The great thing about athletics is that it's like poker sometimes: you know what's in your hand, and it may be a load of rubbish, but you've got to keep up the front.

I am delighted that Jonathan will be the athlete member of the LOCOG board,

I had a very ordinary background in Sheffield; I went to a secondary modern, but I saw something on TV in 1968 that inspired me to join an athletics club, and 12 years later, with great coaching and the support of people who loved me a lot, I ended up at an Olympic Games.

Sport is a bridgehead into any number of things we want. It's not going to be enough to sit there in 2012 saying we didn't get any medals but got lots of social outcomes. I hope in light of what comes out of here UK Athletics will make some tough judgments.

I can remember the day I decided I would retire from competitive athletics as vividly as if it were yesterday.