Storming finish fails to mask Britain’s failings
From David Powell, Athletics Correspondent, in Gothenburg
WHEN Tim Benjamin came flying down the home straight on the last leg of the 4 x 400 metres to pass Poland and take the runners-up spot for Great Britain in the last event of the European Championships here yesterday, he sealed the team’s fifth medal of the final session.
For one afternoon, at least, British athletics had a smile back on its face.
Benjamin’s spirited effort was typical of the collective fight shown by those in Britain vests as the championships drew towards a close, but it was too little too late. Dave Collins, the national performance director, who might have chosen to answer critics of the team by saying that the medal count exceeded his prediction, made no attempt at disguise.
“That cannot be satisfactory,” Collins said. “We need to move on and this is a first step.”
Collins had challenged his team to win ten medals and they finished with 11. But only one was gold and that was from a relay.
Victory by the men’s 4 x 100 metres squad was a thin spread of icing on a sub-standard cake. It was the least successful performance by a Britain team at a European Championships since 1978 but, given that the worst since 1966 had been expected, that was something of a bonus. However, never before have Britain finished as low as tenth in the medals standings, as they did here.
In 1978, Britain could point to the championships being a challenge too soon, coming within three weeks of the Commonwealth Games.
If there was a comfort here, though, it was in how the younger members of the team found their feet at senior championship level. Of the eight individual medal winners, seven should still be on the scene come the 2012 London Olympics.
Mo Farah’s silver medal in the 5,000 metres yesterday, and Sam Ellis’s bronze at 800 metres, maintained the theme of raw British promise growing into maturity that had been running during the week. Farah is 23, and will be 29, the age at which Dave Moorcroft set the world record in 1982, at the London Olympics. Ellis will be 30, still a competitive age for two laps.
Nathan Douglas, 23, won silver in the triple jump and Andy Turner, 25, bronze in the 110 metres hurdles bronze on Saturday. These followed silver by Greg Rutherford, 19, in the long jump, and bronzes from Rhys Williams, at 400 metres hurdles, and Becky Lyne, at 800 metres. Only 30-year-old Marlon Devonish, third in the 200 metres here, is likely to have retired by 2012.
While recognising that results needed to improve quickly, Collins praised the commitment of the team. “What matters more than the medals is the process, the way the guys have competed,” Collins said. “They have shown a commitment, a hunger, and a willingness to move on.”
Some, perhaps, but by no means all. Steve Cram, the former mile world recordholder, now a television commentator, enjoyed the last day but saw it for what it was. “It does not gloss over the underlying factor that it was a difficult championshps,” Cram said. “Three of the medals were relay medals and I always try and set aside the relays because, essentially, it is an individual sport.
“There were no individual gold medals, which is an issue. I counted 55 individuals who did not make the final, or the top eight, and that is a huge number in a team of 70-odd. That is more worrying than not winning medals. If you are not winning medals you at least want to be putting people in the finals.”
Farah and Ellis apart, Britain’s other medals came in relays. Robert Tobin, Williams, Graham Hedman and Benjamin were not quite a match for France in the 4 x 400 metres, the French bringing to an end 20 years of British gold medal possession in the event. Britain had won gold at the previous five European Championships, beginning in 1986.
Before Dwain Chambers, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis took the men’s 4 x 100 metres gold, the Britain women’s team won unexpected silver. Anyika Onuora, Emma Ania, Emily Freeman and Joice Maduaka combined to record 43.51sec behind Russia, who recorded 42.71, with Belarus third in 43.61.