I mean, what you got to lose? You come from nothing. You’re going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing

— Monty Python’s Life of Brian

In recent times the British athletics vista has been one of grumpy old men looking wistfully to the past while their modern successors are damned as test-missing money-chasers who will never amount to anything. But amid the drip-feed of old-school kickings, something emerged from the ashes of the World Championships last year and while it would be optimistic to term it a phoenix, it was an improvement on the expected dead parrot.

It was not only the one-two of Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders in the 400 metres in Osaka, Japan. Great Britain’s position in the medal and placing tables was the best since 1999 and they achieved that without some of their best bets in Paula Radcliffe, Nathan Douglas and Dean Macey. There were 35 seasonal and lifetime bests compared with six two years earlier, while nine men reached a final as opposed to only Tim Benjamin in Helsinki. Even the most cynical must consider that progress.

The hard work has started for those looking to the Olympics in August, with the indoor season getting under way in earnest in Glasgow this month and 40 athletes heading for Potchefstroom in South Africa for warm-weather training, but the truth is that Radcliffe is carrying the bulk of the hopes, as she did four years ago.

This is partly down to her resilience, ending a 21-month absence from marathon running by winning in New York in November, and partly down to a paucity of peers. Look through the best performances in Olympic events for 2007 and only Chris Tomlinson and Phillips Idowu, the jumpers, made the top ten lists for men. A further four – Douglas, Mo Farah, Marlon Devonish and Andy Turner – crept into the top 20 in their events, but genuine Olympic medal hopes are scarce.

Blame can be thrown in various directions. Malcolm Arnold, one of the most respected coaches in the sport, who is overseeing the career of Craig Pickering, the 100 metres runner, has previously accused athletes of not training hard enough, while Darren Campbell, part of the 4 x 100 metres gold medal-winning relay team in Athens in 2004, once suggested that athletes spend too much lottery money on Play-Station games and DVDs. John Regis, another Olympic medal-winner, memorably previewed last year’s World Championships by saying: “If you spray peanuts around, you get monkeys.” Ohuruogu’s progress this year will be interesting with regards to the merits of lottery funding. While serving her one-year ban for missing three drugs tests last year, she was shorn of financial assistance and cast out of the UK Athletics system. That she returned to win a gold and relay bronze makes you wonder if hunger, resentment and part-time jobs at Newham Council are more powerful motivators than £25,000 a year.

The British women have long surpassed the men and six made the top five lists in 2007 – Ohuruogu, Sanders, Radcliffe, Goldie Sayers, Jessica Ennis and Kelly Sotherton. All have Olympic medal chances, although Ohuruogu and Sanders will face the majestic figure of Sanya Richards in Beijing. The American missed out in Osaka because of illness and the United States’ sudden-death trial system, but Ohuruogu admitted that she was in a different league as Richards helped herself to a share of the Golden League’s $1 million (about £500,000) jackpot. The good news for the British is that Olympic scheduling means that Allyson Felix, the US’s latest sprint sensation, will not run the 400 metres and her favoured 200 metres.

Sanders may end up being the better bet of the Britain duo because she is a relative newcomer to the flat after switching from the hurdles in 2006. Her success in Osaka, where she also became the first British woman to dip below 49sec for 400 metres in the relay, was all the more laudable given she had been troubled by knee and Achilles problems in the preamble. Her first goal is the World Indoor Championships in Valencia in March, when she will hope to add to the European indoor title she won last year.

There is a similar internal rivalry in the heptathlon, where the winner of the Sotherton-Ennis clash may bag an Olympic medal. Sotherton’s limp-wristed javelin has become the rawest of nerves, while Ennis’s prowess on the track has been hampered by her throws and the long jump. If they improve – and Ennis’s first big competition was only in 2006, when she won Commonwealth bronze – they could spring a surprise.

Something will have to go wrong with Carolina Klüft, from Sweden, first and the reunion with Lyudmila Blonska, the Ukrainian who once failed a drugs test, will test the acid tongue of Sotherton. It is likely that, with Klüft and Sotherton contemplating retiring from the heptathlon after the Beijing Games, Ennis’s best chance will come down the line in London. The same goes for Pickering, Simeon Williamson, his sprint colleague, and Michael Rimmer, the spiky 800 metres runner.

If there is a surprise package in 2008, it is likely to come from those returning from injury. Macey in the decathlon would be a popular triumph for all who like their sports stars to have more heartache than a screening of Kramer versus Kramer, while it could be a make-or-break year for Becky Lyne in the 800 metres as she hopes to get back to her level in 2006 after a year ravaged by calf trouble.

Idowu has had a bad back, but remains the triple jump’s unexploded bomb, dormant for long periods but still dangerous, while Greg Rutherford is young, rough and talented, but worryingly injury-prone. Rutherford’s long-jump colleague, Tomlinson, the British record-holder, has much to prove after an awful time in Osaka, as does Sayers in the javelin, but both have the ability to rock the boat.

So what have they got to lose? There is no point criticising a lack of talent, only a lack of effort. Inflating expectations has long proved detrimental to English football and while the chance of athletics gold may start and end with Radcliffe, only Kelly Holmes, Jonathan Edwards, Denise Lewis, Sally Gunnell and Linford Christie have won that colour for Britain in individual events in the past 20 years.

Inevitably, this will be Radcliffe’s year. It only remains to be seen whether it is one of cathartic triumph and BBC awards or heroic failure and teary post mortems with Steve Cram. The green shoots are beginning to sprout in Britain, but the stark reality is that, as we get into Olympic year, Radcliffe remains the only athlete with everything to lose.

Hopes and dreams: the Britons aiming to make an impression in China

Best bets

Paula Radcliffe (34), marathon
The only marathon she has lost was at the Athens Olympics, but she will face a severe test from a strong Japanese contingent and Zhou Chunxiu, of China, in Beijing.

Christine Ohuruogu (23), 400 metres
Terminally tainted by her missed drugs tests, Britain’s solitary world champion needs to start running sub-50sec regularly if she is to worry Sanya Richards this season.

Nicola Sanders (25), 400 metres
Arguably the British athlete of last year, the European indoor champion and world silver medal-winner is the fourth fastest British woman and should get better if injury-free.

Long shots

Kelly Sotherton (31), heptathlon
Lost more than 300 points to Carolina Klüft in the javelin at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and the Commonwealth champion will need to make a massive improvement in that event to have a chance of the gold or silver.

Jessica Ennis (21), heptathlon
Did better than Sotherton in five out of seven events in Osaka, but let down by her shot and long jump. Only 21, the psychology graduate’s best chance will come in 2012.

Phillips Idowu (29), triple jump
Hugely inconsistent, the European indoor champion showed promise in Oslo last year before bombing at the World Championships.

Rising stars

Simeon Williamson (21), 100 metres
Controversially overlooked for the World Championships in Osaka, Britain’s second fastest sprinter last year will try to overhaul Marlon Devonish and keep Craig Pickering at bay while targeting 10sec and Beijing.

Michael Rimmer (21), 800 metres
The Liverpool Pembroke Sefton man had a great summer, but hare-like tactics at the World Championships blew up in his face. Has caught the attention of Lord Coe, his hero.

Stephanie Twell (18), 1,500 metres
Saddled with “the new Paula” tag, Twell may not even try for Beijing this year, but has two European junior cross-country titles and a 12-year plan that sees her running the Olympic marathon in 2020.