Usain Bolt is relaxing in his Jamaican home, with the same smug, content feeling that the Roadrunner must have had after never being caught by Wile E. Coyote. No doubt Usain is proudly rewinding and watching his world records on video.

That means it is time to reflect on what has been a great track and field season.

As an athlete I would sit down and evaluate at this time of year before starting back winter training: what worked, what didn't work and how I could make things better.

I would eat all the foods I was not allowed for the previous 48 weeks and enjoy 'real life' for a bit before the routine starts again.

So what will certain athletes have on their report card for 2009? Mission accomplished, or could have done better?

Missions were definitely accomplished for several athletes including Bolt, heptathlete Jessica Ennis and those that stepped up in Berlin after Olympic disappointment and delivered like high jumper Blanka Vlašić and triple jumper Phillips Idowu.

In a previous blog I asked whether Bolt and Ennis would dominate their respective events in 2009 and they did so in great style.

Bolt continues to be the tonic the sport craves and Ennis has become the new 2012 pin-up.

Those that need to go back to the drawing board are any of Bolt's competitors and, as 2012 approaches faster than the man himself, several British athletes need to come back strong from either injuries or disappointing performances.

The British team, though, with their six medals in Berlin, did well, when you consider our medal hopefuls were dropping like flies before the Championships. Head coach Charles Van Commenee will be another man with a little smile on his face.

In his first season at UKA I think Charles can be pleased at what has been achieved. A lot has been said and written about his arrival and that of other overseas coaches.

I personally do not have an issue where our expertise and coaches come from, as long as the British coaches have a chance to shadow them, develop and learn from them.
Surely combining the experience and knowledge of others with our own is the way forward?

So what should we expect next season?

A fully fit Tyson Gay going eyeballs out, stride for stride with the big man, will be superb. I am not saying the 27-year-old from Kentucky can beat Bolt, but he will race Bolt, and that will be interesting.

Gay clocked 9.69 seconds over 100m this season, effecively on one leg because of groin trouble and with really bad starts. I can't wait until he comes out of the surgery room with a fixed groin to give us all the 'real' battle we have been wanting to see for two years.

Will Kenenisa Bekele. continue to match Bolt with his dominance and not get the same level of attention? Probably.

It has been a great season and of course pats on the back have to go to all those who made it so, including the great performances of our athletes who now head into 2010 with a super busy season including the European Championships at the end of July and the Commonwealth Games in October.

I remember in the Autumn of 1999 sitting down with my coaches and setting out the plan to peak at an Olympic Games that was towards the end of September. Not easy.

As many, including the Americans, concentrate on grand prix races and big times, distances and heights, our athletes will have to peak several times and very late in New Delhi.

The Commonwealth Games is fourth on the list of priorities to athletes, after the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans and again next year, with it being so late we may see many athletes either under-performing or not even bothering to do it.

Is there an argument for the home countries to send a developmental team to these Championships?

It was a great season so feel free to share your highlights. Roll on 2010.

Katharine will be discussing the big issues in Olympic sport on BBC Radio 5 live's London Calling programme on Thursday at 2000 BST.

A new season meant a new mission and this season that means the World Championships in Berlin.

There are those who left Beijing last year with gold and want to add another too show the world they are deserving of being the reigning Olympic champion.

And there are those who, in their minds, under-performed or had injuries in Olympic year, so want to make up for that.

One thing that stands out for me this year is potential head-to-head battles between athletes who got it right in Beijing and those who didn't.

Here are just three. Who do you think will win?

This battle between Mr Entertainer and Mr Quiet must be one of the most eagerly anticipated in athletics history.

Since putting in performances hotter than the Olympic flame in Beijing, Bolt has become a superstar, not just because of his fast feet but for his exuberance.

But the triple Olympic champion and world record-holder currently lies second in the world rankings behind American Gay, who went into the Olympics carrying a hamstring injury and failed to qualify for the final.

They are different characters, with different techniques but they have the same mission: to be number one on the only stage that matters this season. Bolt wants the world to see that he can beat anyone and Gay wants to show the world that Bolt can be beaten.

Many believe that, if Gay he not been injured, he could have challenged Bolt in Beijing. I don't. Many think Gay could challenge Bolt in Berlin, I don't.

The reason why? I don't believe with the injury set-backs Gay has had, he has raced enough and is fit enough to go through the rounds and still challenge a man who can win whichever way he runs a race.

After his 200m victory at the London Grand Prix, Gay was very tired, walking the slowest lap of honour of the two-day meet.

I interviewed him there and felt that maybe time is not on his side leading into a major championships.

MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP: NELSON EVORA v PHILLIPS IDOWU

When I say Phillips Idowu didn't get it right, let me explain. Phillips himself says he didn't get it right.

"It hurts" and "I fell short" are just two of the phrases Phillips will say when you ask him about missing the "Big G" by just 5cm to Portugal's Nelson Evora.

Evora, the reigning world champion, leads this year's world rankings but is just 6cm ahead of the man who took silver in Beijing.

Knowing how long it took him to finally box his Beijing disappointment and bury it in the garden, I hope Phillips he hops, steps and jumps his way to the top of the podium.

WOMEN'S 400M: CHRISTINE OHURUOGU v SANYA RICHARDS

There are two big questions here. Is Christine Ohuruogo fit enough to defend her title and will America's Sanya Richards finally judge her race properly when it matters?

Christine has raced this year with the weight of the world title and the Olympic gold medal round her neck. It's a nice weight, but a weight nevertheless. Her plans have been knocked off track though because of a virus and hamstring injury.

At both the 2007 Worlds in Osaka and in Beijing last year Christine has, quite rightly, taken advantage of Sanya's poor racing tactics in major finals.

Sanya may have the current world-leading time, as she did going into Beijing, but we all know Christine has a superb habit of getting it right when it matters, whatever circumstances she is coming into the Championships from.

When I was an athlete I didn't pay much attention to selection times or the criteria.

My coaches Ron Roddan and Linford Christie always had the national trials in my competition schedule and my remit was to win them and to consistently go under the qualification standard I needed beforehand.

Some athletes are already confirmed in the GB & NI team for next month's World Championships in Berlin.

But many athletes face a sleepless night on 27 July, with the full team announced the following day, taking into account performances at the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace which is being televised live on the BBC this Friday and Saturday.

With the likes of Phillips Idowu and Jess Ennis already packing their bags, who else will be Berlin bound?

In the men's 100m we have six athletes who have achieved the 'A' qualifying standard of 10.21 seconds this season. Simeon Williamson, trials winner with 10.05, is definitely in, but what about the others?

Dwain Chambers, ranked second in the UK with 10.06 and second at the trials, while Tyrone Edgar, ranked number three and third at the trials in Birmingham. They would be the three athletes I would select, at the moment!

Back at the last World Championships in 2007 though, I, like many, got it wrong. Williamson was the UK's number one sprinter after winning the European Under-23 Championships in 10.10 beating Craig Pickering. He then missed the World trials with a chest infection and with that infection went his place at the Worlds.

Marlon Devonish, Craig Pickering and Mark Lewis Francis, who had all run slower than Williamson were given the three places; the first two by right as they finished one and two at the trials. Lewis Francis was given the nod over Williamson. Williamson didn't even figure in the relay squad. This was unfair to Williamson.

Athletes who will be sweating and really needing to pull a performance out of the bag this weekend are the likes of high jumpers Tom Parsons and Olympic silver medallist Germaine Mason.

The 'A' standard is 2.31m and the 'B' standard 2.28m. Neither jumper has got any standard this season. If both achieve the 'A' standard this weekend, added with their top eight finish in Beijing, they're in; otherwise small print needs to be read!

Talking to athletes and reading the document which explains the qualifying criteria for Berlin, I find it quite confusing, as do some athletes. I would try and explain it to you but I do have a word limit on my blog!

So do the selectors give too many places based on reputation?

Will we see again this year relay members who are questionable on current form, but make the team based on their 'reliability' and 'experience'?

How many times have we seen selectors sometimes go with the top names when often they are not deserving. It is not just football where that happens!

Many countries, including the United States, Russia and Kenya for instance, insist the athletes must compete in their trials. British athletics authorities simply make a request that athletes compete.

Are we being too lenient?

Should UK Athletics put more emphasis on our trials and make them really mean something?

The question is: can we afford to do that?

Where many people get frustrated, athletes and coaches included, is when there is one rule for one athlete and another rule for others.

This season I have heard athletes and coaches moaning at all age group Championships where their athlete has been told to run at a trials event and some other athletes are missing in action.

There will always be a reason for athletes not turning out, whether they are ill or injured, and all in the sport are left to wonder whether they truly believe it or not.

Consistency has to somehow be found.

So why not do it like the Americans?

They know who is going as soon as the results are flashed up on the screen in the stadium at the national trials. Athletes know they have to finish in the top three and achieve the qualifying standard.

This is the rule and the athletes accept it.

All American athletes now know where they are - they are either concentrating on their final preparations for Berlin - or seeing how they can fill their time between the 15th-23rd August.

One of the arguments against a hard and fast trials-based selection policy in the UK, is that we do not have the same depth of athletes - we simply do not have that luxury.

If one of the big names in the US fails to deliver, in most of the events, they have back-up. We don't.

A hard line selection policy like that in the UK would reduce a team to being tiny.

Currently we have 39 athletes who have hit the 'A' standard needed in events outdoors this season, minus the three currently injured and one who has just retired.

That leaves us with 35 athletes who are technically capable of mixing it with the best in the world.

But they all can't go.
Of that number only three of the 'A' standards achieved are by field eventers; Chris Tomlinson, Phillips Idowu and Kate Dennison (four if you put Jess Ennis in that total).
Our weakness is big at the moment in the field.

I personally liked the old system of selecting the first two past the post at the trials who made the 'A' standard.

Maybe the criteria should be based on three things:

1) Trials performance
2) Head to head battles
3) An athlete's top three performances (in the outdoor season)

I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions folks.

On 19 August last year, 25-year-old high-jumper Mason made a first time clearance of 2.34m to equal his personal best and grab an Olympic silver medal.

He stood proudly on the podium as the simulated wind in the flagpoles fluttered the red, white and blue of the union jack. Team GB cheered and Jamaica cheered too.

Born in Jamaica in 1983 to a British father, Mason switched allegiance to Great Britain in 2006. He wasn't the first athlete to switch vests in sport and will definitely not be the last.

Germaine always talks for his love of Great Britain, with his mother and family living in London, and the pride he feels representing this nation.

I know his reason for choosing to represent GB was purely because he wanted to, but how many times do we see athletes jumping ship to represent a different nation for other reasons and is it right?

This is a complex debate and it opens up a big can of squirming worms!

British sport has inherited many successful stars as a result of dual citizenship, like Greg Rusedski in tennis and cricketer Kevin Pietersen. I always remember hearing Rusedski was British when he won and Canadian when he lost.

Meanwhile, footballer Manuel Almunia of Arsenal, with no British family connections, will qualify for citizenship after living here for five years.

Do we truly embrace athletes that can be considered 'not one of us' because they have non-British accents? Does it really matter who an athlete competes for? Is it not the performance that counts?

Germaine Mason lives and trains in Jamaica with the likes of Asafa Powell, alongside coach Stephen Francis. He doesn't feel removed from the GB team and is in a great situation of having the support of the Jamaican people, who know deep down it's also a medal for them.

There are many reasons why athletes switch nationalities.

These include the following:

• The athletes and their families will be financially better off.

• They can't make their own national team, by not being good enough or because of other rules. One example is Dwain Chambers being banned from the Olympic Games by Team GB, hence the rumour of him being snapped up by a Middle East country for 2012.

• Or maybe an athlete just wants to compete for another country because of family ties.

Zenebech Tola from Ethiopia and Stephen Cherono from Kenya are two high profile names in athletics. You may know them better as Maryam Jamal of Bahrain and Saif Shaheen of Qatar.

Jamal, the reigning World 1500m champion, and Shaheen, the world record holder for 3000m steeplechase, both changed alliances and both have very different stories.
Jamal was reportedly seeking political asylum.

She applied for citizenship in three different countries before Bahrain granted rapid citizenship, with conditions.

Shaheen caused a big stir, when in 2003 he changed his Kenyan shilling for the Qatar riyal, with reports there was a lot of money on offer. Who are we to judge an athlete's decision based on improving their lives and those of their families?

For many countries it is sometimes obvious that these switches are done on the basis of need and those countries are happy to take sporting names on board when they lack indigenous talent.

So when it is acceptable to change?

I presently see past the colour of an athlete's vest and cheer and applaud great sporting performances, including Germaine Mason jumping to an Olympic medal for Great Britain.

Even though I was a Nike-sponsored athlete for 12 years of my career, and the company is a major part of this event, I never made the start line here, normally because of injury.

Since touching down here on Thursday I have felt like I have been living in a little world that sits on its own, detached from the rest of the USA.

Everyone has said with amazement, "You have never been to Pre before? I can't explain why, but you will love it".

If I am honest, I wondered what the fuss was all about as athletics isn't very big in much of the USA.

In Eugene, Oregon, though, it is huge. It is called Tracktown USA because the town knows it track and field and the athletes love competing here.

The US Olympic trials were here last year and they had, over the 10 days, 200,000 spectators. Already Eugene is booked to host every major US Championships trials until at least 2013, including the London Olympic 2012 trials.

Bring athletics to Eugene and it goes down a storm, partly because of the town's history and passion for track and field, and partly because of the man the meeting is named after, Steve Prefontaine.

Prefontaine, who was tragically killed in a car accident in his running prime aged just 24 years old in 1975, helped inspire the "running boom" in the 1970s.

Primarily a long-distance runner who once held the American record in the seven distance track events from the 2,000 to 10,000m, Prefontaine enrolled at the University of Oregon to train under coach Bill Bowerman.

Bowerman co-founded Blue Ribbon Sports, later known as Nike, and Prefontaine became the first athlete to sign with the company in 1974.

For the 35 years since his death, they have an annual athletics meeting in Prefontaine's honour.

He is an icon in these parts, and the story that followed Wednesday's bad electrical storm, when the meet director's computer malfunctioned, showed that perfectly.

The director took the computer to the store to fix and they said it would be a week, he mentioned he needed it working ASAP as it was for the Prefontaine meeting and the older guy working there said: "For Pre, give me an hour".

The man was, as all are here, a Prefontaine fan and said he would sit most days with his friends when he was younger outside as Steve Prefontaine would do his daily run past.

They would say "Hi Pre", Prefontaine would say "Hi" back and the friends would talk about it for an hour.

Once I had delivered my live, 20-minute video presentation and done some interviews for the passionate 11,000 crowd, introducing over 30 Beijing Olympic medallists, I had the pleasure of standing on the finish line and watching a 20-event, two-hour meeting that was awesome.

The athletic performances, including Dwight Phillips jumping 8.74m for the fifth best long jump in history, were outstanding but it was as much about the vibe.

I then understood what everyone had been talking about all week.

The energy and emotion was electric. I have never in my 24 years in athletics felt anything like it, and I was part of one of the most iconic Olympic finals in history, with 112,000 people in the stadium in Sydney.

The Prefontaine family were in the stadium, as they are every year, and it was great to feel that for one day every year, a country that doesn't really do athletics, does it wonderfully.

Am I in the shape I think I am in? I wondered on the hour, every hour, in the build up to my first outdoor race of the year. Training gives you a guide, but there is nothing like a competition to tell you exactly where you are really at.

One man who has a very clear idea is Usain Bolt.

The 22-year-old triple Olympic champion now has another record to his name after running the fastest ever 150m. The lightening bolt from Trelawny in Jamaica is simply untouchable at the moment.

In case there were any doubts whether he had recovered from his recent car crash - which he described as "frightening" - and whether he could handle his new-found fame and pressure, he surely can take great comfort in the fact that when he is only 80% fit - as he says he is - he can still make the rest of the sprinters in the world look ordinary.

I had the pleasure of working on the Bupa Great Manchester 150m races and interviewed him twice before he raced. Before the race, I wondered whether he could he repeat in 2009 - if not better - what he did in Beijing last year. Yes he can!

So what does this mean for his competitors? Can anyone challenge the young man who could potentially have the world at his fast feet for many years to come?

He confirmed to me that medals rather than records are his motivation but, let's be honest, he could become the Yelena Isinbayeva of the sprinting world and break his own world records at will.

For fellow athletes his superiority could be devastating. How do you focus, train and even start to believe you can challenge someone like that?

If it were me, I would be leaving no stone unturned in making sure I was the best I could be. You cannot control what other athletes do.

Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell have the ability to challenge, if they stay fit and pull it together when it matters, but are there any British contenders?

Dwain Chambers believes he can be a challenger, but then so did every athlete in Beijing and look what happened to them!

Meanwhile, it's great to see Jessica Ennis back competing after the heartbreak of injury last summer.

In her first heptathlon competition back she posted a personal best and world lead, and deserves a huge pat on the back, as does her coach Toni Minicello.

Will 2009 see the changing of the heptathlon guard, with Athens Olympic medallist Kelly Sotherton handing the baton over to her younger rival? Knowing Kelly, she won't let go without a fight.

I love head-to-head competitions, especially in our on back yard. I still have frustrations that Donna Fraser and I never had the rivalry we could have, because of injuries we suffered.

So Ennis and Sotherton will no doubt battle over the coming months, and a full picture of the post-Olympic year will really start to take shape over the next few weeks.

But who will be able to keep up with Usain Bolt?

Katharine and the team discussed Bolt, Ennis and the new season on BBC Radio 5 Live's London Calling programme on Thursday. Listen again to the programme on iPlayer (for seven days after broadcast) or listen to Kath's interview with Usain Bolt.

It's a question many football fans have been asking since Newcastle appointed Alan Shearer as manager.

We also discussed the matter/issue on BBC 5 Live's London Calling programme last month, particularly in relation to Charles van Commenee, the new head coach of UK Athletics who was forced to end his competitive career at the age of 18 because of injury.

Just because you are good at sport doesn't mean you will be good at teaching it. Yes, you can have a sound knowledge base from what you have learnt from your own coaches but, when it comes to being a successful coach, ex-athletes run the risk of flying by their reputation rather than the knowledge they have.

Oddly, football clubs who bring in foreign managers - the likes of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger or Liverpool with Rafa Benitez - do so based on their coaching ability, while those who appoint home-grown managers - like Newcastle with Shearer - do it based on playing ability.

Athletics is peppered with former stars who have an input into athletes' careers, either as coaches or mentors. But the majority of athletes have coaches that never been stars themselves.

Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey both achieved phenomenal success with coaches who were students of the sport but had never hit the heights themselves.

There is a difference between experience and knowledge. So what skills does a good coach need?

To me, good coaching is about helping athletes to understand themselves, where they want to be, and helping them to get there. This means having knowledge of the sport and good communication skills.

In my experience the best coaches were the ones who took the time to get to know me as an individual, learning about my strengths and weaknesses.

Athletes are by nature blinkered and focused on their own careers. Does this mean they will take what could be described as selfish attributes into coaching and only teach what they think is right?

Some of the best coaching seems to come from a combination of experience at the highest level of sport and experience from years of coaching.

Linford Christie was coached throughout his career by Ron Roddan, whose own sprinting career peaked with an appearance in a Middlesex county final in the 1960s.

With help from Ron, Linford coached me and Darren Campbell to Olympic medals and the combination of knowledge and experiences from both of them together was priceless.

Now Linford is coaching on his own, with Ron as a sounding board, using all that he has learnt from him over the years.

Another successful coaching duo is Lloyd Cowan and Christine Bloomfield, who work with Christine Ohuruogu. Both were international athletes in their day but clearly have a great blend together that helps their athletes be far more successful than either of their coaches ever was.

Should therefore any person wanting to come into coaching, regardless of there sporting achievements, be subject to a period of apprenticeship? I know Sport England and UKA are now really putting an emphasis on coaching education and development.

I do believe ex-athletes can make excellent coaches and make a valuable contribution to the development of coaching.

However sometimes too much of an assumption is made from having been there and done it. This doesn't automatically make an effective coach.

Any person that can add to the support system of an athlete to develop them into the best they can be is a good thing.

Let's just make sure we develop and support the backbone of sport in this country and never overlook coaching talent from non-elite athletes.

Two of Great Britain's best medal prospects for this weekend's European Indoor Championships in Turin are Simeon Williamson and Mo Farah and both have spent much of the winter away from the cold and snow, in warmer climates.

It begs the question: Are most British athletes starting behind their counterparts just because they live here in the UK?

Mo has spent most of the last four months in Africa, living and breathing distance running and Simeon has for two months been training shoulder to shoulder with Asafa Powell in Jamaica.

I've spoken to both of them recently and they seem like new and improved models.

There is something different. It's like a glowing air of confidence around them, the type of confidence and self-belief you get from mixing with the best and seeing that so-called superhumans are in fact human.

Mo told me stories of crammed, basic facilities for living and training in. There were many athletes to one house, the track being over-run for sessions with 50-plus athletes, none of whom we are likely to have heard of, but who would no doubt top the rankings in many countries around the world.

On one occasion he asked training partner how they were getting back to his house after a hard session, and the guy said, "I only live round the corner, we are running home".

Mo laughed when telling me, he was still running "home" after 10 miles!

It has paid off, though. Since returning to the UK, Mo has broken the British indoor 3,000m record twice, smashing his own mark by six seconds in Birmingham a fortnight ago.

At the same meeting, Simeon took the second 60m place in the GB team for the European Indoors with a personal best 6.53 secs.

Simeon booked a trip to Jamaica courtesy of his second cousin, GB Olympic high jump medallist Germaine Mason, who trains there.

I asked him on our last 5 Live London Calling programme whether it was that different, apart from the weather.

"Nothing is really different - same type of training - but the weather helped a lot," he said.

The UK is always going to be at a disadvantage when it comes to weather, but we are a successful track-and-field nation.

It is common for many athletes of all levels to stay at home for much of the winter, then sharpen up pre-season with a few weeks in the heat. UKA have training camps where funded athletes are sent with only a few exceptions making their own arrangements.

Several are already training together in San Diego, rather than heading to Turin, and more will join them after the Euros. Christine Ohuruogu is planning to train elsewhere in California, as she did so successfully last year.

The psychological, as well and the physical, benefits are there but these specific placements of Simeon and Mo seem to bearing extra fruit, making them real world-class contenders.

The weather and longer time away play a part, but success breeds success. If you mix with the best, you start believing you can be the best. You can then ride that wave of confidence to new, dizzy heights.

It also shows that when the right opportunity knocks you should grab it and run. Maybe you will end up running faster than you ever have before.

Should other athletes be looking at what the pair have done and see what they can learn? Perhaps UK Athletics should look more closely at placing more athletes into these environments.

But all this week I have had to defend indoor athletics, as some viewers and athletes were not happy having seen last weekend's European Trials in Sheffield. "Flat" and "no atmosphere" were some of the comments.

So what really is the point to indoor athletics?

Many use it to break up the long winter training, to acquire vital competition experience (especially for juniors), to improve confidence, to test their levels of fitness, and also, for the top athletes, to earn some money.

In Birmingham, the track and runways are fast, the prize money is good and the competition is hot.

I competed twice in this Grand Prix event setting two British records and now work as the in-field presenter at the event. Every year I get excited about heading to the NIA because of the quality of the event.

The main aim for athletes this season is the World Championships in Berlin in August. Will those competing indoors be picking up the medals in the summer? Speaking as a former athlete, that is the plan! But of course we know it doesn't always work like that.

I saw indoors as fun and never altered my training sessions for it, like Christine Ohuruogo is doing this year. A former training partner of mine, former world indoor champion Jamie Baulch, saw it as his time to shine and he was arguably a more successful athlete indoors.

The question is always asked. Can you be successful at both indoors and outdoors in the same year?

Look at the likes of triple jumper Phillips Idowu last season, going from World Indoor champion to Olympic silver medallist, and Yelena Isinbayeva, who heads to Birmingham this weekend having just broken her 26th world record (indoors and out). It can be done.

The reason why this isn't attempted by all athletes is that many are scared of damaging the outdoor season - which is often the main goal.

I also feel that some coaches don't have the inclination or the knowledge of how to get their athletes to peak for both indoor and outdoor championships.

So this weekend Birmingham welcomes the world's best talent. The indoor circuit is always more relaxed and the athletes have one eye on their performances, but they know in the back of their mind it is the summer that counts.

Athletes can take the pressure off themselves and also fall back on the line "it's the summer that counts" if they underperform.

Kath will be appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live's London Calling programme on Thursday 19 February from 2100 GMT