Some of the contests have of course been enthralling sport, and the final two days this weekend will produce more. Yet five years on, and in the same London stadium, it is hard to deny that the 2017 World Athletics Championships have failed to generate the same feelgood force field that the 2012 Olympics so memorably achieved. It would have been unrealistic to expect the world championships to recapture the mood that Danny Boyle, the parachuting Queen and the golden postboxes magicked around the Olympics. And hopes that London 2017 might be a moment of renewal for the sport have not really been fulfilled. Football, athletics – sport in general – are not more important than life and death.

Source: The Guardian August 11, 2017 18:22 UTC