It is the most familiar of stories for Christine Ohuruogu, an athlete who unfailingly refuses to reveal her best until it truly matters. Almost every championship season of what is now a 12-year career at the sharp end of elite athletics is dominated in the build-up by worries around her form.
Relax Britain: it seems the real Chrissie O is here. The heats of the 400m are, for those with serious ambition, no place to bring an A-game but give small pointers nonetheless.
Ohuruogu cruised it here, easing round in a relaxed 51.40 and looking supremely unbothered.
She plays possum better than anyone, down to that trademark storming finish off the last bend. Whether she is really in the shape to challenge for medals is still unknown – it has been a difficult season – but if anyone can it is her.
She does not like to speak after the early rounds so what she thought of it was unknown but a springy Rio track looks to her liking.
These are Ohuruogu’s fourth Olympics, an impressive feat of longevity since making her debut and reaching the semi-finals at Athens 2004.
Since then there have been Olympic gold and silver, at Beijing and London, and two world titles. She has nothing whatsoever left to prove and, if this is her final Games, is unlikely to depart with a whimper.
Below Ohuruogu the shallowness of the British challenge in this event was cruelly exposed in the morning sunshine.
Seren Bundy-Davies, a runner not without gifts, had a nightmare in the opening heat, trailing in last fully two and a half seconds below her season and personal best. Unless injury or illness is a mitigation, that represents a failure of epic scale.
“I don’t really know where to start and I don’t really know where I’ve gone wrong.
“It’s one of those where I need to go back and look at it but I would have been disappointed to not even run a PB in that race and I’ve run 53secs, so I’m really disappointed,” said Bundy-Davies.
“I don’t want to make excuses. I’ve been in PB shape in training, I’ve run PBs this season and I feel like I’m running well in training. I’m really gutted in that performance as I don’t think it reflects what I am capable of.”
Without wanting to be overly harsh – Bundy-Davies is 21 and has many better days ahead – it was an unacceptable display and one which might make her coaches question her future at this distance. There is a body of opinion that 800m represents a better bet.
Emily Diamond ran a bit closer to form, her 51.76 being .53sec below her best this season. She had the excuse of a bout of food poisoning two nights ago and qualified as a fastest loser.
“I’m really happy with that as at one point I thought I would end up running 53 or 54 seconds and that’s just not me as an athlete,” she said. “It’s frustrating as I know I am in sub-51sec shape. So, if I’m fit, hopefully I can just pull out a solid recovery tomorrow.”
The 400m heats also had a touching Eric the Eel moment in the sixth race, when the 19-year-old Somali athlete Maryan Muse trailed around a third of a lap behind the rest of the field to the delight of the crowd.
There might be the usual tedious calls for higher standards but these moments of humanity are a part of the Olympic narrative and serve as a reminder that not all nations have the resources to join the cult of high performance.
In the discus Germany’s Christoph Harting threw a huge personal best of 68.37 to vault over the field and take gold. The Brazilian crowd, showing a hitherto unsuspected liking for the field events, cheered him to the rafters.
Silver went to Piotr Malachowski of Poland and bronze to another German, Daniel Jasinski.
