The World Athletics Championships ended, predictably, in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Lord Coe, of the IAAF, was thanked by the BBC for laying on the greatest games ever, Coe returned the praise to the broadcaster for their wonderful coverage. Back in the studio all the talk was of how soon the event could return to London. We're so fine, do-lang, do-lang, do-lang, as The Chiffons didn't sing.
'That's why athletics is the greatest sport in the world,' cooed a commentator, surveying a podium containing one Russian athlete, running as a neutral because his country is so bent it is banned, and a gold medallist from Qatar, who has the unique distinction of being the first medal-winner from that country to be born there.