Thankfully those days have disappeared as we witnessed post-Atlanta, culminating in the most successful Games ever in Rio.

Naturally the lingering gold dust has settled on the competitors but the contribution of the back staff in the BOA engine room should not be underestimated, and certainly not overlooked when the shoal of gongs promised by new Prime Minister Theresa May are dished out in the New Year.

Their professionalism and organisational efficiency were major factors according to many team members. Obviously it helped in having one of Britain’s most august Olympians, Sebastian Coe, as the nominal head of the body; though I doubt he would claim the credit because his own priorities have been elsewhere these past couple of years, fighting and winning the election for the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

He would be the first to acknowledge that the kudos should go to the entire BOA team in Rio, most notably the estimable Chef de Mission Mark England and the man Coe appointed as chief executive, Bill Sweeney.

Coe steps down at the BOA AGM next month, as we always knew he would once he became head honcho of world athletics.

But it seemed he had paved the way for a successor when the former Sports and Olympics minister Sir Hugh Robertson, knighted after 2012, was newly appointed as his vice chair. It looked a smooth transition was evolving.

However, it is now reported that former Olympic hockey gold medallist Richard Leman, president of GB Hockey, is considering standing against Robertson.

Leman, 57, a member of the winning GB hockey team in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, had been Lord Colin Moynihan's choice to succeed him when he stood down after London 2012.

But that was before Coe showed any interest.

Leman does not have the high profile of Robertson, but it is believed there are a number on the BOA who would like to see an election this time around, especially as Leman withdrew after Coe announced he was standing four years ago. Some would prefer Coe’s successor to come from within the ranks of a national constituent body.

And some are certainly not in favour of another Tory knight and MP following two Tory peers in Coe and Moynihan.

Both Robertson and Leman were in Rio to support Team GB.

I do not know Leman but by all accounts he is a decent bloke who sportingly stepped aside four years ago when it became apparent Lord Coe, riding high on the triumph of London 2012, was in a position to take over the baton of the BOA leadership from the outgoing Moynihan.

Cards on the table. I got to know Robertson quite well and I like him very much. Of the veritable rugby XV of Sports Ministers I have encountered since the first - and the finest - Denis Howell in the 1960s - he was probably the least politically motivated as far as sport is concerned.

In fact I wrote here at the time of his appointment, initially as shadow Sports Minister: “As a lifelong, but currently rather disaffected Labour supporter, I would not be unhappy at seeing Robertson as Sports Minister.

“For a Tory he’s not a bad bloke - one of the most decent and fair-minded politicians I have encountered. The ex-Army major who saw active service in Northern Ireland, the Gulf War and Bosnia, has a good grasp of what sport is about at all levels.”

I stand by that today (not least at being disaffected as Jeremy and the Corbynistas lead Labour to probably an electoral disaster).

Like Coe, Robertson resisted ever using sport as a vehicle for political promotion.

He has yet to finally confirm that he will stand in October. But if he does I hope he wins as I believe he would make a decent chair of the BOA.

Like Leman he was a keen hockey player, and he also played cricket for the MCC.

Before entering Parliament, he was an officer in The Life Guards from 1985 to 1995, seeing active service in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, The Gulf War and Bosnia where he commanded the British detachment in Sarajevo during the siege of the city. He also commanded The Household Cavalry on the 1993 Queen’s Birthday Parade and The State Opening of Parliament.

After 2012 he knows his way around Olympic circles, and importantly he is now out of politics.

After his tenure as Sports and Olympics Minister he became a Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for the Middle East and counter-terrorism.

In 2014 he resigned from that post and subsequently stood down as MP for Faversham in Kent at the last general election.

He is now head of the London office and director of international relations for PR outfit Falcon and Associates, specialising in the Middle East.

There are a few others who might make a decent fist of chairing the BOA at this time.

Olympics rowing knights Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent have been approached in the past but won’t be standing this time. Neither will Sir Chris Hoy, who is capable and well respected.

Robertson apart, my choice would be for a first female chair - the charismatic Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (now Labour-leaning peer in the House of Lords, by the way).

Not only is she an able administrator, but she would be a wonderful  bridge between Britain’s superb Paralympians and their able-bodied counterparts.

But for me Robertson, at 53, six years younger than Coe, remains the most obvious choice to lead the BOA in helping Team GB to even greater glory in Tokyo.