WALKING up Fossgate this weekend a bloke spoke to his paramour, nodding towards a building and chiding: "How do they get away with that?"

The building was Macdonalds furniture shop - apart from Stubbs, arguably the most striking edifice in Fossgate. There was little doubt the ignoramus was referring to the name of the shop and the coincidence that it bears the same moniker as some American fast-food chain that has several outlets. It's almost as if there was no such thing as the name Macdonald until that garish yellow-neon 'M' arched ubiquitously into the high street.

But what has such an observation got to do with sport, you may ask? Well, there are many thousands, if not tens of thousands of punters today posing the same question of some of Great Britain's representatives in the World Athletics Championships. How do they get away with that - parading themselves as competitors who can match the best of the rest of the world?

The GB medal haul was one gold - the rejuvenated Paula Radcliffe bob-bob-heading to the rescue yet again - and two bronze, the latter garnered by the men's 100metres relay team and the women's 400m relay quartet respectively. Count them slowly - one, two, three medals.

That is Team GB's most meagre total since the 2001 world games. Indeed, in the last three world championships the Brits have amassed just seven medals, which is the entire total prised from the 1999 event - the last time we could genuinely celebrate at the lone exclusively-athletics world competition.

Sunk in Helsinki was a predictable, yet thoroughly understandable headline. It was the cue, too, for much hand-wringing and forehead-furrowing at another example of track and field slack and yield.

But the feeling of despondency has been deepened to cavernous dimensions because of the fact that in 2012 London will be the host of the Olympic Games after this summer's brilliant candidate city conquest.

Seven years is not a long time, especially in sport and even more so when home expectations will have been raised so high. The next seven years will fly by for all those involved charged with making the London Olympiad the best ever. And it is barely a wrinkle in time if measures are not taken immediately to put our competitive house in order.

We've got to act faster than any American sprinter dashing for the line, usually with all other nations trailing. And as yet the sport appears to be running in fog. Coaching, funding, motivation, facilities - all are aspects fully occupying the legion of talking heads expounding on how best to put the go-getting grit into Brit.

Can there be any more onerous a sports job than that facing Dave Collins, UK Athletics newly-appointed performance director?

One measure I would propose is to raid Britain's athletics heritage. We have had gold medallists if not galore, then aplenty, so let's consult them.

Let's pick the brains of those athletes who have straddled the world and re-learn just what it takes to be a winner. The likes of Lynn Davies, David Hemery, Mary Peters, Daley Thompson, Fatima Whitbread, Steve Ovett, Tessa Sanderson, Colin Jackson, Linford Christie, Kelly Holmes and Paula Radcliffe, plus, of course, Seb, now Lord Coe, have all been there.

They've worn the vest, used the towel, got the tee-shirt. They've all got the bottle and, more pertinent, they've got the precious metal. They know how to conquer the world and it's a pool of nous we should be exploiting. Let it not go to waste or we'll be asking ourselves: "How did we let that get away?"

Updated: 11:13 Tuesday, August 16, 2005