- 22 Sep 08, 07:25 PM
An Olympiad too late for many observers, Charles van Commenee is finally going to get the chance to see what a Dutch double of tough talk and know-how can do for the entire British athletics team.
The man who coached Denise Lewis to heptathlon gold in Sydney - and perhaps even more notably made Kelly Sotherton cry after her bronze-medal display in Athens - Van Commenee will be named as head coach by UK Athletics (UKA) on Tuesday.
On the face of it, Van Commenee's return to Britain is the kind of story we will see at a dozen football clubs before the leaves start to fall from the trees.
The team fails to live up to expectations, the mob demands a sacrifice, the man in the dugout gets it in the neck. For UKA, those expectations were five medals in Beijing and the scapegoat was performance director Dave Collins.
But this story (and British athletics in general) is more complicated than that.
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First, Beijing was not the disaster some have portrayed, and it certainly wasn't enough on its own to bring down the curtain on Collins. No, the seeds of his demise were sown long ago, perhaps before he even started the job in 2005.
The Royal Marine turned PE teacher turned sports psychologist got the nod after a lengthy interview process to find a successor to Max Jones. But it was an interview process that proved too lengthy for most people's favourite for the role, Van Commenee.
He got tired of having to jump through hoops to get a job he thought should have been handed to him, and when a offer to work across all the Olympic sports came from the Dutch he took the patriotic option.
But Collins wasn't just a second choice; he was a controversial choice.
Unlike Van Commenee and other names on the shortlist, Collins was an outsider. At the time of his appointment, he was a professor of physical education at Edinburgh University.
His speciality was the dark art of making sportsmen and women feel like superstars, and his athletics pedigree was based solely on mental pep rally work with javelin thrower Steve Backley, sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis and long jumper Chris Tomlinson.
But his lack of practical experience was not a problem for UKA chief executive Dave Moorcroft, it was almost a virtue.
A government-funded review of the sport had just called for the appointment of an all-powerful performance director, and with results drying up it seemed like the perfect time to try something else.
Collins, with his eclectic background (he competed at national level in judo and karate and captained the British gridiron team), fitted the bill.
Unfortunately, one man's guru is another man's David Brent, and what worked for Backley backfired when applied to everybody else. His plan to publicly rate performances out of 10 was an embarrassing failure that upset athletes and coaches: what was wrong with distances, heights and times, they wondered.
He then appointed Linford Christie as a mentor to the team only to change his mind when many protested about the former sprinter's doping issues. The ensuing fudge pleased nobody and Collins' judgement was made to look suspect.
Results didn't help either. The 2005 Worlds were dismal and the 2006 Europeans weren't much better.
This wasn't entirely the new man's fault - a decade of declining performances in the junior ranks was now being reflected in the senior team - but the expenditure of so much lottery money on so few medals meant his excuses sounded flimsy.
Collins deserves praise for a few of his initiatives. For example, he cut the number of athletes being funded. This necessary step was never going to win him many friends.
He also backed the policy of persuading people to work in one of four high-performance centres dotted around the country, and there are signs his stats-based "Power of 10" ranking system is starting to bear fruit at the junior level.
But Collins' successes have been outnumbered by mistakes. Losing his job for only just missing a target might seem harsh but when you consider what went before - and throw in a public squabble over team selection and his shoddy treatment of distance runner Kate Reed - Collins was doomed.
With him goes the non-specialist performance director experiment. The men in tracksuits, with stopwatches around their necks, are back in favour at UKA's sharp end. And if you're going to go down that route, Van Commenee's second coming was almost inevitable.
A decent athlete until injuries forced him to quit at 22, the Amsterdamer rose quickly through the Dutch coaching ranks.
His big break came when he met Lewis at an event in Spain in 1994. Her coach couldn't make the trip and she was having problems with her long jump. Van Commenee helped her out and three years later she moved to Holland to train with him. Three more years later and she was on top of the podium in Sydney.
That earned him a job as UKA's technical director of jumps and multi-events, a role that would see him continue to work with Lewis but also bring him into contact with the likes of Jonathan Edwards, Dean Macey and Sotherton.
Although he had given a hint of his boot camp credentials when he stopped working with Lewis because he felt she would never reach the heights again after motherhood, it was his comment about Sotherton - calling her "a wimp" for not running hard enough in 2004 - that cemented his reputation.
But what is more interesting about the Sotherton episode is her reaction to his appointment. She said some of her team-mates were in for "a rude awakening", but made it clear this was a good thing.
Her support for Van Commenee, whose Dutch team finished a creditable 12th in the Beijing medal table, has been echoed by everybody I have to spoken to in British athletics over the last few weeks.
Collins' predecessor Jones was unequivocal: Van Commenee, a hard but fair coach of the highest calibre, should have been given the job four years ago. Frank Dick, British athletics' head coach during its 1980s pomp, was in total agreement.
But it will not be easy for CVC. Four years is no time at all in Olympic terms and there are no quick fixes in a sport this competitive. Unlike some of our more successful sports, there are 200 nations looking for athletics medals and in Beijing 42 of them managed it.
The good news, however, is our Chinese haul could and should have been much better. Injuries and illnesses deprived us of medal chances, and other potential prizes were squandered by bad luck, basics or tactics.
I know almost every country can say something similar but that is where Van Commenee's character, expertise and the extra resources available in the run-up to 2012 can be brought to bear.
A little less psycho-babble and a little more straight-talking (with added technical input) should go a long way to turning a few of those 17 top-eight performances in China into London medals.
It's a big job but we've finally got our man.
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Comments
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Enjoyable article Matt, after the disappointment of Beijing in terms of athletics performances i'm looking forward to seeing how Charles van Commenee is going to turn it round. He will work them hard from what i've read but that's what some of these people need.
Personally I'd like us to take a look at the Swedish athletics example and the British cycling example and start to get tough. If you're not going to be setting PBs and making finals then we're going to cut you off. I know that sounds harsh but honestly what is the point of spending money on a group of athletes that may get as high as 10th in the world at their particular event? That money could be focused on a group that have a chance of becoming the best in their field. They can be provided with the best coaches and the best facilities, basically the best opportunity to maximise their potential.
As you say 4 years is not a long time to try to turn it around but at least the decision's been made now rather than in 2 years time. I think David Collins has got us off to a decent start and there's a solid base there for van Commenee to build on. But really by 2012 we want to see a few more medal contenders coming from inside the Olympic Stadium.
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In view of Charles's tough-guy attitude and his surname, surely he's bound to be known as "The Ayatollah" in the changing rooms...
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politeBoobie.....very good! Should we expect Cardiff City/Gareth Thomas-style head-slapping celebrations from our athletes in Stratford?
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I've been working on that since his appointment was announced Matt.
Glad someone got it! :-)
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Whilst I sympathise with Dave Collins departure, I cannot help thinking that we are looking at things completely the wrong way with Athletics in this country. What people have to understand is that Athletics is purely and undeniably a personal sport which needs the individual to be totally focussed on on winning with no other distractions. Sure, UK athletics can help by providing the right facilities, funding, structure etc, but when it comes down to those dark cold nights when you are feeling a bit low or under the weather, the only person who can do anything about it is you. Having competed (at a club level only) in the mid to late eighties I am well aware of the decline in standards in grass roots athlectics and the drop in numbers participating. If we are to get back to the days of Ovett, Coe, Cram, Christie, Gunnell etc then no amount of changing at the top will help. If a talent is spotted then find them a coach and let them get on with it.
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Matt's excellent and incisive piece hits the nail on the head nicely. There are a few extra considerations though..
CVC took Denise to the top step of the podium after a massive amount of work had already been done by another coach. No problem of course - it goes on all the time - but it's a lot easier to make a great athlete out of a great athlete than it is to make one out of nothing at all. One swallow does not make a summer..
CVC has a big task ahead of him. In 4 years he will have little option other than to rearrange the deckchairs because we KNOW who is likely to be in the London 2012 athletics team already. We just have to make sure they train correctly and are looked after from a medical standpoint and then...que sera sera.
This IS relevant because of something alluded to by Brendan Foster during the commentary at Beijing. The big problem in the UK is the lack of young people taking an active part in the sport of athletics and the resultant paucity of high-level performers.
The quality of the coach education system lies, I believe, at the heart of this problem - resulting in athletes being held back from achieving their potential by coaching methodologies than have little chance of raising performances. The club based coaches have been educated poorly and have been treated as undeserving of 'proper' coach education.
This DOES happen and we need to bear in mind that athletes do not come onto the funding 'Radar' until they have performed above a certain level - almost always under the direction of their club coach or similar.
If Charles wants to bank on an improved number of athletes coming through the 'system' to populate the teams BEYOND 2012 then something HAS to be done with coach education and it has to be done FAST by someone with credibility and a proven pedigree.
This second appointment will be crucial.
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Why wasn't Daley involved in the set-up before? Too strong a character for Lord 'gravy train' Coe perhaps?
Why isn't Daley given a place on the BBC commentators couch? Too outspoken? Too good? Arguably the greatest British track and field Olympian and I never heard or saw him once during the BBC's Beijing coverage...
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Well nobody can deny CVC's CV looks good and he definitely has the track record that Collins never had.
However, i feel that the UKA system is flawed by the very thing that was supposed to make it great and that is lottery funding.
In the days before lottery funding british athletes were winning medals and setting world records. All of a sudden money becomes available and that was supposed to enhance our athletes?
I bring the point to the table, that is Mark Lewis Francis. Here was someone who was greatly successful at junior level and was identified as the next Christie. Well where is he now and what return has there been from the lottery funding he received? I used to get so angry watching post race interviews with him, with his diamond stud earring sparkling in the light. I used to think to myself how did he afford that?
Lottery funding for me has been abused by too many athletes not just Mark Lewis Francis. You have to think how much money is thrown at the Jamicans, Kenyans, Ethiopians etc at an early age.
Don't get me wrong lottery money is a good thing to have at our disposal but should be distributed in a much better way.
The lottery funds should be used to run athletic camps during the summer holidays when the Football and Rugby is in the off season. Former british champions like Cram, Christie (a bit of an issue with drugs i know) Gunnell, Holmes, Lord Coe, Jackson, Regis etc should go to these camps with there medals and inspire young people who have seen athletics as a inferior sport to football and rugby.
For me there is a massive pool of talent sportsmen especially that set there heart on being a pro footballer and then when they don't make the grade go into lower level football. I believe many of these sportsmen could become world class athletes.
I'm sure the amount of money that Lewis Francis and co have had UKA could even have sent the most promising under 14's away on summer camps abroad to golden league meetings. The british youth need to be seduced by athletics again. They should also take them to Kenya to show them what the less wealthy african nations have facility wise, to achieve the great results.
If they were to see the atmosphere at Golden League events i'm sure a few of them will develop a greater hunger for this sport.
The individual training and dedication to athletics is what i believe is very off putting to many youngsters, so UKA have to show these young people what the end benefits will be for all the hard work and sacrifice.
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will be interesting to see what he can do with our young sprinters and our 400m runners like Rooney.
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Why have the Daley Thompson comments been removed from this article? Have the beeb got something against the man?
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Some more good observations.
On the subject of Daley Thompson becoming involved in the 'set-up' e.t.c....
If Daley wanted to be taken seriously as a coach/performance manager, then he would by now have a record of achievement(s) in these roles.
As far as I know he doesn't want this but his quotations/observations are spot-on most of the time and he does apparently give advice to up and coming athletes. His record as an ATHLETE stands second to none and will obviously inspire others.
Why do people continue to associate performance on the track with coaching/managerial ability?
Should the best brick layer in Wimpey Homes should be promoted to Chief Executive?
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It's going to be difficult to compete with the East African distance runners because they are born with advantages in their genes from living at altitude. Going there and training like them can't compensate for that.
I think Athletics can learn things from other more successful sports. Swimming performances for example have improved tremendously largely due to the ideas and vision of Sweetenham and we all can see how great attention to detail in cycling produces results.
Perhaps we are spreading the net too widely with our senior athletes - a number of which in the last Olympics (e.g our female hammer thrower) were real 'no hopers'. Some kind of more tighly knit squad of the best athletes might be worth considering.
That approach could be tried at the junior levels again by focusing on the very best emerging talent. See how the juniors are now coming through in swimming and cyclimg.
Success then breeds success and all of a sudden there is more talent coming through.
I have a feeling that CVC has the vision and it is not someone to settle for second best from the athletes or coaches. I didn't see that in Collins.
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I'm not sure that success in athletics can be achieved along the same lines it was in cycling. The majority of the athletics events require raw natural ability rather than first rate facilities, equipment, coaching, and the best spot in pit row during the Olympics. Look at Jamaica, who I'm guessing don't have the world's greatest training tracks, yet they virtually cleaned up in the sprints in Beijing.
In cycling, on the other hand, you can take someone like Rebecca Romero, who'd never even competed in the sport, and in just four years time turn her into a gold medal winner.
The new GB athletics coach needs to get his team peaking at the Olympics, which seemed didn't happen this time around for the most part. Also, practice, practice, practice those relay baton changes!!!
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Afternoon all, thanks for your comments. Here are some thoughts.
subslimespur - I agree with you about the need to get stricter about who qualifies for FULL funding. We had almost 250 athletes on lottery money in the late 90s, which was ludicrous. Collins reduced it from 50ish to 40ish after the 2005 Worlds and I think it's crept up a bit since then, although the funding pie has got a bit bigger. But you could argue that 50-40 is still too many. If it's medals in 2012 we're chasing we should perhaps throw everything we've got at our 30-20 athletes most likely to get on a podium. Those that made a final in Beijing and are young enough to be competitive in London would be a good start. If you add Ennis, Shakes-Drayton, Twell, Yates and a few more of our very brightest prospects, I'd say that's our elite squad, over to you Charlie VC! An interesting thing to point out here is that cycling and rowing actually fund fewer athletes than they get money for....they only back people they really think can medal.
I also agree with your comment that only PBs should be good enough at major championships....being satisfied with a SB at the Olympics is hopeless. And I would normally agree with you about the Swedes, they punch way above their weight across a range of sports thanks to an excellent system, good coaching and great facilities (that everybody pays for). But they had a shocker in Beijing! I suppose that just goes to show how tough it is to win medals at this level and how cyclical sport is!
andyspur37, your points are spot on. Ultimately, it's down to the athlete. A good coach can really help, and all the other support structure stuff is nice, but it's about how much you're willing to put in when it's cold, wet and you're knackered. The good news is that CVC knows this only too well. There will be no short-cuts under him.
coach65, wise words indeed. Frank Dick made the same point to me last week. He talked about who badly we have "looked after our coaching"...and not just in athletics. We haven't valued it as a profession and we've bumbled along as a result. He also thinks the second position - a coaching supervisor/development officer - is crucial. In fact, he thought the PD job should have been split 4 or 5 ways as it's so big. He wanted a full-time development guy, a grass-roots liaison person and the coaching supervisor. UKA has admitted there's a need for some of this and told me they would be doing more to patch up the elite/grass-roots relationship and would look abroad for "coaching consultants" to help out where and when it's needed.
J?Hingsen, you're right to bring up the likes of Daley T. Did you see our story with quotes from the great man? He's right up for getting involved and it's criminal we haven't found a way to use him already. Max Jones told me something quite interesting along the same lines. I asked him if anybody from UKA had asked for his advice on anything since he left the job in 2004. He told me the only time he'd heard from them was when they asked him to compile some questions for a pub quiz! We've got to stop squandering our most experienced/talented people.
That's more than enough from me now, apologies for not replying to the other posters, they made good points too.
Over to you Charles!
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Hypocrisy is alive and well in journalism (as if we didn't know it)
Damn that man who publicly graded athletes so that they might be a little more accoutnable to those who pay their wages (lotery ticket buyers). Jeez just imagine what would happen if sport journalists graded sports people...
But don't worry here comes CVC to the rescue, he made someone cry you know that's how tough he is, its about time these atheltes became a little more publicly accountable
This type of hypocritical over simplication of the world of high performance simply reveals the ignorance of the person who writes it
Here's a plan why don't the BBC do a proper bit of research and examine all results including medals, pbs age of athletes and any other relevant stat across all events over the last 12 years, put some nice graphics to them and give us an opportunity to objectively assess the impact that Collins had on UK Athletics as opposed to cherry picking moments to support largely biased opinions
I think CVC is a great choice and its unfortunate that he and Collin's didn't have the opportunity to work together but his appropriateness is only partly (and a small part at theat) to do with being a tough guy its being able to operate effectively within a highly complex egotisitcal world of high performance multi event sport
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So yet again, Britain has to go overseas to fill an important post.
I wonder if the yanks would put up with this.
Have we no national pride?
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Good luck to CVC, i think he is gonna need it.
After watching the very good BBC documentary 'Sprint' and the subsequent Olympics what seemed apparent to me was the huge gulf in talent between our 100m sprinters and the best in the world......This is the flagship event of the games and we have young lads who are spending training time worrying about paying there bills.......this can be motivating, but i think counter productive....
Get the best kids in (which i belive they do) and back them to the hilt !!!!
P.s. Can he teach the sprinters how to pass the baton.
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Hello itsjustsosimple, I have no problem at all with holding athletes to account, I just wonder (as did almost everybody in British athletics) if his very subjective rating system was the best way to go about it. Athletics is lucky, you can measure performance quite easily with medals, times, distances etc. Giving one athlete a 7/10 for coming nowhere but trying hard (in DC's opinion) and another 2/10 for the same result isn't really that helpful. Publishing them even less so. If anybody was oversimplifying "the world of high performance" it was Collins, not me.
In fact, one of the most disappointing aspects of the Collins regime was his man-management. This was supposed to be something he would do well but he got this badly wrong on numerous occasions. You're right, I've cherry-picked a few of the worst examples, so what? I didn't have the time/space to list them all, particularly as Collins was only half of this story.
As for your comments about CVC, I think we agree, don't we? I clearly say the most interesting thing about the Sotherton remark is not that he said it and she cried, it's that she thinks he's a great coach. A point that at least half a dozen other athletics people have told me in the last fortnight. And right now that's what we need. Collins had his chance and it didn't quite come off for him. That's the nature of the "highly complex egotistical world of high-performance multi-event sport" you refer to.
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tiggertoo
In case you haven't noticed, Britain as a society has attracted immense numbers of skilled immigrants over the last decade. Look at any big city phone book and you'll see that half the world is represented.
I know that some people don't like that, perhaps you're one of them.
We need the best to survive as an economy, never mind building an athletics team. If the the best don't live here, we tend to buy 'em in these days. Get over it, tiggertoo.
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Thanks Matt - the comment made about Max Jones is sadly no surprise to me.
The depth of coaching talent in this country is still amazing. I've had the pleasure of working with coaches of recent multiple Olympic Champions and World Record Holders here in the UK. They're miles above the standard of most of the current coaches - they know their stuff inside out and they are just not listened to.
Why??
And our current crop of coaches have been waylaid by silly pointless exercises with big blue balls(s) that have more to do with fad or the fashion/fitness industry than serious training.
I hope that CVC is a catalyst for change and that we start supporting the hard-working athletes because all the current system does is let them down - badly.
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Van Comennee is a quality coach with quality experience in athletics who will enhance quality athletes.
He will bring discipline where it is needed.
As long as he doesn't embarrass where a "quiet word" would suffice.
Only the slackers deserve embarassing.
Good-luck to him
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If a person consciously takes a drug, knowing that by doing so, they're going to gain an unfair advantage over their rivals, they should be excluded from the sport for good
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Utter nonsense. They should serve the punishment stated. Nothing more nothing less.
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