Will 2009 mark the changing of the guard?

After all the excitement that was Beijing, the post-Olympic year can often seem somewhat low key by comparison, yet this summer's World Championships in Berlin offer a definite opportunity for those who so nearly made it in Beijing or are the rising stars of British athletics to put down a marker ahead of 2012.

2009 could well be the year when some of the established stars finally call time on their successful track and field careers and the new tyros stake their claim. After having to miss this month's Flora London Marathon through injury, Paula Radcliffe will be determined to bounce back in an attempt to regain the world marathon title she won in Helsinki in 2005.

If only (how often do we say that?) Kelly Sotherton can stay fit then the likely absence of Carolina Kluft from the heptathlon will surely give her the best chance of gold she's likely to have, although a resurgent Jessica Ennis may have something to say about that!

It was a case of so near yet so far for Lisa Dobriskey in China when apparently misguided tactics left her with too much to do on the home straight and she narrowly missed out on a medal. Hopefully it will be a case of a lesson learned for Lisa. Long-jumper Greg Rutherford may have flattered to deceive on the big occasion but, like Phillips Idowu, on his day he is capable of producing the big winning jump. For Jade Johnson and Mark Lewis-Francis it may be a case of the "last chance saloon" but it would be foolish and premature to write either of them off.

Perri Shakes-Drayton missed out on selection for the Olympic team in favour of the more experienced eventual medallist Tasha Danvers (so a selection certainly vindicated), yet the youngster, coached by BASC Ron Pickering Coaching Award winner Chris Zah, was still present with the squad to savour the experience and 2009 could well see her overtake her rival in the pecking order.

Tom Parsons and Martyn Bernard joined medallist Germaine Mason in making up a trio of British men in the Olympic High Jump Final (now when did that last happen? I'm sure some of our members will know when, if ever, it did). Could two high-jump medallists either this summer in Berlin or in 2010 in Barcelona be a genuine possibility?

Let's hope Mo Farah can carry his outstanding indoor form onto the outdoor track too. If his GB team mates run as a team to support him, as they did in Turin, it will be something we haven't seen in British distance running since the "golden age". Steph Twell will surely be looking to put her recent World Cross-Country disappointment down as an isolated blip and further develop her extremely promising track career.

So the more you think about it this summer should be a fascinating one and not just be about Usain Bolt, incredible athlete that he is. In three summers' time some of the British rising stars could well be at their peak and I for one have surprised myself about how optimistic I am about some of their chances of 2012 success. You only have to watch a football match to know how often the passionate support of the home crowd effectively acts as a "twelfth man" for the home team. I think Stratford might end up with 80,000 twelfth men (and women)!