The “Barcelona Hangover”. Those were the two words uttered more times than I care to recall at the Aviva London Gran Prix at Crystal Palace recently, where there was not a single British victory to behold despite such unprecedented success at the European Championships in Barcelona just weeks before.

But you know what? In the grand scheme of things does it actually matter?

As a year, the 2010 track season will go down as one of the most successful ever for a British team competing in a European championships, with a formidable total of 17 medals including six gold’s. And it probably should have been more too.

What it certainly won’t be remembered for though, would be a Diamond League event in London where team GB failed for the most part failed to mix it with the world’s best, which unfortunately is exactly what happened. But even if the British athletes had won events at the Gran Prix, it still would have paled in comparison to Barcelona. Ultimately major championships are what athlete’s careers are judged on and the British athletes delivered when it mattered.

It would be undeniable though to discount the palpable disappointment of the packed stadium at seeing the British contingent struggle to such an extent. Seeing European champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu barely troubling the 17m line made for difficult viewing, while witnessing sprint hurdler Andy Turner being outclassed caused similar discomfort. It was also tough watching the thetalkofsport.com’s very own Martyn Rooney under-perform in the 400m.

But it was hardly all doom and gloom with decent showings from fellow gold medallists Mo Farah and Dai Greene who looked decent in high quality fields, and elsewhere there was even a new National record for Scottish 400m hurdler Eli Child.

As I say though, in the long-term, this meeting wasn’t never really about the Brits reaching the same heights as they did in Barcelona; that would a big ask and then some for those athletes who trained to peak at those very champs. To get back to those heights almost immediately after a competition of that magnitude is very difficult indeed.

No, for the athletes this meeting represented a decent pay-day. The crowd meanwhile got the chance to welcome those European medallists home, and also (obviously) enjoy the world class athletics. And the crowd got the latter in abundance.

Tyson Gay clocked the fastest time in the world this year with a 9.78secs clocking over the 100m. David Oliver (110m hurdles), Alyson Felix (200m and 400m) and Jeremy Wariner (400m) dominated proceedings on the track, while Blanka Vlasic (high jump) and Andreas Thorkildsen (javelin) delighted on the field

And it was because of this quality, Barcelona Hangover or not, the London Gran Prix remained one of the standout athletics events of the year…in the UK and indeed the world.

Chuffed with my second win on the road this summer I then started a two week track training block in Manchester. We were working on Team Pursuit drills and there were some new team mates to get to know. The first two days went well but on the third day we were out training on the road as a group in Cheshire and I crashed on a wet corner.

I hit my head and was knocked out and landed on my face. I knocked my two front teeth so they were both wobbly and had numerous other injuries to my face, lips and nose. I was taken to hospital in an ambulance and after a few X-rays and a CT scan I was let out that evening as long as there was someone to watch me over night. The following day my face was very swollen and I was unable to eat or drink so I went to my dentist as soon as I could.

Since then I have had 6 weeks of ongoing dental work at a hospital in London with a specialist department. They put a brace across my front teeth which was a very painful process as it was only 1 week after the accident. The teeth were still loose and they had to push them back into place to then attach the brace! This was left on for 3 weeks whilst my teeth healed back into place. I lost a lot of weight whilst my teeth and face healed as it was a while before I could manage solid food. My teeth are looking ok now but I still have to be careful what I eat as they are still a little sore.

Following the crash I had one week completely off the bike and then one week just doing some easy riding on the turbo (a static trainer indoors) before getting back into training again. I think the break did me some good though and since I have been back on the bike I won a bronze medal in the National Circuit Race Championships in Preston on 8^th August and then last weekend did a new personal best time for a 10 mile time trial (20 minutes and 32 seconds – averaging nearly 30mph!). The next target for me is the National Time Trial Championships in September in South Wales, so this result was quite promising! Fingers crossed training will be safe from now on!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Scottish tennis star Andy Murray. First he decided to give his coach Miles Maclagan the boot, and then he managed to get past Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in straight sets to lift the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

It was the British number 1’s first title of the year and provided a timely boost after what has been a particularly turbulent period; like life is ever really all that quiet for the Scot.

His victory in Canada, a country in which Murray has always done well, also offered some vindication for parting company with Maclagan, with whom he’d enjoyed a fair amount of success with to date.

It became clear relatively quickly that the new Maclaganless Murray was a more attacking Murray. No longer content with battling away at the back of the court in defensive mode, he’s obviously decided that playing a few shots is the way forward and you have to say so far, so good.

The title aside, his victories against Nadal and Federer were also significant; it was the first time he’d defeated both in the same tournament, and it was even the first time that he’d beaten the latter in straight sets. Some effort, all things considered. And good signs for the upcoming US Open, too.

Last weekend we were treated to a dramatic Twenty20 Finals Day in the cricket at the Rose Bowl as Hampshire edged out Somerset in what proved to be a pretty epic decider.

Craig Kieswetter top scored with 71 as Somerset posted 173-6 in the first innings. And after Jimmy Adams and Abdul Razzaq helped get Hampshire off to a flier, Neil McKenzie and Sean Ervine took them to the brink of victory. In a nervy final over they were left needing just one run off the last ball to level the scores, which would ultimately win them the trophy by virtue of losing fewer wickets. Despite the enthusiastic LBW appeals, they sneaked the leg bye they were after.

Things looked to be swinging in Hampshire’s favour as soon as Kieron Pollard was forced to retire hurt after taking one in the face in Somerset’s final over – his 22 off 7 balls looked to be a sign of things to come. A shame for Trescothick’s men, but all in all it was a great advert for the sport and also meant Hampshire became the first team to win the trophy on home soil.

I’ve been back from World Junior Championships for a few weeks now, and I’m just starting to get into the routine of training again. I needed a good few days rest due to jet lag and to recover from the illness that I unluckily picked up a few days before my heats.

The World Championships was an awesome experience for me as I had never travelled away to a major international event like it before. Starting the week at the training camp with the GB team really prepared me mentally for the championships, as you could see that everybody was really focused for the week that was to follow. It also gave me a huge confidence boost, as my training was going really well too. I ran a huge personal best for a 250m in training and thought everything was going in the right direction leading up to the championships.

Although it was only a Junior Championships, there was a huge buzz around Mount Allison University (the athlete’s village) and the stadium in Moncton. There isn’t much better than spending two weeks with other athletes of the same age, who have the same hobbies and goals. Although there was a lot of focus, it was still easily the funniest trip of my life.

As for my racing it didn’t really go as I wanted it to; as I said before, I picked up a virus  which caused a sinus problem a few days before my race. I had headaches which lasted all day and my legs felt like I’d just done a huge workout on them. I just put it down to nerves (even though I didn’t feel nervous), as I had never been in such a big situation before. I managed to make the semi-final, but didn’t have enough in me to make the final; which to me was really disappointing, as I was ranked 5^th in the world and my personal best time would have got me 2^nd in the final. But I learned a lot from it and gained valuable experience and also gained an even bigger hunger not to fail again in future championships.

Going forward for the rest of the season, I’m just going out to have fun and compete because athletics is my hobby and enjoying what I do is what it’s all about. You don’t put yourself through what you do in winter training, to hardly race. I’ll do other events like the long jump, which was my main event when I was younger, and step up and do a 400m to see what time I can do for the longer distance. Then hopefully stay injury free going into the upcoming winters training to set myself up nicely with no setbacks going into next year’s outdoor season and my first year as an under 23.

I don’t think I enjoyed the World Cup as much as I usually would because I had high expectations of England. So, of course, when your team doesn’t do well then it’s disappointing, but watching the games everyday with the girls was pretty cool. The best team won in the end – Spain we amazing.

What was the feeling in your house? Everyone’s teams probably should have done better?

I think the USA girls were happy with there team. They could have gone further – I thought they were pretty awesome and found myself rooting for them too, but winning the group was big for them. England were disappointing but again other teams were better at the end of the day. Brazil should have gone further and I think Cris felt the same.

What was your assessment of England’s performance?

I think England looked tired and a lot of the players looked like they needed a break. They were disappointing but it doesn’t take a genius for us to work that out. But even if England had performed, unfortunately they are not in the same league as the likes of Spain who went on to win it. If you look at their squad, when you have Torres and Fabregas on the bench the depth looks very different. We have some good young players coming through though and now they have a couple of years to get prepared.

Moving onto your own domestic season; it’s been a frustrating season for you?

It’s been a weird season more than anything, but I’m not looking at it like that. We have 6 games left – 6 tough games – and I want to win them to get into the playoffs.

You were really optimistic at the start and there seemed to be some encouraging signs, but it’s not quite worked out?

We had a lot of changes. Three different coaches, different players, different styles of play; there are still encouraging signs and it’s not all doom and gloom. As long as we make the playoffs all will be ok.

Can you put your finger on where things have gone wrong?

Every team in the league has had a period where things haven’t gone right, not just us. I just think we needed more time with the new manager to adjust and things would have been fine. I’m sure they wil be .

You’ve had a couple of niggling injuries and missed a lot of pre-season with the knee injury – how frustrating has it been from that perspective?

Not having a pre season isn’t ideal because you are always behind in fitness and sharpness, but I have done the best I can. Of course it’s frustrating but I guess that’s part of being a professional athlete.

I don’t actually remember how the injury came about. The back began to stiffen up when I was away with Wales and I don’t think it ever healed properly. It was all very strange and innocuous. It’s taken two months to get over it and it’s so frustrating because when you hurt your back it’s like you can’t move at all. But, like I said, I’ve been working hard off the field doing extra exercises and so on, so fingers crossed I’m over it now.

It’ll be tough getting past Nicky Hunt when I’m back though. He’s a good player with a great pedigree. This season is a really important one for me. I’ve shown everyone what I can do now and I’d love to have a run in the team. Maybe I’ll have to go out on loan before that comes about again. We’ll have to wait and see.

It’s been really tough at the back and upfront in terms of injuries. So many key players have been missing. Lots of lads who would be starting – some real big names in this division – are all missing and it’s bound to have an impact. It’s a bit disappointing.

Let’s hope we’ve had our bad run of injuries now and can move on from it. It’s better to have had it now than midway through the season with less recovery time and so on, that’s for sure. With the transfer window still open maybe a couple more faces will come in to help us out too.

Everyone’s still very excited around the place. Steve Coppell has come in and already changed the club dramatically. I’m looking forward to the new season and we feel we’ve got all the qualities to do well. The new facilities, the training, the new staff coming in of high quality; we’re moving forward all the time.

The signing of David James has also helped to transform the club. The lads all heard about it at the same time as everyone else, but we just thought it was paper talk. Now he’s here it’s all a bit surreal. He’s a very nice bloke though, even if it is a little bit intimidating having the current England number 1 in the dressing room! Still, it shows the places we’re heading.

Christian Ribeiro

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What an incredible five days it proved to be for British athletics in Barcelona last week. With London 2012 now officially less than two years away, the 19 medals (six of them gold) that Team GB managed to win at the European Championships will have sent a resounding message to the rest of the world that we mean business. Sure, the competition wasn’t much cop, but we mustn’t let that get in the way of the inevitable way of over confidence that will now follow.

In all seriousness, there were some encouraging performances throughout the competition and plenty of lifetime bests, which in truth is all you can ask for from this enthusiastic bunch of up and coming athletes. For the less avid athletics supporter, the best thing about this kind of event is that we get a little glimpse of some of the athletes who, in two years time, will undoubtedly become household names. There’s another Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington out there, which I think is an exciting prospect.

Jessica Ennis has been cast under the spotlight for a while now and most of the media already seem to have put that Olympic gold medal around her neck for her. That’s some pressure to handle, but she really is one of our few truly world class athletes.

Elsewhere, Mo Farah put in a couple of sensational performances to bag himself gold in the 10k and 5k respectively. His guts, determination and ability should be a real inspiration to any young, aspiring athlete and he is another who could shine in London. That said, once you add the African and Asian middle and long distance runners into the mix it’s only going to get much, much tougher. Still, you can only beat what’s in front of you and he certainly did that.

Moving away from athletics and swiftly onto formula one there was yet more drama on the track last weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Controversy seems to have followed Michael Schumacher around throughout his glittering racing career, so it should come as no surprise that the seven-time World Champion has again been turning a few heads. However, it wasn’t even so much that he almost managed to put former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello into a concrete wall at 180mph; it was more that he offered an astounding apology afterwards.

Having originally appeared to the lay the blame firmly at the feet of Barrichello, the German has since posted a note on his website stating: “The manoeuvre against him was too hard. I didn’t want to endanger him with my manoeuvre. If he had this feeling I am sorry, this was not my intention.”

He even went on to admit that the stewards were “correct” in awarding him a 10-place grid penalty at the next grand prix. First time for everything, I suppose.

Here I am, standing with 21,000 others at Selhurst Park (most likely to be their biggest attendance all season) watching 22 players that even the most ardent football fan would struggle to identify. All the big names of course are still resting from their South Africa exploits… or lack of depending on your outlook.

Indeed, the only players that I recognise on the Chelsea side of things are Petr Cech (who by all accounts had a very quiet World Cup because the Czech Republic didn’t qualify), and John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien (who also had quiet World Cups… because they were both injured). If you are keen football follower there’s also a certain Gaël Kakuta, who caused all that fuss nine months ago, when he was deemed to breached his contract with Lens to sign for the Blues.

For Palace meanwhile, things get even tougher for us in the stands. The most recognisable name is Julian Speroni – a goalkeeper who although had a torrid time in the Premier League for the Eagles back in 2004 has actually developed into quite the shot-stopper. But apart from the Argentine, the rest of the side appear to made up of players on trial (most of whom incidentally have since been let go) and fringe players.

This is hardly looking like a contest to remember, then.

Unfortunately, the first half proved us to be correct. The two sides cancelled each other out, to such an extent, that neither team could reach the opponents latter third, let alone get a shot on target. The only moment of note was a cracking effort from Essien, who rattled the bar from 30m out.

When the half-time whistle went, I started to ponder why an earth I was here watching this drivel at all. And then…with an hour gone it all made sense.

Essien broke through and scrambled the ball home from close-range to put Chelsea in the lead, and the away end in which I was standing broke out into ecstatic pandemonium. Remember – this is only a friendly, but for most of these fans, they would have watched the dross that was England in South Africa and would have long forgotten what celebrating a goal was actually like! A touch harsh perhaps, but you get my drift. They were celebrating as if they’d just won the league for goodness sake!

Elsewhere to my right, was a young chap part of my clan who was attending his first ever football game supporting Chelsea at the tender age of four. Success has come at a price for the Blues, with the cheapest seats at the Bridge £44 a game, it is hard to justify taking the family in these tough economic times, but not today at Selhurst. For the price to take an U16 is just £1 when accompanied by an adult, and thus this young Blue can get his first taste of this sport that we all know and love.

The fact so many of us have taken advantage of this offer also helps the cash-strapped Eagles, who were hours away from liquidation just a matter of weeks ago. The full stadium will help no-end in their quest for financial stability.

On the pitch too, maybe there is a point to this mundane match after all. Palace get the chance to hire a player or two on a free based on a match performance, while Chelsea get to see which youngsters to blood in the first team this year (Scott Sinclair and Ryan Bertrand look the likeliest candidates at this stage).

And so, as the final whistle went, I realised that (without being too poetic) everyone wins…apart from Palace on the pitch of course, who lost 1-0. Sorry, I had to mention the result… I’m slightly biased!

I had just left college with a good set of A Level results and decided to take a year out to concentrate on training. Weeks later the hard work paid off as I won the Under-19 World Champs.

It was a great feeling at the time, but just weeks after this I suffered a huge loss in confidence. I would travel the hour and a half round trip to training six times a week but sometimes be too scared to get on the trampoline and soon after winning I found myself off the National Squad too.

I tried lots of different things to try and help, but nothing worked and 10 months later I hit rock bottom. I took a week off and came up with a new plan. I emailed my coach and came in the following week and, looking back, neither I nor my coach actually believed that we would ever achieve that plan; to get back into competing!

After hours of hard work not only did I get back into competition, but by the end of the season I had competed in my first senior World Cups and won the final trial for the World Championships where I competed in Russia last November. Everything was going great and all the hard work was showing! I was back on track and ready for the new season.

Fast forward to today, and I have just returned to full training after suffering a knee injury in February which put me out of action for 5 months. Everything was going so well at the time and I had just won the first European trial by some margin. But just a week later I had an accident in training which meant I had to miss the European Championships. I was gutted, but so determined to get through the rehab and come back stronger, both mentally and physically. I constantly pushed on and spent hours working on all the different programmes I was given. The support team around me was fantastic; I was very lucky to receive such support.

Just four weeks ago I was given the all clear to start back on the trampoline. It felt amazing to be back! However, it has not been an easy ride struggling with ankle ‘niggles’ and time constraints in training, whilst my knee and the rest of my body still had to adapt to the impact of the trampoline and the intensity of the training.

I also had to pull out of the Canada Cup; a competition I felt so chuffed to be invited to by the Canadians as one of eight women across the world. Despite all of these minor issues nothing will stop me from succeeding – it just makes me more determined!

Last week I competed at the Poland World Cup. Although I had accepted before I went out there that I wasn’t going to be on top form, I did struggle to deal with it during the competition and I guess I simply was not ready for that one. It was a great experience for me though to compete in a situation where I was totally out of my comfort zone.

Next week I look forward to competing at the British Championships with a bit more practice under my belt!

Laura Gallagher

Diego Forlan – the Uruguayan looks a different person to the man who struggled at Old Trafford. Forlan near enough carried his country to the last four, and was one of a special few who seemed to know how to tame the Jabulani ball, with his efforts against Ghana and Holland being a perfect example of this. Voted player of the tournament by Fifa.

David Villa – With Fernando Torres lost in the African bush, Villa led the line and showed the world just how good a finisher he is. But not only that he created chances for others with his pace and quick feet. Proof that you don’t need to be a powerhouse to scare defenders. The prospect of him leading the line at Barcelona next season is utterly mouth-watering.

Asamoah Gyan – It could be argued that this was Ghana’s tournament after they were the only African side to make it out of their group. It’s no surprise with this man leading the line. His extra time winner against the USA highlighted his attributes; pace to get in behind, strength to hold off centre halves and then the ability to finish. I couldn’t have been the only one to leap off their seat when Gyan hammered it past Howard. For this and nostalgia purposes you can’t overlook Ghana.

Andreas Iniesta – the statistic that Iniesta was the most fouled player in South Africa might be all the evidence you need to include him. If you can’t beat them kick them was obviously an adopted tactic before the final. Many forget the Barca man has been injured for a large part of the season, but you wouldn’t have known it watching the final. Amidst all the carnage, the 5’7’’ midfielder stayed calm and kept Spain in control, a brilliant display. Of course it always helps if you pop up to score the goal that wins your country their first World Cup.

Thomas Mueller – The big find of the tournament, just 20-years of age and already a World Cup Golden Boot winner. Before the tournament Mueller had just 1 senior international goal. A graduate of the impressive U-21 European Championship winning side of last summer, Mueller tore England apart in the last 16, and in the process has made himself the must-have signing of this transfer window.

Honourable mention: Wesley Sneijder, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil, Miroslav Klose, Iker Casillas, Arjen Robben.

Martyn Landi