"I've said over the years that British sprinters are very lazy and don't really want to practise," says former world record holder Asafa Powell.
Now, is it just me, or does anyone else think that's a bit rich coming from a Jamaican? I mean, Jamaica, renowned for being the world's most laid-back country...hardly a nation you'd expect to be particularly industrious! And so, was it hard graft that made Asafa the phenomenon he is today? I think not...
Powell hails from Spanish Town - in recent years this former Jamaican capital has also earned itself the title of Murder Capital. During August 2004 the town averaged 4 murders a day. Faced with this kind of statistic is it any wonder that the town's inhabitants run bloody fast?
Anyone care to tell Linford Christie, Colin Jackson, Sally Gunnell or Daley Thompson that they're lazy? They'd wave their Olympic medals in your face (er, Colin wouldn't do this as he's far too nice...and didn't actually win one, but he was world record holder). And along with Linford, how about sub 10 second sprinters Jason Gardner, Dwain chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis (let's ignore that faulty wind gauge shall we)? OK, maybe Team GB does struggle to compete against the best Jamaica and the US can throw at us, but it's not from a lack of trying.
So let's consider the obstacles Britain's valiant sprinters have to overcome.
The legacy starts in school. If you're a Brit reading this now, let me ask you, just how much encouragement did you get from your PE teacher in school? I've always loved sport but have never been gifted in this field. What I lacked in talent I more than made up for in enthusiasm. That was, however, until it was knocked out of me by my school's head of sport, Mrs Lynch. During a tennis lesson one dreary summer's afternoon it was pointed out to me in front of the whole class that my tennis racket hung by my side like a piece of limp knicker-elastic. Hmmm, ridicule, always guaranteed to bring out the best in a child...
The dismal British climate isn't exactly conducive to electrifying track times. Caribbean sprinters can expect their winter training to take place in around 8 hours of sunshine with temperatures averaging 29C. On a winter's day in London you can expect just 2 degrees, howling gales, permadrizzle and an average of just one hour's sunshine - I can feel the rickets setting in now...
Didn't your granny always tell you to wrap up warm? Well those thermal underpants really start to chafe when you reach speeds over 10 metres per second. And it's a scientific fact that wearing thermals can cause an average reduction in speed of 0.012m/s. That's a loss of a whopping 1.2 seconds over 100m!
To my mind British sprinters deserve a medal for simply turning up having overcome such colossal adversity.
You can call us beer-swilling, uncultured, pie-eating, unwashed lardy-arses.
But lazy?
No, I'm not having that Mr Powell!