There have been some great British distance runners in the past. But having won a gold and a silver at the World Championships – something that hasn't been done before – it would be difficult not to regard Mo Farah as the greatest we have ever had.
What we must not do now is put him in a situation where we believe it is a certainty that he will win the Olympics in London next year. The athletes that he beat will not be sitting around doing nothing over the next 12 months. Mo has to move up a level, because everyone else will.
He has the speed, clearly, and it is vital that he hones that speed. He needs to make sure that he does not make the kind of mistake that he made in the 10,000 metres, when Ibrahim Jeilan of Ethiopia pipped him to the line.
He also needs to work out what tactics he is going to use in a very fast race. Championships in the past have tended to be held in hot, muggy climes. The kind of tactical race that we saw yesterday comes from that climate. London may well have a climate that encourages very fast races. Mo has to make sure that he has the experience to cope if some of the runners go off right from the start.
His transformation has been a combination of two factors: a change in attitude, and a change of coach. I introduced Mo to the American, Alberto Salazar, at a time when he felt that the direction in which he was progressing was not going to take him where he wanted to go. Sometimes a fresh perspective is necessary.
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