His highlight was watching British athletes accrue 13 medals in the Rio Olympic Stadium, including Mo Farah’s golden brace. A further 33 were won in the Paralympic athletics programme, way ahead of London’s record haul.
And according to him 2017 is going to be even better. Because this year the World Athletics Championships are staged in London. Across 10 days of competition this August, he believes his sport will be placed at the centre of the national conversation.
“Rio was great,” he says, speaking after an event to publicise the route of the marathon, which will start and finish on Tower Bridge. “But for us this is going to be far bigger.” Bigger partly because there’s no time difference, meaning unlike Rio, the best action will take place at television prime time.
“Mainly, though, it’s going to be bigger because it’s here,” he adds. “Think back to the fever that was created around 2012 and particularly that moment on the first morning of the athletics programme when Jess Ennis stepped out and the stadium was full. It’s going to be like that again. Only even more so.”
Already, he says, 500,000 of 700,000 tickets have been sold, a record number so far ahead of a World Championships. He has no doubt that by the time the first heat of the 100 metres is run on the morning of August 4, every last seat will have been snapped up.
