The final cut

So there we have it. A world championships seemingly characterised by the dominance of the United States, who with the college-system surely now have the best track and field culture in the world, the resurgence of the Eastern European nations, the coming of age of Ethiopia and a huge wake-up call for Great Britain.

The final day largely went to form, with the exception of Benjamin Limo winning the men's 5000m, a sign of the times that an Ethiopian victory was prevented by a surprise Kenyan win. Look at the Aussie on the right!

An unbelievable 1500-800m double for Rachid Ramzi, the Moroccan-born Bahraini who has come from nowhere in the last year to assert himself as second-best over the distances in the absence of the undisputed masters, all in mid-career. Astounding, the confident 25 year-old able to sprint at will whatever the speed of the race.

On this final day, Cuba's Osleidys Menendez killed the javelin stone-dead by throwing a massive world record with her first round effort. It was almost an "anti-83", the previous Helsinki games of that year highlighted by a last-gasp women's javelin victory for local heroine Tiina Lillak over Fatima Whitbread.

It kind of put a dampener on the rest of the event, with Menendez posing for photos before the second round even started a rather odd sight and taking the gloss off Christina Obergfoll's subsequent and totally unexpected Area record.

On a positive note for Finland Flops Great Britain, sole gold medalist Paula Radcliffe was watched in earnest outside the IAAF hotel by a large bunch of casual but official onlookers, including coach Alex Stanton. The perfect vantage point for watching the second half of the race, a charge for the stadium after Paula's passing was led by legendary Kenyan distance runner Kip Keino. Needless to say they made it in time for the finish...