The World Athletics Championships finished in Edmonton with the usual razzmatazz of a closing ceremony. But many of the countries competing have little to celebrate.

The event came just under a year after the Olympic Games in Sydney and there have been signs of post-Olympics fatigue. In particular, Great Britain and Australia both under-achieved. On the track it was the United States who dominated the sprints in both individual and relay events - the world record holder, Maurice Greene, taking the hundred metres gold.

The shock of the championships was the defeat of Haile Gebrselassie in the men's ten-thousand metres. The Ethiopian is one of the world's greatest distance runners who has dominated this race. But in Edmonton he was beaten into third place and denied a fifth world championship.