by Stuart Weir
The good, the bad, and the other
Good
Stellar performances: Femke Bol, Karsten Warholm, Keely Hodgkinson, Laura Muir, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen bring real world class performances to the event.
The officials: unintrusive. No races spoiled by overzealous DQs
The poignant and fitting acknowledgment of the Turkish earthquake at the opening press conference.
EA media team: who worked tirelessly – replying to messages past midnight to help journalists achieve their goals
Most colorful award: Roberta Bruni’s tape
The excellent commentary by Phil Minshull and Hannah England. Hannah, who also moderated the press conference, looks as comfortable in her announcing role as she did on the track.
Shout out to the flexible transport manager who changed the timing of the media bus to suit the time of the last race.
Shout out 2: Suzana and flash quotes team, quick, accurate, and contentful.
Most sporting moment: Malaika Mihambo hugging Jazmin Sawyers when Jazmin jumped 7 meters, even though it meant that Malaika would probably not then get a medal.
Smooth operators: the team which cleared the starting blocks during 400m races with about 12 seconds to accomplish the task. Apparently, they do F1 tire changes in their spare time!
Good to see Weir getting a gold medal – not me, but Zane Weir in the shot put
Marti – a classy mascot
Bad
Worst headline: “Turkish delight” to describe Turkey’s gold medal. (To be clear, I am not objecting to this dreadful pun. Just annoyed they used it before I did! But to quote Oscar Wilde’s reply to the man who said to him, “I wish I had said that”. Wilde’s reply, “You will!”)
Attendance: disappointing overall. Without spectating athletes, VIPs, and team officials, the arena would have been empty in the mornings.
Whoever decided that the media restaurant would not start serving dinner until after the evening program of athletics had begun! I mean, who wants to watch the best athletes in the world – even if it is your job – if you can eat dinner instead?
The media wifi, which was always going to be stronger the next day but never was. The worst I have ever experienced.
Too many and too long speeches at the opening press conference, which, in any case, no one could hear as the sound system did not work.
The worst moment of the championship was seeing Enrique Llopis hit a hurdle, fall heavily, and knock himself out. Shout out to the quick reaction of the medal team.
Other
Hearing stories of Turkish athletes who had lost friends and relatives in the earthquake put everything in perspective.
The athlete living up to his name: Alexander Doom – he withdrew! (he did made it in the relay, however)
Best sister act: the Kambundjis, a medal each.
Brotherhood: the Belgium men’s relay team took gold with two Borlees
