Five Takeaways from day 5
Medal ceremonies are boring. Well, I have always found them boring. In Birmingham, they are not in the stadium but in a plaza. A plaza for the uninitiated is a patch of wasteland just outside the stadium precinct – with a podium built on it. This week, the medal ceremonies are broadcast on the stadium’s big screen. When Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith received their medals, it was the biggest cheer of the night. Perhaps they are not so boring after all.
One of the joys of a championship is the people you bump into, from John Regis presenting medals to Roger Black watching his daughter run. Then there was Christine Ohuruogu (Double world and Olympic gold medalist) and an old friend who is working with younger GB athletes.
As a supreme example of this, I am sitting next to Heike Drechsler this week, who won three medals at the Seoul Olympics: 100, 200, and long jump.
Mondo in the house! It was the qualifying competition for the Pole Vault. Mondo only vaulted once, clearing 5.60, but it was enough for him to progress and enough for the morning crowd to have seen a legend. I could have written this paragraph about the privilege of watching Karsten Warholm at his best. Another “I was there” moment.
Relays are always exciting. We have already had the 4×400 mixed, and the sprint relays are coming. Today there were men’s and women’s 4×400, two semis of each. GB has a Good reputation in relays and will expect to medal in every relay. It is a great spectator sport, with tactics as important as pure speed. I remember Martyn Rooney, a better relay runner than individual perhaps, telling me on the last leg he always wanted to start the last lap second, not first. To be the hunter, not the hunted.
What a privilege to be in the house for the race of the week, the women’s 800, and see Audrey Werro win – see separate post
