There were some outstanding performances at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Oslo yesterday, but in retrospect perhaps the most impressive effort of the week came on the day before the athletics action as Britain managed very successfully to beat the London 2012 drum with the assistance of two Jamaicans on Norwegian soil.

Well, okay, strictly speaking not Norwegian soil as this particular enterprise, assisted by a marvellous switch in the weather from gloom to sun, took place within the grounds of the British Embassy on the outskirts of Oslo, a creamy wedding cake of a building set in rolling lawns stocked with fir, horse chestnut and oak.

It was here in the welcome glare of a returning summer that the British Ambassador Jane Owen (pictured below, centre) – very bright, very touchy-feely – stood on a winding gravel pathway awaiting the two particularly special guests to her party – Messrs Asafa Powell (pictured below, right) and Usain Bolt (pictured below, left).


This was no ordinary party. It was, as Owen later said, the first time in 37 years that the traditional Strawberry (and champagne) Party welcoming athletes and press alike to the annual Bislett Games had been held on "foreign" soil.

The reason for this unusual state of affairs, as Owen also later explained to the throng assembled on the stepped terrace which hosted the buffet, was to celebrate the links between Bislett – where so many British athletes such as Seb Coe and Steve Cram had helped write glorious track history over the years – and London, where, just in case those present had been unsure, the 2012 Games were to be celebrated.

"We think the Games are going to be a hugely successful event and a magnet for London," said Owen after thanking "so many of our business partners in Norway" for attending. She added that she had been glancing at the most recent trade figures between Norway and the United Kingdom expecting them, as you do, to be around £20 billion ($30 billion/€25 billion). But glory be, they were worth £25 billion ($39 billion/€31 billion).

After mentioning the Torch Relay and the fact that it was due to get around to within an hour of every UK citizen, and also making the point that the Games had precipitated the creation of the biggest area of urban parkland in 150 years in the capital, she enjoined everyone who could to take advantage of the Games on their "doorstep" by visiting it and enjoying it.


But this all came later. As she stood on the driveway expectantly in front of a branded sign reading Green is GREAT Britain, the invited guests had come trailing up the gravel – a mixed bunch. Elegant couples. Smart family units. A number of self-satisfied men just a little old for the jeans they were wearing, some accompanied by women just a little too thin.

One father announced darkly to his son as he steered him through the waiting crowd of snappers and scribblers: "This is the Press."

The flutter of shutters presaged the arrival of the sprinters, who found themselves briskly arranged in front of the branded sign alongside the Ambassador and holding Olympic and Paralympic mascots the size of small children in their arms. "How are you enjoying Oslo so far," enquired the Ambassador brightly of Powell, her head swivelling up to look at him. The response wasn't discernible.

Suddenly, Jessica Ennis was there alongside them in the photoshoot. Suddenly, she wasn't, and nor was she at the subsequent press conference held, bizarrely, on the tennis courts near the end of the garden and witnessed by a fascinated tranche of roped-off guests. They were agog at a media spectacle which has been repeated all around the world over the last four years since Bolt thudded slap-bang into the centre of the world's sporting consciousness with his Beijing 2008 Olympic wins.


Was Bolt still interested in playing for Manchester United? (No). Who did he think would win the 2012 European Championship? Who did he want to win? (Polite response). Had his life changed since winning at the 2008 Olympics? He paused for a moment at this one, clearly trying to work out how even to start to begin to approach an answer, finally settling for: "I haven't changed as a person, I don't think. I can afford to buy more stuff now though."

At the conclusion of this event, the amplified voice of the Ambassador, who was shortly due to meet David Cameron at the airport as he arrived for a swift visit to discuss affairs of state with the Norwegian Prime Minister, was heard inviting everyone up the little hill to the stepped terrace, where strawberries, champagne and speeches awaited.

You have to say, as an exercise in diplomacy and the promotion of London and the UK's cause, it was impressive.


Not that everything stayed on-message, however. Asked at the press conference for their thoughts on the Olympic mascots they had briefly nurtured, Powell responded: "A bit fat..." (Has he been talking to someone at UK Athletics?)

Bolt's response was equally ambivalent. "Only one eye. Kinda weird."

Know what he means...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.