I know plenty about Rupp, and have watched him in dozens of races since he was a kid, but any such rumours must have been suppressed over here in the US.
The word you've chosen to ignore is 'traditionally'; that's why I quoted a series of names over the decades: we've consistently done well against our global rivals. Brits are 'naturals' at T&F.
TBF, I haven't seen enough of UK T&F in the last three decades to form a coherent judgment on our current standards. I stand by my statement that the sport is in Brits' blood, and suspect (hope!) that any decrease in level (as you suggest exists) is only temporary.
I'm not suggesting anything it's a hard fact and as such it would be madness to direct funds away from our massive success stories.
Luckily, our cycling team has become so successful and due to links with Sky, it has pretty much become self-sufficient.
It does definitely still rely on some funding from the lottery too, but with Team Sky behind a lot of the riders, they have a backup of sorts.
Indeed but we now have 5 velodromes apparently (Derby, London, Glasgow, Newport and Manchester). That will take serious cash to keep it all going.
Run by Van Niekerk in the 400 metres was sensational, smashing the 17 year old record of Michael Johnson. Race has never been won from Lane 8. He is also in the 200 metres event making it interesting for Bolt and Gatlin.
Incredible performance by Van Niekirk BMB running from the outside lane to post a 43.03 and smash Michael Johnsons long standing record. Also incredible is that his coach is his 74-year old grandmother. !!!! I was at the Atlanta Olympics in 96 when MJ smashed the old record...never thought we'd see someone run close to the 42s.
I saw MJ win in his final Olympic run at the 2000 Sydney games. He also won as a member of the the 400 metres relay but the team was disqualified some time later as other team members were found to have taken drugs. My wife paid a small fortune at those Olympics to watch the subsequently disgraced Marion Jones run in all her sprint finals as in her schoolgirl days she represented Cumberland in sprinting and Marion was a particular favourite.
