PREPARE for two weeks of ritual humiliation.

Our nation's finest athletes are primed to flex the nation's sporting muscles in front of a global audience.

And, yet again, we are poised to expose ourselves as the world's biggest wimps.

The reasons for this four-yearly embarrassment are manifest, with political input -- especially at youth level -- at the core.

But there is also the issue of the British mental approach, where all too often the emphasis is on dignified participation rather than the single-minded pursuit of victory.

And I'm not usually one to stick my oar in, but the selection of Steven Redgrave, our only gold medallist in Atlanta, for the coxless fours is typical of our ready acceptance of second best.

Don't get me wrong, Redgrave, has been a phenomenon, exhibiting the very qualities which separate the great from the good, the winners from the also-rans.

To win four golds and remain at the peak of his sport over a period of 12 years requires the blinkered determination that is so often lacking in this country. However, as is always the risk, Redgrave has taken his quest for immortality a stage too far.

And in doing so he has robbed Great Britain of one of our very few chances of gold.

It was clear during the recent world championships that Redgrave was the weak link in the team who came fourth behind Australia, New Zealand and Italy. At the end of the race Redgrave looked like he'd had a couple of nights out with our swimming team.

Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster, James Cracknell would have a far better chance of success if the gallant 38-year-old was replaced by a galvanised 23-year-old such as Toby Garnett, who was part of the gold-medal winning coxed four, which is not an Olympic discipline.

It would have been no disgrace for Redgrave to have stepped down and to have handed a younger man a more realistic chance of glory. In such a gruelling sport, it will be virtually physically impossible for his heroics to be repeated.

But, as is so often the case, sporting sense has been sacrificed for selfish sentimentality.

Neil Bramwell will be taking part in The Late Debate, on ITV next Thursday at 11.30pm, on 'Is this country a nation of sporting losers?'