It is still six years away, and a million metaphorical miles from the tranquil corner of rural Aberdeenshire in which she happens to live, but Hannah Miley does not have to close her eyes to imagine what it might be like to dip a competitive toe in home water at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the east end of London in 2012. Sitting in the living room of the Miley home in a quiet valley west of Inverurie, Hannah can still hear the echo of the roar she experienced at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre two months ago.

It is still six years away, and a million metaphorical miles from the tranquil corner of rural Aberdeenshire in which she happens to live, but Hannah Miley does not have to close her eyes to imagine what it might be like to dip a competitive toe in home water at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the east end of London in 2012. Sitting in the living room of the Miley home in a quiet valley west of Inverurie, Hannah can still hear the echo of the roar she experienced at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre two months ago.

You might say John Steele has had an eventful baptism as one of the prime movers and shakers in British sport. When he took up his post on 1 July last year it was quickly apparent that this was an innovative appointment. Here was someone who actually spoke the language of the playing field.

Wayne Rooney’s toe woe may signify the end of the world, or at least the World Cup, for the citizens of Manchester and beyond, but a refreshing sense of normality pervades down the road from Old Trafford at Sport City, where hundreds of athletes from an assortment of nations have been doing their thing all week in pursuit of medals in another World Cup.