It seemed more likely that CJ Hunter would appear in pantomime as the fairy godmother, then Marion Jones failing to capture 100 metre gold. But the likelihood of CJ waving his magic wand dramatically increased after a remarkable race. To be fair to Jones she never offered any excuses regarding injury or abduction by aliens or anything, she simply accepted she was beaten. On the BBC, Michael Johnson asserted that Jones was injured and that a problem most likely in her back was restricting her and she wasn't running technically well. Initially I have to say I thought fair comment but having seen some old videos of her run I have come up with another theory.

Pressure. Pintusevich-Block (for the sake of sanity referred to as Block from here on) saw her chance and grabbed it. Lining up in the semi final she must have realised that this was her opportunity. Jones would be thinking more of the final and if she could run the race of her life and get close to Jones then that would put Jones under pressure in the final. Better then that Block won the semi final.

Between semi and final Jones' mind must have been doing somersaults, this was her first defeat in years and look at the timing, what does she do to win. Does she attack or relax, does she have it today or has Block any more. In the final Block remained cool, didn't try to jump the gun and got the vital metres at the start she needed. Under pressure Jones' technique fell to pieces. It made her look injured, but what was happening was that we were discovering that the chink in Jones' armour is a little less skill then we might have thought. Skill is the ability to perform techniques under pressure, still she will learn and it will motivate her more then winning the gold probably would have.

Despite the inevitable cries from the press as to why have we won no medals, this has been a good championships for the Irish. Peter Coghlan can probably count himself very unlucky. Had he not wrongly been given a false start and been in any other heat then I felt he could raise his game to get in the first two o qualify for the final. When there are only two automatic qualifiers and you have the past two Olympic champs and the likes of Bownes in the supporting cast, it is hard to sit in the blocks and convince yourself you can go through. Had he been in another heat, I really feel it would have been easier to run faster and maybe even finish as an automatic qualifier. And if Dudley Dorival can take a medal in 13.25 then Peter must take great encouragement.

But there were many other great performances. The Irish records for Sarah Reilly and the 4 x 400m quartet looked world-class.

Since Sarah declared for Ireland she has been so passionate and committed to the green singlet, and deserves her success. The 4x400 took a whole second off the record, Karen Shinkins had a great championships and I know that she feels she can run faster this year - she will. Olive Loughnane will be delighted also and Gillian disappointed but that's walking, but it speaks volumes for their coach Michael Lane. He now has a world-class group of walkers in this country, at all levels and he is a coach I hope we all cherish.

There will be those who will be disappointed. It seems as if the middle distance athletes suffered as a result of the altitude but to their credit especially of Mark and James they took the race to the opposition and tried to ensure they qualified even if they weren't in the auto places. But it wasn't to be.

Been a bit of a roller coaster for me, nervous as hell when an Irish singlet appears and then feeling either the same joy or disappointment that they feel after the race, a bit depressed watching the 200 (oh well) and then there is the fatigue from the 5am bedtime.

It is handy being an insomniac at times but I feel like I am suffering from jet lag even though the furthest I have traveled is to the local shop to buy even more coffee. I think I better get back to the championships next year, spectating is far too hard.