If you strapped weights to Usain Bolt’s chest, replaced his six-pack stomach with abs stretched out of shape, de-tuned his muscular frame and explosive power by jellifying his joints, and forced him to take the best part of nine months off, how amazed would we all be if the world’s fastest man fully recovered from that fitness-shredding assault to once again vie for medals at the Olympic Games, asks John Leicester

Nathan Adrian destroyed Australian star James Magnussen’s ambition of adding the Olympic title to his world crown when the American out-touched him by one 100th of a second in the 100 metres freestyle.