My husband listens to Talk Sport radio and they made the point that at the last World Championships in Helsinki 20 years ago, GB won about 10 medals and, at the time of the broadcast, we hadn't won any, despite all the lottery funding and everything that has happened since then. Why is this, I wonder? It begs the question, is lottery funding actually helping athletics?

Another question. Ethiopia came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 5000 metres yesterday and there were quite a few Ethiopian supporters in the crowd. Now, I doubt that they would have been able to afford to travel to Helsinki to support their compatriots, so I can only assume that their government paid for them to go. Where did the money from for that and how can they justify that cost?

Re the first question Patsy I think a lot of the lottery funding went into more obscure sports like sailing, rowing etc. During the last 2 Olympics we won a whole rake of medals from that type of sport and if it wasn't for the lottery funding we definitely would not have won as many.

Re athletics, mmm we have always had one or two top athletes but we never seem to have anyone there to carry one once they are finished. I am thinking along the lines of Daley Thomson, Sally Gunnell, Colin Jackson, Jonathan Edwards etc, no-one has ever came close to them. Yeah, we had Dean Macey and maybe if wasn't injured he may have been a better contender. We just don't seem to have a great athletic team for some reason. I hope now that we are holding the Olympics in 2012 that it will give youngsters that encouragment to push themselves that little bit harder to get that Gold Medal. I appreciate that it does take a whole lot of effort and maybe going out with friends on Friday is a whole lot more appealling than running round the track and eating a staple diet, but we need to find a way to encourage our youngsters regardless of lottery funding.

Re, the Ethopians and the other poorer countries I am not sure if they get some aid from the Athletic committee or not. They don't have a huge team and they only really run the middle distances and the marathon, you don't see any of them doing the field events.

I am thinking along the lines of Daley Thomson


Daley is always worth a mention ... :wub:

http://crdp.ac-bordeaux.fr/decatalogue/donnees/statistiques/decathlon/thmb/thompson-i1.jpg

Daley is always worth a mention ... :wub:

http://crdp.ac-bordeaux.fr/decatalogue/donnees/statistiques/decathlon/thmb/thompson-i1.jpg

Who can forget Daley Thomson? Thanks for the piccie, Dol! I just love everything about him, his personality and his ability to laugh at himself. He was a brilliant athlete, I think it is going to be a long time before Great Britain will have anyone like him again!