As long ago as January I said we'd get three Olympic medals and after watching the two days of trials in Manchester I haven't changed my view.
 Christine Ohuruogu raced to a surprise win in the 400m |
There's not too much to shout about, particularly on the men's side, and it's obvious this will be a difficult Games with medals few and far between. We've yet to find replacements for the old guard from Sydney and before, but there were some surprises at the trials which bode well for the future.
At the moment we're struggling to get a sizeable squad together with only about 30 athletes gaining the Olympic A qualifying standard.
That means we're going to have to take people with B standards, as I know the selectors want a team of 50 or more.
All I'd encourage the selectors to do if they are to go down that route is to take those who have the potential to put in the performances in the future. Give youth a chance.
One of the highlights of the trials was the good performances from unexpected sources, such as Nathan Douglas in the triple jump.
Christine Ohuruogu's another in the 400m. A real talent and at 20 she showed she has a competitive instinct.
With Donna Fraser not running and Katherine Merry struggling to keep her career going that's exactly what the 400m needs. In fact, it's what the sport needs and stories like that come out at weekends like this.
On the plus side Kelly Holmes looked great and Jason Gardener was a popular winner in the 100m.
On the down side there are the injuries and the woeful performances by the men in the distance events.
Seeing Denise Lewis walk off halfway through the long jump was very worrying and hopefully Darren Campbell's problem with his ribs will be fairly shortlived. My own personal pain in watching anything at 800m or more has been anything but shortlived, and with the exception of Michael East in the 1500m I'd be surprised if anyone gets handed a slot in any of those events.
The selectors will not be taking up too much time talking about those distances, and I don't think they'll be mulling over too many dilemmas at all.
The only one that does stand out is in the men's long jump where Chris Tomlinson would have done them a huge favour by getting the A standard.
Saying he only got the B standard sounds bad, but it's not when you consider to get the A mark you would have had to come in the top four at the last Olympics.
Chris is undoubtedly the number one, but the problem is Nathan Morgan has that A standard. The selectors can take either the A athlete or the B athlete, but not both.
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They will be helped hugely if Chris can find that big jump between now and the end of the selection process, particularly since he has an outside chance of a medal. To win those three medals you need eight or nine athletes going into the Games with an outside chance - the likes of Chris Tomlinson, Chris Rawlinson, Darren Campbell, the men's 4x100m and the women's 4x400m.
Who's guaranteed a medal? Nobody's guaranteed one but Paula Radcliffe and Kelly Holmes are our best bets and you always end up with one that people didn't expect.
Those surprises cheered us in Manchester and hopefully they will in Athens.
MMIX
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