Jake Whiteman’s golden glory places him in the middle of the British Renaissance

If you’re not interested in red-eye sports nostalgia, look the other way now. I feel nauseous.

The date is August 11, 1984, the Los Angeles Coliseum, men’s 1500 m final.

Sebastian Coe v Steve Ovett, one of Britain’s biggest sporting rivals, claims he was the first to return from illness to defend his title and should not have been picked in the first place.

Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. She was 7 years old and was working on the upper deck. Still, even as I downed these lagers and lime, my young heart was mesmerized by the shock of it.

They will compete again, but it was their last big attack and the sick Ovet couldn’t finish, but the young Steve Cram won the silver medal.

In Helsinki a year ago, Kremi won the first World Championships in 1500 meters of athletics.

Great Britain’s men’s middle-distance running dominated the world, and Peter Elliott’s 1500m Olympic silver medal in 1988 marked the end of an incredible era.

Since then, it has been British women who have been hit hard at medium distances. Kelly Holmes first won Olympic gold medals in 800m and 1500m in Athens in 2004, she fought bravely in the first and swam beautifully in the second.

However, since the 22-year-old Clam won the world crown in 1983, no Briton has won a medal at the 1500m world championships. Until this week.

Fittingly, Cram asked for a BBC shot, but nobody thought to Bell that 28-year-old Jake Whiteman was about to rock the world.

There were the best and the best. One, two, three at the Olympics last year, this year he is the fastest man in the world. Peak peak peak peak.

Whiteman has fallen to the highest level. The terribly disappointing Tokyo Olympics may have provided the inspirational platform he needed.

Surely there is no asterisk next to this glorious achievement.

If Clam makes an emotional comment, it’s nothing compared to Jake’s father, stadium announcer Jeff Whiteman. Immediately after Wightman crossed the line to win the gold medal, he uttered an amazing line: “He’s my son and he’s a world champion.”

I don’t want to seduce fate, but we are in an exciting time for middle-distance racing in Britain, as we have been for quite some time.

Whiteman is the 1,500-meter world champion and 24-year-old Josh Kerr won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. It will get better and better.

Laura Muir this week won the bronze medal in the world 1500m and won the Olympic silver medal despite being out for several months due to a stress fracture.

Both Laura and Jake are in their 30s, but the two 20-year-olds in the 800-meter division compete in the arm wrestling.

Max Burgin is already the fourth fastest Briton in the 800 meters in history.

He is the fastest man in the world this year and his world championship ended this week before it started due to a calf injury, but his future is full of potential.

As I write this, Keely Hodgkinson is preparing to start her 800m World Steeplechase in Sunday’s final. There is almost nothing between Kelly and his young American rival and Olympic champion Athing Mu.

It was a rematch between gold and silver in Tokyo, and it was made even hotter by the fact that they hadn’t met since that day.

If Hodgkinson could change the script, it would be a great week for the unforgettable middle-distance race in Great Britain.

There was also a cheeky mention of Jema Leak, who was destined to run even faster after finishing fourth in the 800m at the last Olympics.

Thanks to the likes of Cebu, Steve and Kelly for their memories, but now it’s time to set foot in Paris in 2024. As for UK middle distance racing, if you’re lucky it can be great.

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