Never mind the inquest in rowing. After a third night of action inside the Olympic Stadium, senior figures in athletics are starting to wonder where a medal of any colour might come from for the British at these Games.
There is still some cause for optimism, not least in the form of some fine middle-distance talent and possible relay success if Dina Asher-Smith can get herself fit and the men’s sprinters perform with rather more composure than they displayed here last night.
The space vacated by Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m has been occupied by madness, with gold last night going to an Italian who broke ten seconds in the event for the first time in May. To a list that includes Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Bolt, add Marcell Jacobs, a man who calls himself the “crazy long jumper” and now has possession of a European record as well as perhaps the most coveted title in Olympic sport.
For the British, it amounted to an opportunity squandered. The best sprinters on the planet either were not here or were out of sorts. Trayvon Bromell, the world’s fastest man this season with 9.77sec, went out in the semi-finals after running 10 flat. But Reece Prescod was disqualified in his semi-final for a false start and Zharnel Hughes, having won his semi in a promising 9.98, repeated his compatriot’s mistake in the final.
Hughes, 26, blamed cramp in his calf afterwards but he committed the same error in the British Olympic trials in Manchester in June.
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It compounded an already miserable three days for the British team. Yes, there has been some cruel luck. Asher-Smith, 25, came here as the world 200m champion but a hamstring injury she suffered in the trials has destroyed her Olympic dream. There are now fears that Katarina Johnson-Thompson, 28, will endure similar heartache in the heptathlon, having had her build-up severely disrupted by a serious achilles problem.
But the view among some senior officials is that British Athletics has brought too big a team — 75 athletes when perhaps it should have been nearer 60. The sight of Team GB struggling at the back of the field is becoming an all-too-familiar sight, not least in the distance-running events, in which British athletes have struggled in the torturous Tokyo temperatures. In the discus, Lawrence Okoye failed to even record a distance.
Some have missed out after performing relatively well. Daniel Rowden and Elliot Giles went close to making the 800m final and Rowden, while he was tactically poor, did appear to be impeded by Clayton Murphy of the US. British Athletics made a protest but it was dismissed by officials. Even so Rowden, 23, ran his fastest time of the season.
But the outlook is bleak unless Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie or Alex Bell shine in tomorrow’s women’s 800m final, or Laura Muir and the British men can excel over 1,500m. Holly Bradshaw has an outside chance in the pole vault.
Fortunes quickly need to change, or the fortune that has been spent on this team in lottery funding — more than £23 million — could soon come under serious scrutiny.
