The Great Britain team’s final medal tally exceeded expectations, reaching 19 overall, making this the best ever achievement by a GB Athletics team.

Many eyes will now be firmly set on the London Olympics in 2012, which will take place in under two years time. Praise has been heaped on Great Britain’s head coach Charles van Commenee, who’s passion for the sport has been likened to that of football manager Jose Mourinho by Kelly Sotherton.

Sotherton’s sentiments are echoed by UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner who said:

“It is very easy to make a caricature of Charles, but Kelly has it absolutely right when she compares him to Jose Mourinho.

“He’s not only got the strong personality and the ability to cut through the nonsense and tell it like it is, but he’s got a great understanding of his sport and phenomenal technical ability. If you speak to the athletes there is a high degree of respect there, but there isn’t fear and I think that is a key dividing line. It’s easy to come across as a hard taskmaster but if you have no substance underneath and an understanding of what is required and the nuances of athletics you would be built on sand and he is built on strong foundations.”

To maximise their chances of medals it is imperative that the team are in the best condition possible at to this end the GB squad are preparing themselves at the warm weather training camp in Portugal as well as altitude training in France.

Some of the Great Britain athletes take time out of training to talk about their personal hopes, ambitions and medal chances ahead the European Athletics Championships.

It was 25 years ago that Great Britain’s Steve Cram became the first man to break 3min 30 secs for the 1,500 metres on July 16th 1985 in Nice. Here he recalls that record breaking run and that period of 19 days when he broke three world records.

She will be responsible for overseeing the design of both the athletes kit and also for a range of fan wear for the sportswear company.

For the first time in the history of the Summer Games, the deal will see a top fashion designer work with a leading sports brand to design competition wear for both the national Olympic and Paralympic Teams.

Adidas, which has designed and provided performance enhancing kit to Team GB since 1984, approached McCartney about the role of Creative Director to ensure that British athletes at London 2012 don’t just have the best performance kit but the most stylish too. As a result, Adidas will continue to develop the most innovative technical products available with the creative design input of a British fashion icon.

Sports fans can now get in on the act as well with a special Adidas Team GB lifestyle range designed exclusively by Stella McCartney. The range will launch in autumn 2010 and will incorporate both women’s and menswear collections.

This appointment is a new development for McCartney who already designs a women’s sports-inspired performance range for the brand – adidas by Stella McCartney.

Merritt faces two year ban

The American Olympic and World 400 metre champion LaShawn Merritt faces a two year ban from athletics after failing three drug tests between October 2009 and January 2010.

Failing a test once is surely serious enough to consider if it is worth taking a banned substance, but proving positive three times for the same banned substance, Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), is sheer stupidity.

Merritt has admitted that he did not read the ‘fine print’ on the non prescription medications that led to the positive results in three seperate drug tests.

His lawyer Howard Jacobs said in a statement that Merritt has accepted a provisional suspension as a result of the positive drug tests. He added that the positive tests were caused by Merritt’s “use of an over-the-counter male enhancement product”.

Merritt admitted to making a foolish, immature and egotistical mistake when the findings were reported. In a further statement the athlete said:

“To know I have tested positive as a result of a product I used for personal reasons is extremely difficult. I hope my sponsors, family, friends and the sport itself will forgive me. Any penalty I may receive for my action will not overshadow the embarrassment and humiliation I feel.”

The athlete had not been made aware of the test results until March 2010.

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Normal doses of whey protein are around 25g per day for athletes and should present no major problems but body builders often use up to six times that amount. This is the level at which liver problems can arise, so care needs to be taken. Whey protein is also taken by people on diets and those attempting to balance their blood sugar levels and there is a possibility that it might be of help to people with diabetes, so it is not all bad when it comes to the health front, and may turn out to have positive benefits for many people.