World Athletics Championship: Relay golds should not paper over cracks - Michael Johnson
GETTY Great Britain won gold for the first time in the 4x100m relay
A rush of five medals in the final 24 hours – including a thrilling sprint relay victory by the men – had another sell-out crowd and team management buzzing. But for Johnson and Thompson – arguably two of the greatest athletes ever to set foot in a stadium – there was more cause for concern. Four of the final tally of six medals came thanks to a relays cleansweep and the two individual ones were supplied by Sir Mo Farah, whose championship career on the track is now over. “GB performance at worlds: 4 thrilling relay medals. Only 1 individual medalist. Farah. He’s retiring. £27m investment. I’d be concerned,” tweeted American Johnson, the former Olympic and world and Olympic 200m and 400 champion. Thompson, Britain’s decathlon legend, warned that the relay triumphs should not paper over the cracks of the all-round performance, suggesting they do not carry the same worth as individual success.
GETTY Michael Johnson was part of the BBC media team for the World Athletics Championships this year
GB performance at worlds: 4 thrilling relay medals. Only 1 individual medalist Michael Johnson
He tweeted: “My mate Steve cram has just said relay medals are worth the same as individual? Really? #howthingshavechanged.” Yet for British athletics’ performance director Neil Black, the last 24 hours at the London Stadium were on a par with Super Saturday when Britain struck three golds at the Olympic Games of 2012. “It’s certainly the greatest that I can imagine, that I have ever experienced,” said Black, charged with turning that £27m of public money into medals in the run-up to Tokyo 2020. “We were in the warm-up area watching the last couple of events on Saturday evening and the whole place just erupted.
Usain Bolt enjoys lap of honour after receiving London 2012 track gift Sun, August 13, 2017 Usain Bolt is presented with a framed piece of the London 2012 Olympic running track before embarking on a lap of honour after the final day of the World Athletics Championships Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 8 Usain Bolt is gifted a piece of the London 2012 Olympic running track
"People were leaping onto the high jump mat, hugging, spinning around. “We have made a massive investment in the relay programme and boldly said we believe we can win medals in all four relays. We probably didn’t think it was going to happen as quickly as this. But we are not surprised.” Black will have been a relieved man having reached the minimum of the six-eight medal target he was set by UK Sport to keep the money coming. Going into the penultimate day, the knives were being sharpened for the former physio with Farah’s 10,000m gold Britain’s only presence on the medal table. Black said: “Of course you are nervous, you are apprehensive. And you are aware of people’s views. “People say and do what they do. I haven’t read or looked at anything – that’s my style and way of protecting myself. We’ll carry on performing and that’s where the motivation comes from.
“The relays have come up trumps. If you could see and feel the blood, sweat and tears that go into them, they are certainly not cheap medals. We don’t look at it that way at all. “I understand that people will go, who is going to replace Mo and Greg (Rutherford) and Jess (Ennis-Hill)? “We are looking to replace them. We are looking to produce a team of athletes who are capable of performing at this level. “I think you have seen the beginnings of those. We have three years to Tokyo, our primary aim. “We all can see that there is a group of young people who have stepped up, gone so close and are ready to step up in the future.
GETTY Mo Farah finished his track career with a silver medal in the 5,000m