ContinueCall it naive or simply taking too much for granted but Dai Greene should surely have realised that, in the Olympics, athletes will go to beyond what is humanly possible in order to get the smallest advantage on their opponents.
British athletics team captain Greene thought that his biggest rivals in the 4x400m hurdles would simply do their bit in an Olympic Games semi-final and then jog the final few metres to the line, saving their energies for the final.
However, the stars in his semi-final on Saturday - the big guns of world one-lap hurdling in Felix Sanchez, Jehue Gordon and Kerron Clement - went eyeballs out to claim a place in that final and, by the skin of his teeth as a fastest loser, Greene made it.
Even so, he ran a faster time in that heat - 48.19 - than he did in winning the World Championships crown in Deagu, Korea, last year.
He didn't help himself either by feeling he nearly let people down by just getting into the final by the back door. As an ex-Swansea City football prospect, Greene should know that any manager of the round-ball sport will tell you that a 1-0 win, just like his scrape into the final, is all that matters. Being there not being out!
After finishing fourth behind Sanchez in the Games final on Tuesday night, Greene said: "When I was fifth on Saturday, I realised that all the guys in the race were pushing to try and get into the final and, if the truth is known, I was off the pace.
"It took a while for me to recover from that. It took a lot out of me mentally. Tonight was a good performance but I just felt wanting a bit at the end."
He also said he was fatigued before the start of the race but added: "I was a bit shell-shocked, having been beaten by those guys in the semi-final. I looked back and realised it was a final I was looking to get to and I had to really be on top form to try to make it.
"I didn't look at it like that. I thought they would treat it as a semi and I was caught napping by that.
"I put in a great performance - 48.1 (in the semi-final) would have been the fastest time not to have made a final had I missed out - but the guys really raised their performance and it did take a while for me to get used to that.
"I have never been in that situation where everyone has raised their performance that much.
"I have had my doubts in the past because I don't believe people can up their game on demand. I always believed in consistency. I was shocked and it took a few hours to deal with it. The next morning, people didn't want to see me too much."
Greene also thought that a few more months training in the depths of last winter, which he missed through injury, may have made up the tenths of a second he needed to get a medal.
However, the truth is that, as quick as the 26-year-old is and the titles he has won, the Olympics brings out superhuman performances from people and Tuesday night was one of them.
Even if Welshman Greene had beaten his personal best of 47.84secs by a tenth, it still would not have been good enough to win gold as Dominican Republic legend Sanchez ran a mind-blowing 47.63secs for a season's best.
There is no doubt that Greene is a global star but he is now mixing in very seriously fast company, with new American star Michael Tinsley, who won their trials from Beijing Olympic champion Angelo Taylor (who finished fifth in Tuesday's final), in silver behind Sanchez and Puerto Rican Javier Culson in bronze.
Time is still on Greene's side as Sanchez has proved this week by winning the London Olympic title at 34.
But, in Rio, speed will have increased even more. Greene has improved to that 47.84secs personal best from 49.53secs back in 2008 after the last Olympics in Beijing.
But times will be even quicker in Brazil in 2016 and both he and his coach Malcolm Arnold will be planning how to increase that PB by probably half-a-second at the minimum to be in gold contention with the Games next resume in South America.
Follow the London Olympic Games with Gary's blogs here on Sportsvibe, at www.walesandwest.com and also on Facebook (Gary Baker) and Twitter @wwmedia
