31st August 1991 Day 42

The Diary
Some pretty dismal performances by the Brits in today's finals but the relay teams got going and looked pretty good - with the exception of the women's sprint quartet. A British record by the women's 4x400m team and the world's fastest time of the year by the men. Quicker than the Yanks, with two second string runners. It was time to reflect on Michael Johnson's quote about not being picked for the USA 4x400m squad. He said "I think we're underestimating the strength of the opposition." At least one American knew what he was talking about.

In Rome we had to rely on the wheelchair finals for our world records but this time they let us down. Maybe they should do the steeplechase and the pole vault. On the way home I was mistaken for an athlete again (is Tom McKean still an athlete these days ?) but the Japanese girl didn't seem to understand that I was just a spectator and seemed disappointed that we wouldn't sign autographs. Glenn said "OK then" and signed for a joke, swiftly followed by Bop and me. Next thing we were surrounded by loads of Japanese kids wanting autographs. We made a quick run for it before things got out of hand. They probably thought we were rotten not signing any more autographs. Anyway one of mine is worth 10 of Katrin Krabbe's.

2011
It's been interesting writing all this at the same time that the 2011 World Championships have been on. There were many Tokyo performances that surpassed this years performances. The British 4x400m teams of 2011 are a shadow of the 1991 teams. 


Wheelchair athletics was seldom seen and I don't recall seeing or knowing about the Paralympics until years later. In 2011 athletically challenged (my mate John McLean doesn't like the use of the term "disabled") Oscar Pistorious won a silver medal as part of the SA 4x400m team.