final, world champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana won the second semi-final in 50.15 and Russia’s world leader Antonina Krivoskapka took the third semi-final in 49.81. Shana Cox and Lee McConnell found the going tough, both finishing seventh in 52.58 and 52.24 in their respective semi-finals.

She was momentarily passed by eventual fourth-placer Austra Skujyte from Lithuania after the shot, but otherwise it was a truly dominant performance from the City of Sheffield athlete who adds this accolade to her world title from 2009 and her European title from 2010.

Ennis finished her two days in style as she won the final event in 2:08.65 for 984 points to deafening applause.

In doing so, Ennis improved her UK record to 6955 – a score that has only been bettered by world record-holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee in Olympic competition. She also became the fifth best scorer of all-time.

World champion Tatyana Chernova rallied well on the second day but had to settle for the bronze with 6628. Even had she been at her best, she’d have been no match for the in-form Ennis.

For a while it looked as though Chernova had got the silver following the disqualification of Lilli Schwarzkopf in the 800m, but the German was reinstated to take second place overall with 6649, breaking her PB from four years ago.

Natalia Dobrynska was understandably not at her best after the death of her coach and husband earlier this year, and the defending champion dropped out after the long jump. With 13 women over 6300 points, it was the highest-standard heptathlon of all-time.

If Ennis is the star of 2012, watch out for Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 2016 and 2020. The teenager broke Ennis’ UK junior heptathlon record earlier this year and she improved it further to 6267 to finish 14th.

Commonwealth Games champion Louise Hazel finished 26th with 5856.

How Ennis’ golden two days unfolded

100m hurdles – 12.54 (1159 points)
It all started with a performance which would have equalled Dawn Harper’s winning time in the 100m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics. Ennis’ time of 12.54 was a UK record and the fastest time in a heptathlon by eight-hundredths.

Overall – Ennis 1195, Zelinka 1178, Fountain 1170, Aerts 1133, Djimou Ida 1130

High jump – 1.86m (1054 points)
Ennis jointly holds the UK high jump record at 1.95m but a 1.86m clearance is on par with her performances in the past year. It was also one centimetre better than the height she achieved en route to her UK record in Götzis in May.

Overall – Ennis 2249, Fountain 2224, Johnson-Thompson 2146, Skujyte 2110, Djimou Ida 2108

Shot – 14.28m (813 points)
She wasn’t fully enamoured with her best effort of 14.28m but it was still her third best put outdoors. Austra Skujyte momentarily eclipsed Ennis’ lead with a world heptathlon best of 17.31m.

Overall – Skujyte 3126, Ennis 3062, Schwarzkopf 2947, Savitskaya 2930, Dobrynska 2920

200m – 22.83 (1096 points)
Ennis tore up the track in the final event of the first day with her second PB of the competition of 22.83. This gave Ennis her best day one total of 4158.

Overall – Ennis 4158, Skujyte 3974, Zelinka 3903, Yosypenko 3902, Fountain 3900

Long jump – 6.48m (1001 points)
The event which proved her undoing at the World Indoor Championships was rock-steady as she produced her second best ever mark in a major championships. Ennis’ grasp on the title became just that bit tighter as the challenge of world champion Tatyana Chernova didn’t really materialise. She achieved the best jump of the day but 6.54m made insufficient inroads into Ennis’ lead.

Overall – Ennis 5159, Skujyte 4901, Chernova 4869, Yosypenko 4848, Schippers 4836

Javelin – 47.49m (812 points)
Her sub-standard performance at last year’s World Championships was just an anomaly and Ennis showed no signs of nerves as her competition climaxed with a 47.49m PB. The title was as good as wrapped up and while her lead was cut back, Ennis is a renowned 800m runner while Skujyte hasn’t broken 2:20 this year. Chernova lost even more ground.

Overall – Ennis 5971, Skujyte 5783, Yosypenko 5701, Djimou Ida 5696, Schwarzkopf 5692

800m – 2:08.65 (984 points)
This was very much a formality as Ennis had all but sealed the title. To rapturous applause, Ennis crossed the line first in 2:08.65 to become the first British winner of the heptathlon title since Denise Lewis in 2000.

Final scores – Ennis 6955, Schwarzkopf 6649, Chernova 6628, Yosypenko 6618, Skujyte 6599

If such a thing as a stadium ‘noiseometer’ existed, the audio levels in the 80,000 arena would surely have matched those inside the 112,000 Olympic Stadium in Sydney back in 2000 during the women’s 400m. Ennis is the Cathy Freeman of these Games and Britain’s super Saturday, which included British victories in the men’s 10,000m and long jump finals, was a decent match for Sydney’s magic Monday.

Amazingly, Ennis had never competed in the British capital city before this week. It is hard to believe, as she looked completely at home.

She did not simply win the competition, but she obliterated her rivals with defending Olympic champion Natalya Dobrynska no-marking in the long jump and Tatyana Chernova a shell of the athlete who won the world title last year. Out of form perhaps, or simply shell-shocked by an all-round athleticism that included a 12.54 sprint hurdles – good enough to win the 2008 Olympic 100m hurdles title.

How the 26-year-old has managed to handle the pressure of being ‘golden girl of the Games’ is beyond me. Her image has been everywhere; the expectation immense.

Indeed, some people have been worried that she has done too many media events and commercial deals. Yet she has taken it all in her stride, soaked it up, channelled it – and then spat it out on the track and in the field in the shape of phenomenal athletics performances.

While fellow Brits Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Louise Hazel broke into huge grins when they received unprecedented plaudits from the 80,000 crowd in the Olympic Stadium, Ennis tried her best to keep a poker face before often allowing herself just a polite smile and wave as the deafening cheers were dying down.

The pressure has been building for years, too. When London was awarded the Games in July 2005, Ennis won the European junior heptathlon title shortly afterwards and therefore suffered being billed as a “2012 hopeful” from those early days.

It has not fazed her, though, and guided by long-time coach Toni Minichiello she has coolly developed her ability. From Commonwealth bronze in Melbourne 2006, via world championship ups and downs and Olympic disappointment in 2008, she has grown from promising teenager to world-beating Olympian. The tadpole, as she was once dubbed, has evolved into an athletics alligator who destroys everything and everyone in her path.

Let’s not forget her personality either. Ennis is not a mean machine who grunts her way to victory. Instead she competes with a smile not a snarl. She is the archetypal ‘girl next door’, so far unfazed by her fame, always smiling, ever gracious – the perfect role model in every single way.

The heptathlon – and its forerunner the pentathlon – were already Britain’s most successful Olympic events before London 2012. With gold medals from Denise Lewis in 2000 and Mary Peters in 1972, plus silver from Mary Rand in 1964 and bronze from Lewis in 1996 and Kelly Sotherton in 2004, it is the nation’s strongest track and field event at this level.

Ennis has cemented this tradition and hopefully her historic performances in the Olympic Stadium at the London Games will inspire an army of athletes to keep the flame burning for years to come.

Ennis improved even further to 6.48m (1001 points) in the third round and this was her second best jump in a major championships which brought her overall total to 5159. World champion Tatyana Chernova, as expected, was the best long jumper of the day but 6.54m (1020 points) is still below what the Russian is capable of and the inroads she made into Ennis’s lead were negligible.

The javelin was Ennis’s downfall in Daegu but last year’s performance was nothing more than an anomaly as the UK record-holder concluded her competition with a PB of 47.38m for 809 points to take her overall tally to 5971.

A 51.13m javelin from Austra Skujyte for 882 points cut Ennis’s lead to 188 points but Ennis has an 800m PB of 2:07.81 while Skujyte hasn’t broken 2:20 this year.

Chernova had a disappointing javelin and she lost more ground on Ennis with 46.29m for 788 points. She’s currently in sixth but she boasts the best 800m PB of 2:06.50 so can’t be discounted for a minor medal even though her campaign hasn’t gone according to plan.

Even if Ennis jogs around the track in 2:25 and Chernova sets a PB of 2:06, Ennis will still become the Olympic champion.

While it surely won’t be the primary focus, a time in the 800m of 2:05.69 would give her a 7000-point total. For an improvement on her British record, Ennis just needs a modest 2:12.07.

Standings before the 800m
1. Jessica Ennis 5971
2. Austra Skujyte 5783
3. Lyudmila Yosypenko 5701
4. Ida Antoinette Nana Djimou 5696
5. Lilli Schwarzkopf 5692
6. Tatyana Chernova 5657
7. Kristina Savitsakaya 5520
8. Jessica Zelinka 5503

16. Katarina Johnson-Thompson 5313

30. Louise Hazel 5016

Bailey leads 100m qualifiers

Ryan Bailey might be the least well-known of the three American athletes but the 23-year-old was the fastest qualifier for the 100m semi-finals. Bailey, who had a superb 2010 season before getting injured last year, equalled his PB of 9.88 in the 100m heats.

Justin Gatlin was the second fastest qualifier with 9.97 while Tyson Gay won the first heat although his winning time of 10.08 would be worth more if it wasn’t for a 1.4 m/s headwind.

World champion Yohan Blake was the quickest of the Jamaicans at 10.00. Asafa Powell, 10.04 in heat five, and reigning champion Usain Bolt, 10.09 in heat four, didn’t give anything away either.

Dwain Chambers was selected for the British team despite not achieving the A standard this year but the UK champion firmly justified his selection with a season’s best of 10.02 which was only five-hundredth off his PB set in 1999.

James Dasaolu qualified with his fourth fastest time ever of 10.13 while world junior champion Adam Gemili, who bettered Powell out of the blocks, progressed with 10.11.

Merritt won’t defend

Reigning Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt pulled up injured in his last race on the Diamond League circuit in Monaco and while he downplayed the severity of his hamstring injury, he was clearly still in no condition to defend his title. The American gingerly ran the top bend of his heat before stopping on the back straight.

Merritt set the two fastest times in the build-up so his absence means the race for the medals will be keenly contested. Jonathan Borlée was the slower of the Borlée brothers on paper but he regained the Belgian record from his twin brother Kevin with the fastest time of the morning of 44.43 to move to fifth on the European all-time lists.

The British trio all made the semi-finals by right. Beijing finalist Martyn Rooney was the fastest of the triumvirate with 45.36 while Nigel Levine (45.58) and Conrad Williams (46.12) also comfortably progressed.

Morning round-up

Barbara Parker performed well in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase. She ran her third fastest time ever of 9:32.07 but missed out on a fastest loser spot by two places. Eilish McColgan was ninth in her heat in 9:54.36.

Noteworthy casualties from the heats included European champion Gülcan Mingir, who is ranked fifth in the world with 9:13.53 along with world fifth placer Lydia Rotich from Kenya.

UK record-holder Holly Bleasdale qualified for the pole vault final with 4.55m although Kate Dennison didn’t progress.

However, the most noteworthy non-qualifiers were world champion Fabiana Murer and former world record-holder Svetlana Feofanova. Murer found 4.50m insufficient for qualification while Feofanova failed to register a mark.

Not only did Poland’s Tomasz Majewski become just the third man in history to retain his Olympic shot title with 21.89m, but only once before have two athletes broken 21.70m in the same Olympics and that was in 1988.

​Spurred on by the roar of the home crowd support for Jess Ennis, 2008 Olympic champion Majewski and Germany’s world and European Champion David Storl ensured a thrilling contestfrom the outset, with the Pole ultimately winning by three centimetres from 21-year-old Storl.

​Storl took an early lead with 21.84m in the first round, the fourth furthest ever in Olympic history, and Majewski responded with 21.72m to warn his younger rival that he would not have it all his own way. Storl extended his lead to 21.86m, which would remain his best of the competition, but Majewski showed why he is the reigning Olympic champion and bounced back immediately with 21.87m in round three.

Whereas Storl had fouls in the final three rounds, Majewski kept his focus right until the end, improving to 21.89m in the final round and becoming the first man since Parry O’Brien in 1952 and 1956 to win back-to-back Olympic shot gold.

​Over half a metre back with 21.23m, USA’s Reese Hoffa won the battle for bronze, just four centimetres clear of team-mate and former world champion Christian Cantwell. Commonwealth Champion Dylan Armstrong of Canada was fifth with 20.93m.

​The first track title was decided in emphatic style, with the 10,000m and 5000m champion from 2008, Tirunesh Dibaba, retaining her title in the 25-lap event in fine fashion. After being outside 31minutes pace for most of the race, a group of four consisting of Dibaba, Worknesh Kidane, Vivian Cheruiyot and Sally Kipyego broke away from the pack before Dibaba ultimately showed her class with a 62 second last lap to kick clear and win in 30:20.76.

Kipyego took silver with 30:26.37 and Cheruiyot bronze with 30:30.44. Britain’s Jo Pavey and Julia Bleasale each ran the race of their life to finish top two Europeans in seventh and eighth, both using the noise of the crowd to inspire them to personal bests of 30:53.20 and 30:55.63 respectively.

Elsewhere, the battle for the fastest woman on Earth began with the heats of the 100m. The top two from last year’s World Championships – Carmelita Jeter and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica – established themselves as early favourites with 10.83 and 10.94 respectively and Nigerian Blessing Okagbare also impressed with 10.93. Britain’s Abi Oyepitan qualified for the semi-final as a fastest loser, having finished fifth in heat three with 11.22. Anyika Onuora was unable to progress from heat two, having finished fifth with 11.41.

​There was better news for Britain in the men’s 1500m, with both Andy Baddeley and Ross Murray qualifying automatically for the semi final. In the first heat, Murray ran a strong race to come home fourth in 3:36.74, before Baddeley followed suit in the following heat with 3:40.34 in sixth. On the in-field, Greg Rutherford and Chris Tomlinson will take their place intomorrow’s long jump final as genuine medal hopes, havingqualified with 8.08m and 8.06m respectively.

Compared to her PB of 14.79m, Ennis’ shot put performance of 14.28m (813 points) was perhaps slightly below what she wanted to achieve and her lead was eclipsed as Skujyte powered to a 17.31m world heptathlon best for 1016 points.

This gave Skujyte a tally of 3126 to Ennis’ 3062 but this didn’t prove cause for concern for Ennis is a top-class 200m runner while Skujyte has only broken 25-seconds once and that was back in 2004.

Indeed, Ennis finished the first day with her second PB of 22.83 in the 200m for 1096 points which brought her tally to 4158. Skujyte laboured to 25.43 (848 points) in her heat but hung on to second overall although she trails Ennis by 184 points with 3974.

Ennis is also 45 points ahead of her UK record schedule in Götzis which underlines the stature of her first day performance which included the fastest ever 100m hurdles in a heptathlon of 12.54, also a national record.

World champion Tatyana Chernova from Russia closed the gap on the leaders as she moved up into ninth with 3849. It hasn’t been the best day for Chernova but she has a superb second day and is still in shooting distance for a medal.

Reigning champion Natalia Dobrynska from Ukraine was actually ahead of her Beijing schedule after her first two events but she might have shot her bolt as she struggled in the shot. After two fouls, she could only manage 15.05m which was more than two metres down on her Beijing performance. Her total stands at 3835.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson didn’t perform well in the shot but she responded with a 200m PB of 23.73 to bring her tally to 3769 and she has her best event, the long jump, to come tomorrow.

Louise Hazel is currently in 34th after 12.81m in the shot and 24.48 in the 200m.

The track and field stadium is the showcase stadium in the Olympic Park – dwarfing the Velodrome and Aquatics Centre – and is traditionally chosen to house the Olympic cauldron. There have been plenty of empty seats so far, but the Olympic Stadium was packed on the first morning of track and field action.

Travel to the venue had been hectic for many fans, with problems on the Central Line and queues for the Javelin trains at St Pancras. It was also a typically grey summer’s day in London.

Yet the inside of the Olympic Stadium enjoyed its own microclimate with temperatures of around 22C by midday, a breeze that was gentle enough to usher Jessica Ennis to a fabulous UK record of 12.54 for 100m hurdles, plus enough noise to blow the roof off. If the stadium had one, that is.

Of course there was rain too. What else could we expect from this eternally wet British summer of 2012? But it was not enough to dampen the spirits of the capacity crowd.

Commentators Geoff Wightman and Garry Hill informed the crowd, interspersed by loud blasts of music. The pop songs are not to everyone’s taste, but the choice of Girls Aloud and the soundtrack from Kick Ass was somewhat appropriate.

Ennis received rapturous cheers from the moment she appeared out of the tunnel to take her place at the sprint hurdles start line. Such was the excitement in the crowd, there were some Wimbledon-style screams of “Go Jess!” even as she was settling into her blocks.

Other Brits in action, such as fellow heptathletes Louise Hazel and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, together with gold medal contenders Dai Greene and Christine Ohuruogu, were also drowned in noise. Hazel had the honour of being the first British athlete to compete in the Games, while Johnson-Thompson seemed to mouth ‘wow’ when her name was called and crowd roared – overwhelmed by the moment.

The Athletics Weekly team has a bird’s eye view as the excitement unfolds. Myself and Paul Halford were level with the finish line and high enough to be just undercover during the first morning’s action – although strangely no seats are allocated and writers pick their own. AW colleague Jon Mulkeen is blogging for the IAAF this week and was nearby with staff from the global governing body. Then there’s photographer Mark Shearman, who is amazingly attending his 13^th Olympics.

Having the best seat in the house is a privileged position and on such a feel-good morning it seems inappropriate to complain. But if there are any grumbles so far they include the fact less than half of the 20 or so seats on my media aisle are actually taken up. Although this will surely change during evening sessions and some accredited media are no doubt in the mixed zone or venue media centre.

Also, getting from the tribunes to the media centre is like finding your way out of Hampton Maze – and even the ever-helpful volunteers manning the doors didn’t have a clue. Finally, an Olympic cauldron that sits at ground level inside the stadium as opposed to glowing majestically overhead doesn’t seem quite right. Although like most things at London 2012, I’m warming to it (no pun intended).

Certainly, if this first athletics session is anything to go by, these Games could be the greatest ever. Now, I’m off to buy some ear plugs so I don’t get totally deafened during Mo Farah’s 10,000m and Ennis’s 800m on Saturday, not to mention the appearance of Usain Bolt in the 100m.

Ennis enjoyed her blistering trademark start and helped by a following wind of 1.3 m/sec, the gold medal favourite stopped the clock at 12.54 for the best possible start. While Ennis’ performance was her best hurdles in a heptathlon by 0.39, world champion Tatyana Chernova was slow out the blocks and finished eighth and outside of her season’s best with 13.48.

The heptathletes confirmed the track is a fast one for the sprinters as the first five athletes from Ennis’ heat set PBs. Medal contenders Jessica Zelinka from Canada and Hyleas Fountain from USA were second and third in 12.65 and 12.70 respectively.

Reigning Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska from Ukraine was understandably not at her best in Götzis as she missed a lot of training after the death of her coach and husband in March but she set her third fastest 100m hurdles time ever of 13.57.

To put Ennis’ performance into perspective, she eclipsed world fourth placer Tiffany Porter’s UK record by two-hundredths and her time equalled Dawn Harper’s winning time in the 100m hurdles in Beijing. It would have also won seven of the ten Olympic 100m hurdles finals.

Let’s not forget, Ennis might take part in the individual event too.

Ennis’ high jump perhaps isn’t as good as it once was but the 2009 world champion delivered a solid 1.86m performance which was one centimetre better than what she achieved en route to her UK record in Götzis.

This brings Ennis’ score to 2249 which compares favourably to her 2194 total after two events in Götzis.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is also excelling on her major championships senior debut. The 19-year-old, who broke Ennis’ UK junior record earlier this year, equalled her PB of 13.48 in the 100m hurdles before upping her high jump PB to 1.89m which brings her total to 2146. She’s currently third overall although her shot put isn’t her strongest event.

Commonwealth champion Louise Hazel opened her day with 13.48 in the 100m hurdles and 1.59m in the high jump.

Culson leads 400m hurdles heats
World-leader Javier Culson was the fastest qualifier in the 400m hurdles. Unbeaten this year, the world silver medallist eased through his heat in a swift 48.33 ahead of Kerron Clement, who set a season’s best of 48.48.

World champion Dai Greene wasn’t unduly fazed with his lane one draw as he qualified comfortably with 48.98. Despite finishing fifth in his heat, Rhys Williams was the seventh fastest qualifier with a season’s best of 49.17 .

Greene’s training partner Jack Green followed in former Olympic champion Felix Sanchez 49.24 to 49.49 in the sixth heat.

The most noteworthy non-qualifiers were former European champion Periklís Iakovákis from Greece and reigning world bronze medallist LJ Van Zyl who were both outside 50 seconds.

Ohuruogu fourth fastest for 400m semis
Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu looked in good form in the 400m heats although she allowed Francena McCorory to win the heat in 50.78 to Ohuruogu’s 50.80 which was two-tenths faster than her time in the heats in Beijing.

Fastest in the heats were world champion Amantle Montsho from Botswana with 50.40 and world-leader Antonina Krivoshapka, who blasted through the first 300m before easing down to 50.75.

Shana Cox, 52.01 in heat two and Lee McConnell, 52.23 in heat five, also qualified automatically.

Day one round-up
World indoor champion Yamilé Aldama was just one of two athletes to qualify automatically with her first jump in the triple jump qualifying. Competing in her fifth Games, Aldama eased to a 14.45m jump to qualify as the third longest jumper for Sunday’s final.

Alex Smith performed well in the hammer as he went out to 74.71m in group A. His qualification prospects looked unlikely but surprisingly, only one athlete from group B surpassed Smith’s distance and he became the first Brit to qualify for the Olympic men’s hammer final since 1984.

No surprises in the 3000m steeplechase as the three Kenyans easily progressed to the final along with Olympic silver medallist Mahiedine Mekhissi and US record-holder Evan Jager.

Stuart Stokes was last in the third heat in 8:43.04.

It might be because her name’s a bit of a mouthful that Katarina Johnson-Thompson is better known as the ‘new Jess Ennis’ – but in just a few weeks she could well be the new heptathlon heroine on everybody’s lips.

The seven-pronged event has been en vogue ever since Ennis waltzed to world gold in 2009 and while she remains Team GB’s golden girl for London 2012, Johnson-Thompson is rapidly catching up.

In May, the 19-year-old signalled her Olympic ambitions with a new heptathlon personal best – bettering Ennis’ junior British record – and a month later she was shouting them from the rooftops after racking up 6248 points, the second best score by a junior anywhere since the 80s.

Throw into the mix a long jump gold medal at the World Junior Championships earlier this month as well as a 100m hurdles personal best and it has already been a stellar year for the Liverpudlian teenager – and at London 2012 it’s only going to get better.

“I have been surprised by the progress I have made,” said Johnson-Thompson.

“I always thought it was within me to get the A standard but the heptathlon is very difficult to do all the events and bring it all together on the same day. So for me to do it was just a dream come true really.

“I’m in good shape going into the Olympics. I got a personal best in the long jump and hurdles at the world juniors a couple of weekends ago and hopefully I can build on that.

“I think coming into the Olympics under the radar is helping. But it is great having a role model like Jessica Ennis there. She holds the British record which was a great feat and I will be watching her during her performances.

“I have already seen how she competes and handles all the pressure and it is amazing how she can handle it all and hopefully I can get a glimpse of how she does that.”

Johnson-Thompson was denied a new long jump personal best with her winning leap of 6.81m because of an illegal wind reading, but the fact it was her third attempt of the competition bodes well for the heptathlon where athletes have little time to get into the groove.

Similarly, her hurdles personal best came in her heat before missing out on the final – something that is helping to keep her feet on the ground ahead of London 2012, although she has no intention of just making up the numbers.

She added: “I failed to make the final of the hurdles so winning [the long jump] and losing in a way was a great send-off to the Olympics for me because you need to stay grounded. I don’t think you should go in on some cloud nine high.

“But it is looking good for me. I got a personal best in the heats of the hurdles which I will only get one shot at in the heptathlon and I did it first time at the world juniors and then I got my PB in the long jump in the first three jumps as well.

“My expectations for how well I am going to do at London 2012 have not changed. There is absolutely no pressure for me and everyone is just saying go there and have a look around and take in the experience.”

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Superstar Usain Bolt was beaten not once but twice at the Jamaican Trials by world 100m champion Yohan Blake. He may yet be able to turn his form around, but history is against him as only one man – Carl Lewis – has won back-to-back Olympic 100m titles in the modern era.

Justin Gatlin is back in form and defeated Tyson Gay at the US Trials. Asafa Powell is capable of winning a medal, but it all depends on the current fitness of the injury-prone sprinter.

Form guide

1 Yohan Blake (JAM)
2 Usain Bolt (JAM)
3 Justin Gatlin (USA)
4 Tyson Gay (USA)
5 Asafa Powell (JAM)
—————————————-

200m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Betting against Bolt in two events may seem bold, but the world record-holder was going flat out at the Jamaican Trials and still wasn’t able to catch his training partner, Yohan Blake. With his 19.26 last year, Blake showed that he is the only person who can compete with Bolt at full strength.

Wallace Spearmon is no stranger to a 200m championships podium, but Christophe Lemaitre and Churandy Martina lead the European charge and could get among the medals.

Form guide

1 Yohan Blake (JAM)
2 Usain Bolt (JAM)
3 Wallace Spearmon (USA)
4 Christophe Lemaitre (FRA)
5 Churandy Martina (NED)
—————————————-

400m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
In June reigning Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt clocked the fastest time in the world for three years with 44.12. But in his most recent race at the Monaco Diamond League, he pulled up on the top bend. He shrugged off any suggestions of a serious injury, but any niggle so close to a major event is never a good thing.

If he fails to make the final, it would throw the event wide open. World champion Kirani James has won in Daegu and London this year, but timed his charge too late in Monaco and was beaten by Jonathan Borlee. The other Borlee brother, Kevin, set a Belgian record of 44.56 this year, while Luguelin Santos is an exciting talent having set a world age-18 best of 44.45 in Hengelo.

Form guide

1 LaShawn Merritt (USA)
2 Kirani James (GRN)
3 Kevin Borlee (BEL)
4 Luguelin Santos (DOM)
5 Jonathan Borlee (BEL)
—————————————-

110m hurdles

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Aries Merritt has come of age this season. He won the world indoor title earlier this year and has become a regular sub-13 man outdoors, running 12.93 in his past three races. Former Olympic champion Liu Xiang is back in form, although he withdrew from the final at the London Diamond League as a precaution.

World champion Jason Richardson broke 13 seconds for the first time this year, but has been regularly defeated by Merritt. Sergey Shubenkov has set a Russian record of 13.09 with more seemingly in the bag.

Form guide

1 Aries Merritt (USA)
2 Liu Xiang (CHN)
3 Jason Richardson (USA)
4 Sergey Shubenkov (RUS)
5 Jeff Porter (USA)
—————————————-

400m hurdles

Entries | Stats | Rankings
After a slow start to the season, Dai Greene found his stride at the Paris Diamond League with a PB of 47.84. He was beaten by two-time world silver medallist Javier Culson, who set a world-leading 47.78. But has the Puerto Rican played his full hand already this season, and is Greene saving something special in the bag for the home crowd?

Angelo Taylor has had a low-key season, but an almost identical one to 2008 when he surprisingly regained the Olympic title he won eight years prior. 2004 Olympic champion Felix Sanchez is always a danger at major championships, while Michael Tinsley will be making his championship debut.

Form guide

1 Dai Greene (GBR)
2 Javier Culson (PUR)
3 Angelo Taylor (USA)
4 Felix Sanchez (DOM)
5 Michael Tinsley (USA)
—————————————-

4x100m relay

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Jamaica has won the past three global titles and broke their own world record at last year’s World Championships. Their team is just as strong this year, making them the favourites over USA.

Trinidad & Tobago have good enough depth to run a fast relay time, but it depends on their passing. France will also be strong, while Germany last week set a national record of 38.02 to put themselves in the mix.

Form guide

1 Jamaica
2 USA
3 Trinidad & Tobago
4 France
5 Germany
—————————————-

4x400m relay

Entries | Stats | Rankings
With a string of global 4x400m golds, it would be a major shock if the USA did not successfully defend their title.

The Bahamas always have good depth and this year is no different. So too do Jamaica, but the home crowd could give Britain an edge. Expect Belgium to be strong too.

Form guide

1 USA
2 Bahamas
3 Great Britain & NI
4 Jamaica
5 Belgium
—————————————-

» All of the above are bite-sized versions of AW‘s Olympic Games preview. For the full version – including rankings, features, stats and predictions – get the latest copy of Athletics Weekly, out now.

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Reigning champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce produced the fastest 100m clocking of her life with a 10.70 national record at the Jamaican Trials. Although she hasn’t had the most consistent season, if she gets it right in London she will be almost unbeatable.

World champion Carmelita Jeter started the season well and won the US Trials, but she was beaten in London by Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare. The long jump specialist seems to be rounding into form at the right time, also winning in Monaco with a 10.96 PB. World bronze medallist and Tianna Madison – another former long jumper – have both been consistent among the world’s best this year.

Form guide

1 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
2 Carmelita Jeter (USA)
3 Blessing Okagbare (NGR)
4 Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI)
5 Tianna Madison (USA)
—————————————-

200m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Allyson Felix has won three world 200m titles, but Olympic gold is one that has so far eluded her over the distance. She is in supreme form this year though and went to fourth on the world all-time list with 21.69. Along with Felix, Carmelita Jeter and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are set to double up and could both win medals in the 200m.

Two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown started the season in solid form but was only third at the Jamaican Trials and was beaten in Lucerne by Charonda Williams, an American who didn’t even make the US Trials final.

Form guide

1 Allyson Felix (USA)
2 Carmelita Jeter (USA)
3 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
4 Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
5 Murielle Ahoure (CIV)
—————————————-

400m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Sanya Richards-Ross is out to win the elusive Olympic 400m title and seems more than capable, but her CV is peppered with disappointments at major championships. Should she falter again, defending champion Christine Ohuruogu is one of several athletes who will be ready to pounce, having produced her best ever early-season form this year.

World champion Amantle Montsho will also be strong, along with world leader Antonina Krivoshapka and leading sub-50 Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills.

Form guide

1 Sanya Richards-Ross (USA)
2 Christine Ohuruogu (GBR)
3 Amantle Montsho (BOT)
4 Antonina Krivoshapka (RUS)
5 Novlene Williams-Mills (JAM)
—————————————-

100m hurdles

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Excluding a DNF from last year, Sally Pearson suffered her first defeat in the 100m hurdles for two years when she was beaten by USA’s Kellie Wells at the London Diamond League. But that could be just the motivation the world champion needs ahead of the Games.

Reigning Olympic champion Dawn Harper won the highly-competitive US Trials, while 2009 world champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton is back in form. Also keep an eye out for Turkey’s Nevin Yanit, the dark horse of the competition who could get very close to the medals.

Form guide

1 Sally Pearson (AUS)
2 Kellie Wells (USA)
3 Dawn Harper (USA)
4 Brigitte Foster-Hylton (JAM)
5 Nevin Yanit (TUR)
—————————————-

400m hurdles

Entries | Stats | Rankings
The most open of all the women’s sprinting events, this will feature the reigning Olympic champion, the current world champion and the past two European championships, but none of them have set themselves apart this season. Russia’s Natalya Antyukh leads the world with 53.40 and is a sub-53 runner at best.

Defending champion Melaine Walker has gone sub-53 at the past three global championships, so don’t be fooled by her 54.44 season’s best. Perri Shakes-Drayton looked every bit the potential medallist with her decisive 53.77 victory over a loaded field in London. World champion LaShinda Demus can never be counted out, while European champion Irina Davydova has been consistent.

Form guide

1 Natalya Antyukh (RUS)
2 Melaine Walker (JAM)
3 Perri Shakes-Drayton (GBR)
4 LaShinda Demus (USA)
5 Irina Davydova (RUS)
—————————————-

4x100m relay

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Jamaica fielded a full-strength team at last year’s World Championships and set a national record of 41.70, but it was still not enough to defeat the USA.

Despite disappointment at the Europeans, Ukraine could well be a danger. Germany won the recent European title, while Russia won’t want to surrender their Olympic title without a fight.

Form guide

1 USA
2 Jamaica
3 Ukraine
4 Russia
5 Germany
—————————————-

4x400m relay

Entries | Stats | Rankings
This often comes down to a three-way battle between USA, Russia and Jamaica – and this year is no different. Russia boast the best aggregate times, but USA always seem to have the edge on the day.

Jamaica aren’t as strong as they usually are and could be vulnerable to an attack from host nation Great Britain, the world indoor champions.

Form guide

1 USA
2 Russia
3 Jamaica
4 Great Britain & NI
5 Ukraine
—————————————-

» All of the above are bite-sized versions of AW‘s Olympic Games preview. For the full version – including rankings, features, stats and predictions – get the latest copy of Athletics Weekly, out now.

Entries | Stats | Rankings
World record-holder David Rudisha is head and shoulders above his rivals and is the biggest favourite of any track event in London. Teenager Nijel Amos is the new find of the season, clocking 1:43.11 and winning the world junior title.

Fellow young Africans Timothy Kitum and Mohamed Aman – the men who ended Rudisha’s winning streak last year – will also be in contention, but Poland’s Adam Kszczot will also be a danger.

Form guide

1 David Rudisha (KEN)
2 Nijel Amos (BOT)
3 Mohamed Aman (ETH)
4 Adam Kszczot (POL)
5 Timothy Kitum (KEN)
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1500m

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World and Olympic champion is the man to beat after going to fifth on the world all-time list with 3:28.88. He will be joined on the Kenyan team by two fellow sub-3:30 men, Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chepseba, who have both been consistent on the circuit this year.

If anyone is capable of preventing a Kenyan sweep of the medals, it’s Nick Willis who recently broke his own New Zealand record with 3:30.35. But also young out for Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibout, who this year has run 3:30.31 – the second-fastest time in history by a teenager.

Form guide

1 Asbel Kiprop (KEN)
2 Silas Kiplagat (KEN)
3 Nick Willis (KEN)
4 Nixon Chepseba (KEN)
5 Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI)
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5000m

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Perhaps the most competitive of all the men’s distance events, expect this one to come down to the wire. Mo Farah is the world champion, but he wasn’t present at the Paris Diamond League which witnessed the greatest depth 5000m race of all-time. Dejen Gebremeskel came out on top there, and if he can win a race like that – where six men went sub-12:50 and eleven sub-13 – he is clearly a huge threat.

His young team-mate Hagos Gebrhiwet has come to the fore this year, while Isiah Koech has continued his progress. And never rule out veteran Bernard Lagat, who won world silver last year.

Form guide

1 Dejen Gebremeskel (ETH)
2 Mo Farah (GBR)
3 Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH)
4 Isiah Koech (KEN)
5 Bernard Lagat (USA)
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10,000m

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World 5000m champion Mo Farah is prioritising this event in London as it comes up first on the schedule and he is keen to make amends after taking silver in Daegu last year. Kenenisa Bekele is back to defend his title, but isn’t the dominant athlete he once was. Brother Tariku Bekele is the next-best Ethiopian.

Kenya, as ever, will have a strong presence. Top two in their trial race were world leader Wilson Kiprop and 2009 world bronze medallist Moses Masai.

Form guide

1 Mo Farah (GBR)
2 Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)
3 Wilson Kiprop (KEN)
4 Tariku Bekele (ETH)
5 Moses Masai (KEN)
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Marathon

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Such is the depth of Kenyan marathon running, they could afford to leave world record-holder Patrick Makau at home. Wilson Kipsang has already won in London earlier this year and is tipped to do so again. Team-mate Abel Kirui has won back-to-back world titles and will be keen to win a third global gold.

Emmanuel Mutai completes the team, while the Ethiopian team includes world leader Ayele Abshero and Getu Feleke.

Form guide

1 Wilson Kipsang (KEN)
2 Abel Kirui (KEN)
3 Ayele Abshero (ETH)
4 Emmanuel Mutai (KEN)
5 Getu Feleke (ETH)
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3000m steeplechase

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In the absence of the world’s top steeplechaser Paul Kipsiele Koech – who struggles to run at altitude and missed out at the national trials – Kenya will be represented by defending champion Brimin Kipruto, two-time world champion Ezekiel Kemboi and former world youth champion Abel Mutai.

A Kenyan sweep is a strong possibility, but Ethiopia’s Roba Gari and recent US record-breaker Evan Jager will be strong opponents.

Form guide

1 Brimin Kipruto (KEN)
2 Abel Mutai (KEN)
3 Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN)
4 Raba Gari (ETH)
5 Evan Jager (USA)
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20km walk

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Valeriy Borchin has won the past three global titles, but showed his vulnerability at this year’s World Cup where he finished a distant tenth. Wang Zhen was the winner there and is the fastest of the entrants – could he become China’s first Olympic race walking champion?

Borchin’s team-mates Andrey Krivov and Vladimir Kanaykin made the podium at the World Cup, while Erick Barrondo will be attempting to win Guatemala’s first Olympic medal in any sport.

Form guide

1 Wang Zhen (CHN)
2 Valeriy Borchin (RUS)
3 Andrey Krivov (RUS)
4 Vladimir Kanaykin (RUS)
5 Erick Barrondo (GUA)
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50km walk

Entries | Stats | Rankings
After failing to finish at his past two championship appearances, two-time world champion Sergey Kirdyapkin is back in form and leads the world rankings with his 3:38:08 victory at the World Cup. There he just about managed to hold off team-mate Igor Yerokhin, who joins him on the team for London.

Other contenders include Australia’s Jared Tallent and defending champion Alex Schwazer of Italy, who is focusing on the longer event despite having the world-leading time for 20km.

Form guide

1 Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS)
2 Igor Yerokhin (RUS)
3 Alex Schwazer (ITA)
4 Jared Tallent (AUS)
5 Yohann Diniz (FRA)
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» All of the above are bite-sized versions of AW‘s Olympic Games preview. For the full version – including rankings, features, stats and predictions – get the latest copy of Athletics Weekly, out now.

Entries | Stats | Rankings
After three low-key years following her Beijing 2008 triumph, Pamela Jelimo is back in form. She won the World Indoors and leads the world rankings with 1:56.76. The only blemish on her record this summer is a defeat to Ethiopian youngster Fantu Magiso, who will be a strong threat but hasn’t competed since early June.

World champion Mariya Savinova leads the Russian charge, alongside team-mate Yelena Arzhakova who recently won the European title. If Alysia Montano doesn’t go off too fast, she could get among the medals.

Form guide

1 Pamela Jelimo (KEN)
2 Mariya Savinova (RUS)
3 Fantu Magiso (ETH)
4 Yelena Arzhakova (RUS)
5 Alysia Montano (USA)
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1500m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
One year after being in the doldrums, this event is now one of the highest-quality in the world with 12 women having run sub-four minutes this year. Following world leader Mariem Alaoui Selsouli’s positive drugs test, Ethiopia’s Abeba Aregawi is the fastest of the entrants with her 3:56.54. European champion Asli Cakir defeated her in Paris, but a tactical race may suit Aregawi better.

Russia has an embarrassment of riches in this event, with national champion Yekaterina Kostetskaya and former world champion Tatyana Tomashova – back from a drugs ban – leading the charge. After a superb start to the year, Genzebe Dibaba has lost her momentum somewhat.

Form guide

1 Abeba Aregawi (ETH)
2 Asli Cakir (TUR)
3 Yekaterina Kostetskaya (RUS)
4 Genzebe Dibaba (ETH)
5 Tatyana Tomashova (RUS)
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5000m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
World record-holder Tirunesh Dibaba is currently only named as a reserve, but the Ethiopian federation could simply be playing mind games and may well draft her into the team after the 10,000m. If she is on the start line, she looks to be the only woman capable of beating double world champion Vivian Cheruiyot.

Meseret Defar came close to beating Cheruiyot in Rome this year, but the Ethiopian has disappointed at the past two World Championships. Viola Kibiwot and Sally Kipyego will ensure a strong Kenyan presence.

Form guide

1 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH)*
2 Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN)
3 Meseret Defar (ETH)
4 Viola Kibiwot (KEN)
5 Sally Kipyego (KEN)

* currently named as a reserve, but possibility of running
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10,000m

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Back in form after a couple of years of injury, Tirunesh Dibaba is favoured to successfully defend her Olympic 10,000m and could even do so in the 5000m if given a last-minute spot. Vivan Cheruiyot will be looking to match her two golds from last year’s World Championships.

World silver medallist Sally Kipyego appears a better bet for a medal than Dibaba’s Ethiopian team-mates – Belaynesh Oljira and Worknesh Kidane.

Form guide

1 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH)
2 Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN)
3 Sally Kipyego (KEN)
4 Belaynesh Oljira (ETH)
5 Worknesh Kidane (ETH)
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Marathon

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Expect this to be an all Kenyan-vs-Ethiopian affair. The Kenyan team features African record-holder Mary Keitany and the top two from the World Championships – Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo.

But the Ethiopian team is also strong with three sub-2:20 athletes, including Rotterdam winner Tiki Gelana and Dubai champion Aselefech Mergia.

Form guide

1 Mary Keitany (KEN)
2 Edna Kiplagat (KEN)
3 Tiki Gelana (ETH)
4 Priscah Jeptoo (KEN)
5 Aselefech Mergia (ETH)
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3000m steeplechase

Entries | Stats | Rankings
World champion Yuliya Zaripova has raced over the barriers just once this year, but her solo 9:09.99 is more impressive than the faster times achieved by some of her opponents this year in pace-made races. The Russian has also smashed her 1500m PB with 4:01.70, so is clearly in form.

Team-mate and world record-holder Gulnara Galkina is back in action, but might not be quick enough to hang with the likes of world leader Milcah Chemos and world silver medallist Habiba Boudraa.

Form guide

1 Yuliya Zaripova (RUS)
2 Milcah Chemos (KEN)
3 Habiba Boudraa (TUN)
4 Sofia Assefa (ETH)
5 Gulnara Galkina (RUS)
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20km walk

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Olga Kaniskina’s reign is under serious threat. The Russian is undefeated at major championships since 2007, but she was beaten by young team-mate Yelena Lashmanova at this year’s World Cup. London will be just the third 20km race Lashmanova has ever contested, and these Games could propel her into the forefront of race walking.

Liu Hong has been a consistent championship performer in recent years, as has Anisya Kirdyapkina.

Form guide

1 Yelena Lashmanova (RUS)
2 Olga Kaniskina (RUS)
3 Liu Hong (CHN)
4 Anisya Kirdyapkina (RUS)
5 Liu Xiuzhi (CHN)
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» All of the above are bite-sized versions of AW‘s Olympic Games preview. For the full version – including rankings, features, stats and predictions – get the latest copy of Athletics Weekly, out now.

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Having had the vast majority of his success come indoors, this year Ivan Ukhov seems to have finally timed his peak for the outdoor season. He leads the world with 2.39m and also has a 2.37m leap to his name. World champion Jesse Williams is only slightly down on his form from last year, while European champion Robbie Grabarz is close behind and has finished no lower than second in all of his competitions this year.

The Russian Championships saw incredible depth, as defending Olympic champion Andrey Silnov and 2010 European champion Aleksandr Shustov booked their places on the team.

Form guide

1 Ivan Ukhov (RUS)
2 Jesse Williams (USA)
3 Robbie Grabarz (GBR)
4 Andrey Silnov (RUS)
5 Aleksandr Shustov (RUS)
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Pole vault

Entries | Stats | Rankings
One of the few events where the world rankings mirror the form guide. Renaud Lavillenie is a great championship performer and looks set to take his first global outdoor title. Bjorn Otto is in the form of his life at the age of 34 and defeated Lavillenie at the London Diamond League.

Malte Mohr has set a 5.91m PB this year, while Brad Walker remains a threat five years after winning the world title. In his final competition before the Games, Steve Lewis set a British record of 5.82m and beat all the main Olympic contenders in the process.

Form guide

1 Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)
2 Bjorn Otto (GER)
3 Malte Mohr (GER)
4 Brad Walker (USA)
5 Steve Lewis (GBR)
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Long jump

Entries | Stats | Rankings
One of the most open of all the events this year. Mitchell Watt has not been at his best, but he might still be good enough to win, such is the current global standard. The Australian – who is an 8.54m man at best – has won four of his five competitions this year and has been consistent around the 8.20m level.

Greg Rutherford shares the world lead with Russian junior Sergey Morgunov at 8.35m, but the Briton’s last couple of competitions have not gone to plan. European champion Sebastian Bayer and world indoor triple jump champion Will Claye should also be in contention.

Form guide

1 Mitchell Watt (AUS)
2 Sebastian Bayer (GER)
3 Will Claye (USA)
4 Greg Rutherford (GBR)
5 Irving Saladino (PAN)
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Triple jump

Entries | Stats | Rankings
No one apart from the man himself knows exactly what form Phillips Idowu is in. But the latest reports appear optimistic that he will make it to the start line – in which case he will still be a threat. Whether he will be in good enough shape to beat the top two Americans, however, is another matter entirely.

Christian Taylor and Will Claye are the world champions outdoors and indoors respectively, making them the favourites. Lyukman Adams of Russia and Fabrizio Donato have this year jumped the kind of distances that medals could be won with.

Form guide

1 Christian Taylor (USA)
2 Will Claye (USA)
3 Phillips Idowu (GBR)
4 Lyukman Adams (RUS)
5 Fabrizio Donato (ITA)
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Shot

Entries | Stats | Rankings
All four of David Storl’s best throws have come at major championships. He surprised his older and more experienced rivals at last year’s World Championships, but a gold this year would be less of a shock. USA will be strong – led by Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell – but it’s very rare that all the Americans will perform at their best.

Defending champion Tomasz Majewski is always a threat, as is Dylan Armstrong who will be fired up after narrowly missing a medal in Beijing.

Form guide

1 David Storl (GER)
2 Reese Hoffa (USA)
3 Christian Cantwell (USA)
4 Tomasz Majewski (POL)
5 Dylan Armstrong (CAN)
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Discus

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Having been undefeated for two years, Robert Harting is one of the heavy favourites of the London 2012 Games. He has twice broken 70 metres this year and won the European title in Helsinki. If anyone is likely to challenge him, it could be two-time Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna. The veteran has this year thrown 70.28m – a world age-40 best.

Behind these two, it’s quite open. Martin Wierig threw 68.33m just last week, but has been quite erratic. Lawrence Okoye is more consistent than last year but still has the odd wobble. Defending champion Gerd Kanter has bags of experience, while Ehsan Hadadi has been in solid form.

Form guide

1 Robert Harting (GER)
2 Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)
3 Gerd Kanter (EST)
4 Ehsan Hadadi (IRI)
5 Lawrence Okoye (GBR)
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Hammer

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Ivan Tikhon has competed just once this year, but his 82.81m was the longest throw in the world for four years. Hungary’s Krisztian Pars, however, is close behind with his 82.28m, backed up by a string of 80-metre throws. Since 2005 he has steadily climbed up the ranks with every major championships, culminating with European gold this year.

His one loss this season was to young Pole Pawel Fajdek, who has found consistency at the 80-metre mark. Defending champion Koji Murofushi has only competed once this year, but he had a similar build-up to last year’s World Championships before coming away with gold.

Form guide

1 Krisztián Pars (HUN)
2 Ivan Tikhon (BLR)
3 Pawel Fajdek (POL)
4 Koji Murofushi (JPN)
5 Kirill Ikonnikov (RUS)
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Javelin

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Another difficult-to-predict event with many of the big guns – notably two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen – lacking form. Viteszlav Vesely is the closest to being a favourite, leading the world with 88.11m and winning the European title.

Many of the other world’s top throwers have lacked consistency, but Ukraine’s Oleksandr Pyatnytsya has been relatively solid. Guillermo Martinez could be the dark horse – he competes lightly on the circuit, but has made the podium at the past two World Championships.

Form guide

1 Viteszlav Vesely (CZE)
2 Oleksandr Pyatnytsya (UKR)
3 Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR)
4 Guillermo Martinez (CUB)
5 Tero Pitkamaki (FIN)
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Decathlon

Entries | Stats | Rankings
Ashton Eaton is the only track and field athlete to have broken a world record this year, and as such he is a huge favourite to win in London. His 9039 world record score gives him a lead of almost 500 points on the world rankings.

Two-time world champion Trey Hardee will once again be a medal contender, but he will be pushed all the way by European champion Pascal Behrenbruch of Germany. Leonel Suarez is always a danger, while Belgian record-holder Hans Van Alphen is in the form of his life.

Form guide

1 Ashton Eaton (USA)
2 Pascal Behrenbruch (GER)
3 Trey Hardee (USA)
4 Hans Van Alphen (BEL)
5 Leonel Suarez (CUB)

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» All of the above are bite-sized versions of AW‘s Olympic Games preview. For the full version – including rankings, features, stats and predictions – get the latest copy of Athletics Weekly, out now.