IT was the night of nights last summer for UK track and field fans - three Olympic gold medals in 45 minutes, arriving like London buses after the longest of waits.
It had been 100 years since Britain's last Olympic athletics gold on home soil – by Scotsman Wyndham Halswelle, over 400 metres, in 1908.
The legacy of that first British Olympics took time to deliver – no medals at all in 1948. The class of 2012 has a chance to build on that in the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games next weekend, one year on from the Olympic opening ceremony and in the same venue.
The two-day sell-out athletics meeting on Friday and Saturday, part of the global Diamond League, is followed on Sunday by an event showcasing Paralympic talent, including Scottish long jumper Stef Reid.
Olympic champion Greg Rutherford will not compete in Saturday's long jump, but he is confident for the World Championships which open in Moscow in a fortnight, while heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis remains uncertain. This leaves only Mo Farah of the trio of champions that magical evening as a certain starter.
On Friday, in Monaco, Farah intensified the frisson of anticipation with a feat as dramatic as any success to date. Running 1500 metres – way short of the 5000 and 10,000m at which he bids for a world double next month – he smashed the British record held for 28 years by Steve Cram, with 3min 28.81sec. This consigned the Cram, Coe, and Ovett era to history – an overdue milepost and remarkable post-2012 legacy.
HM Revenue & Customs have waived the tax burden on overseas big guns, such as Usain Bolt, ensuring their participation. He is training at Brunel University for his three races: 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. First, however, he can expect a media doping inquisition, given the situation of his Jamaican compatriot, former world record-holder Asafa Powell.
Friday presents an outstanding opportunity for James Dasaolu (9.91 at the UK trials) to measure himself against Bolt and the de facto world No 2 this year, Nesta Carter.
Londoner Farah can expect a resounding welcome on his return to the scene of his Olympic triumphs. So can 400m silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu, whose rivals include Commonwealth hurdles silver medallist Eilidh Child, with the Scot switching to the flat for this meeting.
A year out from the Commonwealth Games, Scotland should already be thinking about legacy delivery post-2014 and the Scots on the Anniversary Games start list are just the athletes to deliver it. Eilish McColgan, fifth in the Diamond League steeplechase on Friday (9:45.72), is also backing off the barriers before the Worlds, running the 3000m. That race will be an emotional one for Steph Twell, who missed the Olympics due to injury, but now belatedly gets the chance to savour the atmosphere.
Laura Muir moves up from the 800m (which she runs in Moscow) to contest the 1500m. The Glasgow veterinary student from Milnathort has already qualified at both distances for 2014. If she breaks her personal best (4:07.76) her University of Glasgow coach, Andy Young, must forfeit burgers for a week.
Moscow-bound high jumper Allan Smith, who moved to second on the Scottish all-time list with 2.26 metres last weekend in winning European Under-23 bronze, faces a field which includes Olympic medallist Robbie Grabarz.
West Linton's Chris O'Hare, however, has turned down an invitation to run the Emsley Carr Mile, to concentrate on Moscow.
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