´óÏó´«Ã½

What a day. Great to see a generation of athletes building for London. A pity about the relay squads but we know what is needed there: practice, practice, practice.

What cannot believe is the people on 606 getting down on the squad earlier in the day. I am old enough to remember the likes of Ron Pickering talking about the plucky British lad/lass giving it his/her all and coming in er, 15th. YOu young uns don't know you're born!

Someone asked me who the two 1,500m runners are who were banned, and who will race against Lisa Dobrinskey on Sunday.
One is Hind DEHIBA of France (ex-Morocco) who served a 2 years ban. The other is the Russian Anna ALMINOVA who served a 3-month ban for taking something supposedly in a cough mixture which contained an illegal substance!

Denise Lewis is correct. Practically every so-called 'expert' said that this would be in a stroll in the park for Jessica Ennis. They completely disregarded the ability of the other girls. It was just like all she had to do was to turn up and the gold medal was hers. Perhaps now they will be a little more circumspect when dismissing the challenge to Jessica in the World Championships next year and the Olympics in 2012.
It was great to see Jessica respond in the way that she did and to show she is a fighter as well as a very competent athlete. But in this event there will always be dangers ahead, much in the same way that she herself came through to take the gold last year at the Worlds when she was not favourite to do so. The USA have a very good heptathlete coming through and Dobrynska was fitter this time than ever before and no doubt will train even harder, trying to beat Jessica. But she also will improve so there will be some exciting battles ahead.

Great win by Jess Ennis in the 800m for heptathlon Gold. Dobrynska pushed her all the way, but Jess found the extra gear to win. Good to see the Ukranian gracious in defeat too and be the first to congratulate her rival.

Great World Class run by Dai Green, held of his training partner for a new PB and become European champion.

Great to see competitive Brits/Welsh run under 49 secs in a championship.
Dai runs under 48secs this year or next year, he will be an elite athlete who'll get medals in the Worlds/Olympics in the future.

All hail King Mo. Great distance running by Farah.

Best in Europe, now time to challenge the World.

Watch out, Bekele!

Great days Athletics today, can't wait for tommorow.

Gosh, what a lattice! I do not know much about Jessica but she looks every inch a winning muscle.

Hi, I apologise for being a little negative, but with all thse medals that the British team have won, isn't there something missing? Like really competion, no USA, China etc. I am sure the team has done very well, but let us wait to count the medals after the next Olympics shall we?

I have been watching UK athletics since I was six years old at the time of the Tokyo Olympics; it thrilled me as a small child and tonight seeing Jess Ennis, Mo Farah and Dai Green and Rhys Williams, the thrill was still there and more. What joy to see all those hard years of training finally pay off. To see people perform and really give it their all, it bought tears to my eyes. Wonderful stuff.Hang on in there Michael Rimmer, you can do it! Well done all of you.

It was a great night of athletics and let us not forget the Women's Marathon Bronze - this is a great addition to the marathon competition and our 6 ladies did really well.

Yes it's great news for all those British athletes BUT, you really can't get too carried away! This is just a European competition - ie half the world are not there! There were also some pretty dismal British performances in the relays.
The Olympics is a different ball game.
A gold at the European may not even get a medal in the Olympics don't forget!
As usual, the media are hyping this up into some kind of spectacle.
The problem is that British athletics is hardly the cream of the world and when the rest of the world turns up, we'll really see where we stand!
Certain sports have already proved themselves on the world stage - particularly rowing - athletics still has a long way to go!

Scott Holland - These are the European Championships hence the absence of the U.S., China, Africans etc. but nevertheless you cannot discount the quality of some of the golds and in the field events it is simply a case of checking distances (long jump, triple jump, discus, shot etc) and see how they compare overall.
Of course Mo Farrah would find it a much bigger challenge in 5,000 and 10,000m when the Africans come into the reckoning and he has yet to go under 30' for the 10,000. But Jessica Ennis BEAT the reigning Olympic champion so that in itself says all you need to know about her gold.
In some ways the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi will provide a sterner challenge in some athletic events (5,000, 10,000, Marathon) but again not so in others.
But you can't dismiss the fact that the British atheletes beat the Russians in many many events this time and that is a magnificent achievement and must have shocked the Russians.
Another factor: Since more stringent drug testing was introduced the spectacular times and performances that we always experienced have virtually disappeared and more modest but realistic results are now being recorded. Accordingly several of the 'world records' must be questioned as they were made back in the bad old days of athletics.
Any 'world record' still held by an East German would fall into this category.

Generations come, generations go. Denise Lewis gave us great memories and now Jess Ennis does the same. This example of the fantastic British success is all the more remarkable when you consider that athletics is something of a "poor relation" in the British scheme of things, not even one really decent large capacity athletics stadium in the whole country. Well done to all the British men and women, and indeed to all the wonderful athletes who have given there all.

Fingers crossed for Lee Merrien in todays Marathon. Awesome run in the London Marathon and he hopes to improve on that today so good luck chap from all in Guernsey.

'You can only beat who is put in front of you' goes the old saying.
OK, it's obvious that, due to the non-participation of the USA, and some African and Asian nations, some of the events were no where near as strong as they would be at a World Championships / Olympics, but, on the other hand, many of the field events were as competitive as they could ever be.

Yes, it's easy to get carried away with the hype, but it's also just as easy to dismiss what many of the athletes did as being, somehow, second rate.

I'm certain that in their own minds they will know how much of a step-up the Olympics will be, and for each of them that will be different, and they will have to perform that much better.

However, let's not forget, it's no mean feat to be called 'The best' - or second or third best - in Europe.

The secret can be found in her brain, most notably the development of her orbitofrontal cortex and also in the love and nurture of her parents which contributes to the early development of this brain area in early years.

jessica is hard worker for country and her familys, i saw all the events
she always so happy smile proud, very high moral exiting for any event.please jessica keep yours self same personalty and focus to 2010, see you 2010. god blese you and your families. mr govinda

The thing about competing in the heptathlon is that no-one can stop you doing your own thing, unless they gang up on you to block you in the 800m. Which if you're fast away, they can't do.

So if you do the training and possess the talent, it's solely down to you. Sure, you must beat the rest, but if you set the targets and produce, you'll do that anyway.

It's a totally different type of competition to contact sports, where destruction of other's efforts is part of the game. Or something like tennis, where your opponent's aces can stop you dead without you being able to do anything about it. In athletics, it's down to you. And there's nowhere to hide, no-one to blame but yourself if you don't perform.

It wasn't hard to predict that Ennis would win, as she showed no weakness at all. One of her competitors did better than expected, but that's all.

Good thing is: she's healthy and young enough to build from this.

It's great to see commenters who are supportive of the athletes and realise just how much talent and, particularly, commitment, it takes to get to European standard.

It's also no surprise to see the nay-sayers, surely all armchair athletes, who aren't impressed, but need to be reminded just how much of an achievement it is for some people just to be the best thrower or sprinter in their age group at school. There are occasionally individuals so naturally gifted that county titles come easily to them, but even for them, national titles can only be gained by considerable effort and dedication.

For the vast majority of athletes national titles are out of reach no matter how hard they work or how much time they devote to training. But to be challenging for European titles - like the world and Olympic titles - is reserved only for the most gifted, dedicated and most carefully guided of athletes of each country represented. So far uk athletes have won 6 golds - that's 6 people out of a population of 60 million . . .no mean achievement in my book.

Let the nay-sayers get off their butts and give the next Europeans a shot if they don't think it's a big deal.

The key to Jess Ennis' success is her realistic drive to improve in her weaker disciplines, the shot put and the javelin. Her performances are always within her ability zone giving her the chance to relax and get those important personal bests. On the other hand her stronger disciplines are carried through with enormous panache, never precocious but always with apparently effortless ease. Mentally I have seldom seen a more gracious or sporting mind set for someone so young.

Here is a young sportswomen who takes full responsibility for her performances and, as long as she keeps fit and healthy, augers well for a long reign as a champion exponent of athletics. Good on you Jess.

I'd also like to mention Mo Farrah whose double gold was sensational and a great lift to British distance running. And what about David Green and Rhys Williams who exploded to medals so well the opposition might just as well not turned up.

the people that think that these performances are just average and that the british will never do as well on the world stage are just another bunch of critics
the people who won medals for us have done us proud and they will take a lot of confidence from this and this would help them on the world/olympic stage but for now let them just enjoy their achievements
it is still a medal isnt it

This just goes to prove that britain can compete on the sporting international stage. Athletics, swimming and cricket have shown waht intensive training and professional dedication to technique coupled with aspirations to always improve does pay dividends.

To England's flop footballers I say look and learn. They must and can improve but it is a very hard slog. Do you have the guts? I doubt that physically there are many in the Premiership that could keep up with the training schedule that Jessica Ennis has to endure. Marvellous stuff.

Someone mentional rowing.

Yes really good but just wait till
the Africans West Indian's, Middle Eastern
countries and Asians get their act together !

Same applies to our swimmers and
especially the over hyped track
cyclists and sailors.
Ahletics, Football truly Global sports
Boxing perhaps..... any others ?

As for Cricket and Rugby.

Eight serious contenders in
each sport ?

Don't be too hard on our Footballers
they are still ranked in the top ten of the World.

Cannot believe the number of doomsayers on this site. For once UK athletics is on the ascendancy so just enjoy the coming years and also that we have class athletes who can compete against the worlds best. We are a small country with a small population when compared to some like China and the USA, who also have far more commercial and government funding. Save the cfiticism for our pathetic and grossly overpaid prima-donna soccer players.

One of the most pleasing aspects apart from the British medals was the camaradarie shown by the heptathaletes. The group celebrations were something that can only come from such a gruelling competition where you are so close to your competitors for a long period of time. Girls who were out of the medals and those who still had a chance all congratulated each other and the medal winners with equal enthusiasm. It was a pleasing sight which you are unlikely to see in the individualistic events such as the sprints where competitors from the same country can barely shake hands.

I enjoy all the athletics events and the way the multi event athletes celebrate by doing a lap of honour together and the respect they have for each other really shows the meaning of sport. Something like five girls in the top eight either set personal bests or broke there national record my goodness that is tough competition. From what i have seen on tv most of these athletes who have took gold or a medal have a great chance of competing at a higher level if needed. The confidence and belief has been there for all to see so onwards and upwards towards the London games i say.

tooting mick

I'd say swimming is certainly a world sport. There were medal winners from 30 countries at last year's world champs including champions from Brazil, Tunisia, Serbia, Japan, Denmark, South Africa, Hungary and Zimbabwe alongside the usual crowd from USA, Australia, China, Germany and Britian.

i have just watched the interview with michael rimmer, he was asked about whether he was going to go to the commonwealth games, he replied NOT at the moment. I just find it astounding that these athletes are quick to complain if they do not get enough funding and then when they do get funding they are not even willing to represent their country. What a joke......

Well said No.17!

Great Coverage. Thanks ´óÏó´«Ã½. Michael Johnson's point of view very much appreciated.

No. 17 should read a little book by Matthew Sayed called "Bounce" - I think he is pretty close.....

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.