http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/4837860.stm
By Sarah Holt
BBC Sport in Melbourne
BBC athletics commentator Steve Cram insists there’s no “quick fix” for Britain’s ailing men’s sprinters.
Cram says the athletes have themselves to blame for a poor Commonwealth Games which led to no Brit making the 200m final for the first time since 1966.
But he says selectors are also at fault for failing to pick young talent.
“The danger is we think there’s a quick fix for British sprinting, but there isn’t. It’s a combination of poor selection and poor performance.”
Lone 100m finalist Marlon Devonish went out in the 200m semis, while Darren Campbell was disqualified in the heats, as was Mark Lewis-Francis in the 100m.
It was a new low for the England track team - compounded when the 100m relay team went out in Friday’s heats due to a terrible a handover between Devonish and Lewis-Francis.
“Campbell was picked on what he has done in the past and that was a wrong decision,” said Cram, who questioned the selection policy back in January.
"Chris Lambert was picked even though he was injured, also a wrong decision.
"Devonish justified his selection but England gave themselves a one-in-three chance and that wasn’t very clever.
“Jason Gardener won the Commonwealth 100m trials but it was farcical having the trials in July - nine months before the Games.”
Gardener withdrew from the Games with a back injury after finishing fifth in his second-round heat.
Until Melbourne, a British athlete had claimed at least one 200m medal in each of the last seven Games.
Devonish himself conceded that the 40-year low was somewhat staggering.
“(In 1966) it was over 220 yards, it was not even in metres. It just makes it sink in a bit more how rubbish it is,” admitted Devonish, who was last in the 100m final.
Five-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson said British sprinting “is at a crossroads” after failing to win a medal at a major championships missing the dominant Americans.
“When you can’t get into the final of a Commonwealth Games what does it say about your chances at the Olympics or World Championships?”
Indeed, at first glance it seems British sprinting has not moved on since the Athens Olympics or last year’s World Championships, where Britain failed to get a single representative in the finals of the 100m or 200m.
But the truth is behind the established crop of Gardener, Devonish, Campbell, Lambert and Lewis-Francis, an exciting crop of British sprinters are waiting in the wings.
Only one of the new breed, European junior 100m silver medallist Simeon Williamson, has been brought to the Games as part of the relay team.
While Craig Pickering preferred to focus on his studies, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who won an unprecedented 100m-200m double at the 2005 World Youth Championships, and European junior 100m bronze medallist Alex Nelson were left at home.
Cram believes it was a crucial mistake not allowing that potential talent a chance to test their mettle in the less-pressurised Commonwealth arena.
“The selectors should have sat down in September and said ‘who are the kids who will be hunting for medals in three of four years time?’” he said.
"They could have picked Aikines-Aryeetey, Pickering, Nelson or Williamson to name a few.
"Achievers like Sally Gunnell, Jonathan Edwards, Seb Coe were all dropped into major events as teenagers and they all came through to be champions.
“With 2012 coming up we have to be smarter about who we are bringing to major events now and we need to make those changes as soon as possible.”
Lewis-Francis blossomed as a junior, winning the world junior 100m crown, but he has failed to win an individual outdoor title in five years as a senior.
The 23-year-old’s inability to convert that potential has been blamed on his approach to the sport - underlined by his disqualification for false-starting in the 100m semis, where one might expect someone of his experience to have known better.
Scotland’s former Olympic 100m champion Alan Wells believes that is where some of the problems in British sprinting are rooted.
“I look at the English sprinters and they act like they’ve already made it,” the four-time Commonwealth gold medallist said.
“In my mind they’ve become like footballers - they are held up on pedestals but they need to achieve something first.”
Indeed, a member of the existing England Commonwealth Games team has even criticised the athletes attitude.
Cyclist Rob Hayles said last week that the athletes’ egos were so big they needed “a village of their own”.
“They’ve got some good athletes but when you consider how big their team is, they don’t get that many medals.”
But Cram says there are many wider structural and social issues to blame.
"Issues like coaching, schools, talent identification, obesity and the standard of competition are all factors in this malaise.
"But we have to accept to win a sprint medal we need a damn good runner and we haven’t got anyone there just yet. Once we find someone good enough we have to make sure they have everything they need. But then it is up to them.
“They must drive their own success and there’s no magic system that will make that happen.”