Euro 2020, Wimbledon and my favourite, the Tour de France, have all come and gone again, and now the Olympics are back.

Sport is nothing if not relentless, but don’t think we have seen it all before. To me it feels like we are lucky to be living through historic times.

For some people, England’s triumph in Euro 2020 was getting to a final for the first time in 55 years, but we now know that wasn’t even half the story.

Gareth Southgate’s team were winners before they even kicked a ball, and superstars, even after Italy scored the winning penalty. Because they have changed everything.

I’m not saying all footballers used to be dim, but they had the reputation of not being the sharpest tools in the box.

There was a cruel joke about the player who was nicknamed ‘The Professor’ by his teammates because he had an O Level in Geography.

I was biased because I worked on the sports desk of this paper for five years, and sometimes had to make sense of what came out of the mouth of one particular Swindon Town manager. And he wasn’t even the worst one who would get the job.

Around the same time I bought Paul Gascoigne’s autobiography, on account of he was the most naturally gifted player of his generation.

But I was soon embarrassed to find it was a catalogue of mindless antics and wasted talent, and it remains one of the few books I started reading but never finished.

Fast-forward to now, though, when you could pick any member of the England team and find as good a role model as we have ever seen.

Not only do these young men come across as bright and articulate, but they have even more worthy qualities, such as solidarity and social conscience.

Football, however, is the last to the table. For years I have been marvelling at our Olympians and Paralympians as not just world-beating athletes, but impressive characters, and if you want another example, watch how each member of England men’s cricket team conducts himself in interviews. Every one is an ambassador for mental as well as physical achievement.

It’s not a question of nationalism. The other day I watched Novak Djokovic’s victory speech at Wimbledon.

He will go down in history as one of the greatest ever players, but I was even more impressed by the fact that - speaking English as well as anybody I know - he oozed poise, insight and wisdom. But then so do Federer and Nadal.

Some people bemoan how science and the quest for marginal gains has supposedly ruined sport, but I think it has brought the cream to the top - because of all the many qualities needed to be a successful professional sportsman or woman, top of the list is now brains.

No wonder politicians are worried. No wonder they are telling footballers to stick to football.

Given the choice, I know whom I would rather vote for.