I'd forgotten about Bob

Since nobody has yet come up with any more potential British 'assists' - and isn't the timing of this sort of thing typical - let's bring in Bob Weir. I bumped into him less than half an hour after finishing my last post and he's a must for my list.

He didn't stop long to talk as our paths crossed in the mixed zone - where the athletes meet the press - but then he's a busy man. I wanted to ask him how many US medals he was claiming a hand in but he was rushing off.

Bob is the former international hammer and discus thrower who captained the Great Britain athletics team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. When he retired, and was already a professional coach at a top American university, Britain didn't make him a coaching offer he couldn't refuse. Now he's working with the US team here.

Did I say our paths crossed in the mixed zone? You wouldn't want to sit on the other end of a seesaw without the best part of 20st on your side. So our paths didn't cross - I just moved to the side.

Anyway, I might be exaggerating when I say that British athletics didn't make Bob an offer he could not refuse. Now I come to think of it, I recall a conversation I had with him in Beijing last year, at the World Junior Championships, where he was the US team head coach.  In fact it was more than a conversation, it was an interview. He had been among those considered for the job now held by Dave Collins, the GB performance director.

Here's what Bob told me over coffee in Beijing:  "Some efforts have been made to try to get me back to Britain and, had it not been for the fact that I am going through a divorce, I would be interested, but I cannot abandon my two children. The door is not closed but I have to resolve the issues regarding my personal situation first. If I can resolve those I would be open - absolutely."

   Aged 46 now, Bob was into his forties before he retired from competition at the 2002 World Cup in Madrid. He achieved the extraordinary feat of winning Commonwealth titles 16 years apart in different events. He was the 1982 hammer champion and the 1998 discus champion for England but one honour he never expected was to be named Olympic team captain for Britain.

   "I heard my name being thrown around but thought it was too far-fetched," he said. "But when they told me it was a very proud moment." Just as being named head coach for the US juniors was. "It is quite an honour when you consider were I am from," he said. Birmingham, England, not Birmingham, Alabama.

Must catch up with Bob again for an update.