Brits disappoint again

Refusing to take a lap of honour or celebrate with his team-mates may smack of petulance, but basking in the glory of the only gold medal for one of the powerhouses in European athletics is more dangerous than ruffling the feathers of a few team-mates.

The truth is that anything less than gold in the relay would have been a disaster for Britain's men. It is the minimum requirement for a team containing three Olympic relay gold medallists, a former World Junior Champion who outshone Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin at youth level and a man who regularly ran under ten seconds before his drug-ban.

The individual performances of Britain's so-called elite athletes were, quite frankly, terrible. Dwain Chambers ran 10.07 on his competitive return in Gateshead last month yet could not break 10.20 in Gothenburg.

Phillips Idowu finished a disappointing fifth in the triple jump when he really should have been challenging Christian Olsson for gold, while Kelly Sotherton suffered her javelin hoodoo again when a Heptathlon medal was begging to be won. And, as ever, Christian Malcolm and Dean Macey picked up injuries before the tournament even began.

The men's 4x400m saw a silver medal, mainly down to an amazing 44.5 split by a Tim Benjamin lacking in fitness and – in his own words – with "a hamstring hanging off" his leg. But prior to Gothenburg the Brits had won the event five times consecutively, comfortably at times, and are usually a shout for at least second in global competition.

It was left to the unexpected to bring a semblance of respectability, Rebecca Lyne's 800m bronze in one of the few genuinely world class fields at the Euros probably the achievement of the tournament along with Nathan Douglas finally living up to his early promise with silver in the triple jump.

Young Greg Rutherford unexpectedly got the same result in the long jump and Mo Farah was unlucky to be pipped on the line by Jesus Espana in the 5000m, although realistically both would struggle to get on the podium in genuinely world-class fields.

And this is where the point lies – European athletics is in a low-level state of decline, while African and Asian nations are close to dominant in certain fields and the USA most. Yet, despite the elation after winning the Olympic bid for London in 2012, Great Britain are spiralling downwards at a faster rate that their contemporaries.

The pattern, alas, is all too familiar. There have been grumbles from within UK athletics community that the "new breed" of athletes simply are not good enough, but actually they were close to excellent at youth level – Malcolm and Lewis-Francis in particular were junior champions ahead of the likes of Powell and Gatlin. The reality is that after school, British athletes drift into the "second tier" of international class, otherwise known as mediocrity.

The problem may lie within the British culture of adult funding and training. Instead of funding dedicated institutes or universities to develop world class athletes the money is divvied-up amongst individuals who then find their own coaches and often sub-standard facilities.

In the United States the collegiate system allows elite athletes to be cherry-picked and brought up to speed over time while retaining the focus that the pastoral care of college life allows, not to mention the well-resourced high schools and local clubs.

The Russians still have the legacy and work-ethic of the Communist era only with more hard cash, while China and Australia throw money and time at development centres and institutes for fun.

Discounting occasional freaks of nature such as Paula Radcliffe or the immense wealth of the professional football game, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that British success in sports usually comes down to a well-structured grassroots culture based around universities and local clubs developing high class amateur athletes who can be turned into world-beaters (examples being Rowing, Rugby and Cricket).

British Athletics suffers from the same malaise as Swimming and Tennis, a lack of local and school facilities mirrored by amateurish federations at senior level, the focus so heavily diverted to the "Big Three" sports that promising sprinters and distance runners often end up lining the lower echelons of, for example, professional football. Or nowhere.

And with the expectations of the British public and press – rightly – so high, expect it to get worse before it gets better.