The hotels are empty, the posters have all come down and the stadium has been returned to its usual users, Daegu FC. The British team are already back home. Most of them were on the first flight out on Sunday evening. You wonder who took the seat next to the head coach, Charles van Commenee, on the way back. Not, you would guess, any of the long jumpers or relay runners. Van Commenee had a mixed reaction to the nine days of competition. His team met their target of seven medals, but they did not produce the 15 or 16 likely contenders he wanted for London 2012.
Still, this was Britain's best championships since 1993, when they won 10 medals and three golds. As recently as 10 years ago, in Edmonton in 2001, they won only two medals, one gold and one bronze. But expectations are higher now, partly due to the demands Van Commenee makes of his athletes, but mainly because of the looming London Olympics. "We have hit our target every time in the last three years," said Van Commenee.
