Cram salutes British sprinters

Olympic silver medallist Steve Cram gives BBC Sport Online his thoughts on the latest athletics action.

Before the Olympics, I'm not sure that many people were expecting medals for Britain in the men's 200m, but Darren Campbell looked very good on his way to silver.

As the rounds went on, it was obvious that both Campbell and Christian Malcolm were in the hunt. The field looked evenly-matched and a medal was up for grabs.

The race was very difficult to predict - there were four or five of them in contention for a medal.

A lot of the athletes looked good in the second round, but the key thing is how well they cope with the two-hour gap between the semis and the final.

Strength

Campbell was leading off the bend and for a long time it looked like he might get there.

But Konstantinos Kenteris showed he had a lot of strength - he has a strong 400m background - and he got there at the end. I'm sure Darren thought he was going to get the gold.

He'll probably kick me for saying this, but I wouldn't have picked him for a medal before the Games.

Darren came to the Olympics with a personal best of something like 20.45s, which is not real world-class.

We all thought he could go faster, but we were waiting for the evidence. Then when he ran a 20.13s in the second round, it was obvious he was in the running, and in the final he did not disappoint. He did the job - it was brilliant.

He'll probably kick me for saying this, but I wouldn't have picked Darren Campbell for a medal before the Games

  Steve Cram

The future looks very good for British sprinting. Apart from Campbell, Malcolm obviously has a strong future. We have youngsters coming through, like Mark Lewis-Francis, who is only 17 and didn't come to the Games, as well as Julian Golding, who hasn't run that well this year.

We've got a real crop of sprinters, and that's the reason that the US always does so well, because it's always so tough just to get on their team. They have great depth, so whoever comes to the Games is in medal contention. That's what we've got to go for in all our events.

The American champion John Capel suffered in the final. He looked very good leading up to the final, but I think nerves probably played a part in his first Olympic Games.

He got a terrible start, and we later learned that he hesitated because he thought he had false-started. But that's all to do with experience. You've just got to go for it.

Inconsistent

I wasn't surprised Ato Boldon only ended up third. There's something about Ato that to me doesn't show he's a winner.

He doesn't win enough races, and if you're not used to winning it's sometimes difficult to come to the Games and pick it out.

He's a little bit inconsistent on the European circuit, and he wasn't on top form throughout the Olympics. I was always tipping other people - you look for the people who are performing well.

You've got to hand it to Dean Macey. He just missed out on a medal in the decathlon, but he rose to the challenge extremely well.

No one will beat Hicham El-Guerrouj. He actually told me this summer that it was his dream to set a world record at the same time as winning the Olympics.

  Steve Cram

The last time he competed properly was in last year's world championship, and to have the confidence in his training and ability and come so close.

There are always "ifs". He had a difficult start to the second day, so he ws playing catch-up after that.

He had a good chance going into the 1,500m, but no one would have expected Chris Huffins to run a personal best by 14-15secs.

And then there was the issue with Erki Nool's 'foot fault' in the discus. It was a foul, so to all intents and purposes he should be disqualified. But the judge didn't see it initially, and all the other competitors accepted it.

I chatted to Daley Thompson and asked him how Dean would do, and he said he would finish in the top four, and I guess he was right.

I'm looking forward to the men's and women's 1500m on Friday for different reasons.

Achievement

The men's will be a procession, while the women's should be very competitive.

No one will beat Hicham El-Guerrouj. He actually told me this summer that it was his dream to set a world record at the same time as winning the Olympics.

But it is a heck of a world record. If he breaks it, it would be a fantastic achievement, but I expect that he will be go halfway - get the gold and break the Olympic record.