Certainly the medal table seems to be what GB and others are all about, but isn't that why the Russian State was sponsoring doping and tampering with samples etc., isn't that why Chinese swimmers bulked up and started breaking records by huge amounts and their distance runners started winning by half a lap, isn't that why all these years later women can't sprint like Flo Jo, or match Marita Koch's 400 metre times? Isn't that why British athletics turned a blind eye to Mo Farah going out to be with Salazar? Isn't her past association with Salazar the unmentionable truth about Sifan Hassan's assault on three gold medals? Of course it's good that we do well in a multiplicity of sports, but Mo Farah has been disguising our slight decline in athletics for a few years now, our cyclists now are only winning gold in the less glamorous events and our rowers have suffered a massive fall from East German led grace. Achievements are cyclical, maybe we'll build up again in all these sports. Swimming will be the interesting one, can we ever find a new Adam Peaty or a Duncan Scott and how likely are we to come up with a new gay, knitting diver who pikes, twists and purls for fun?
The only male 400 metre runner we have who could beat Warholm if he hurdled and our guy ran on the flat spends a lot of his time injured and couldn't go to the Olympics, consider that when examining the medal table.
The only male 400 metre runner we have who could beat Warholm if he hurdled and our guy ran on the flat spends a lot of his time injured and couldn't go to the Olympics, consider that when examining the medal table.