Brits Top Euro Table

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IT APPEARS THAT REPORTS OF THE DEATH OF BRITISH ATHLETICS ARE EXAGGERATED. BRITAIN TOPPED THE MEDALS TABLE AT THE 2007 EUROPEAN INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (ALTHOUGH RUSSIA HAD MORE - 15 - MEDALS).

BBC reports:
British attitude delights Collins

Sanders is one of five British medallists so far
UK Athletics chief Dave Collins says the attitude of British athletes at the European Indoor Championships bodes well for the future.
Britain won a record 10 medals, but Collins says the most impressive improvements had been less tangible.

“People like Phillips Idowu and Nicola Sanders have done very well,” he told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek.

“But the most satisfying thing is the team’s attitude - there’s been personal bests and juniors coming through.”

Interview: UK athletics performance director Dave Collins

Idowu (triple jump) and Sanders (400m) both took gold with superb performances on Saturday, and Jason Gardener (60m) and the men’s 4x400m relay team followed suit on Sunday.

Craig Pickering (60m), Kelly Sotherton (pentathlon) and Nathan Douglas (triple jump) all took silvers and bronze medals for Robert Tobin (400m), Martyn Bernard (high jump) and th e women’s 4x400m relay team took Britain to the top of the medal table.

And the likes of Douglas, Bernard, pole vaulter Kate Dennison, sprinters Ryan Scott and Jeanette Kwakye and 800m runner Marilyn Okoro all set new personal bests.

Russia won 15 medals in total, but Britain finished at the top of the table after winning more golds than any other country.

606 DEBATE: Your thoughts on the performance of British athletes

Disappointing overall performances in last year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships prompted severe criticism of British athletes and the structure of the sport in Britain.

But Collins said he can see a brighter future ahead.

“It’s the manner and attitude of what has happened which has been the most impressive part of the Championships,” added Collins. "We’ve worked very hard over the last two years to make that change.

"We always had individuals who had the ability and drive to succeed. What we’ve done is to cluster those athletes with strong coaches and world-class support in high-performance environments.

"It will take more time and one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but it’s very satisfying so far.

“It’s great to see we’re getting there but there’s a lot to learn from these Championships - we’ll go straight back to the drawing board.”

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And Andy Turner should have got Gold in the 60mH if he hadn’t run like a muppet but sometimes things don’t go to plan.

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KK, I agree. I don’t get this. Last summer there was a crisis in Athletics, they predicted 6 medals before the Europeans and they get 10, which is a record!

The Dutch did well, too!

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What’s really changed over the last two years? Many of the athletes who succeeded at the indoors have the same coaches, the same support staff?

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Too many in the British press are known to comfortably change horses; they’ll jump on a winner, but death-ride the same pony when tough times damage performances. There is just way too much influence of the media in British athletics affairs (witness the concerted and self-righteous attacks on Andy Norman and his subsequent enforced departure from the British scene at large, even though the likes of Jonathan Edwards remained steadfastly by his side for many years after) and I say that even though some of the Brit press are extremely good writers and in their own way try mostly to be supportive.

So I’d say this “surprise” success is just down to media and maybe even Collins et al, not knowing the true lay of the land coming into the Euros.

Some part of it may have been quite deliberate. Who needs to go into a major as favourite. Best usually to enter as underdog and minimise pressure in that way.

But some of what has been reportedly stated in this story (see Steve’s breakout quote, above) would seem to be more hype, more fodder for the Brit media keen to understand why their athletes and coaches got it so right.
So Collins has come up some a plausible explanation. But then again . . . as you note, the same athlete-coach partnerships which were criticised (if not specifically named, or then only behind closed doors) have come up with medals.

The personal coach-athlete relationship is the cutting edge of performance and any success the sport ever has will be done to how well this works. If Collins and UKA have finally recognised the better of these partnerships and funded them appropriately, then good on them. The system is working (again, at last).

Now let’s see how things go in Osaka, where and when it really counts.

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THE TIMES OF LONDON reports…

by David Powell

As the doors closed on the house of indoor athletics for another winter last night, so the Great Britain team left behind the relative comfort of their Birmingham living-room. Less than six months from now, this promising, mainly young, squad will be subjected to the heat of the Japanese kitchen, facing a far truer test of how they are shaping up for the next two Olympics.

The high temperatures and humidity of Osaka in late August and early September, and the vastly more competitive environment of the World Championships — American sprinters and African distance runners especially — is far removed from the limitations of European indoor competition. It is the jump up that Dave Collins, the UK Athletics performance director, is all too aware of.

Admittedly before Nicola Sanders, Phillips Idowu and Kelly Sotherton had produced world-class performances indoors, The Times put it to Collins last week that Britain might return from Osaka without a medal. We can be more hopeful now, a little less dependent on a successful come-back by Paula Radcliffe after the birth of her first child. But what should the target be in Osaka for the best of the British?

[IT IS NOT CLEAR, BUT IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT THE FOLLOWING FORM GUIDE IS THE OPINION OF THE REPORTER, RATHER THAN THE HEAD COACH]

Nicola Sanders
Gold, 400 metres

Sanders is up against the hot-test property in women’s world track. Sanya Richards, of the United States, was the IAAF woman athlete of 2006, running two seconds quicker than Sanders outdoors last summer. But, based on her 50.02sec here, the fifth quickest in history indoors, Sanders is ready to break into the outdoor medal zone of sub-50sec.
Osaka goal Medal

Kelly Sotherton
Silver, pentathlon

Sotherton needs to overcome her dreadful javelin throwing, one of two events dropped from the outdoor heptathlon for the indoor pentathlon.

Provided she can do that, she might again give Carolina Klöft, the Olympic and world champion, from Sweden, and the winner in Birmingham, a run for her money.
Osaka goal Medal

Andy Turner
4th, 60 metres hurdles

Turner felt he was a contender to reach the 110 metres hurdles final in Osaka after winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games and outdoor European Championships last year. However, he was poor here and his confidence may need working on as much as his technique.
Osaka goal final

Mo Farah
5th, 3,000 metres

No British athlete faces a more daunting task than Farah in the move from living room to kitchen. The Africans await the Somali-born Briton in Osaka.

Enough said. Farah was unfortunate here, falling in his heat, leaving his tank almost empty for the final.
Osaka goal Top eight

Robert Tobin
Bronze, 400 metres

In an event dominated by the United States, Tobin is a long way outside the medal zone for Osaka and demonstrated inexperience here in failing to produce the semi-final performance to give him a decent lane draw for the final.
Osaka goal Final (individual), medal (4 x 400 metres)

Phillips Idowu/ Nathan Douglas
Gold/silver, triple jump

World-class but erratic. Idowu jumped 17.56 metres in Birmingham and, on this form, Christian Olsson, the Olympic champion, and Walter Davis, the world champion, have reason to be fearful. Nathan Douglas, silver here, is also an Osaka medal contender.
Osaka goal Medal (Idowu and Douglas)

Chris Tomlinson
5th, long jump

The rise of Greg Rutherford has pushed Tomlinson into the background but, with his fellow Briton injured, he flew the home flag here, if only at half-mast. Fifth in the 2004 Olympics, Tomlinson was at least competitive in the final after being world ranked 37th in 2006.
Osaka goal Medal

James Brewer
Semi-finals, 800 metres

Narrowly failed to reach final but looks the best British men’s 800 metres prospect for many a year. Aged 18, Brewer’s blistering finishing speed should serve him well. Osaka and Bei-jing may be too early but worth watching for London 2012.
Osaka goal Watch and learn

Jo Pavey
6th, 3,000 metres

Weakened by a cold going into Birmingham, too much should not be read into Pavey’s result yesterday. Fifth in the Athens Olympic 5,000 metres, she is moving up to 10,000 metres for Osaka but, against the Africans and Chinese, she is likely to be only a medal outsider.
Osaka goal Medal

Jeanette Kwakye
4th, 60 metres

Women’s sprints are weak in Europe with the world rankings dominated by United States and Jamaican athletes. But Kwakye’s performance here suggests that Kathy Cook’s 26-year-old British 100-metres record of 11.10sec may be under threat. Sub 11.10 is the entry ticket to world-class.
Osaka goal Semi-finals

Jason Gardener and Craig Pickering
Gold/silver, 60 metres

Rare is the sprinter who breaks the 10sec mark for 100 metres and passes all his drugs tests. Pickering is moving towards the barrier, but probably not this year. Next year, perhaps. Any sub-10sec man should see the Olympic 100-metres final as achievable. Gardener has broken 10sec once before, in 1999, and will have that in his sights again.
Osaka goal Semi-finals, medal (4 x 100 metres)

Martyn Bernard
Bronze, high jump

Although Bernard managed 2.30 in the qualifying round here, it is a height achieved by 25 athletes worldwide outdoors last year. At least the competitive instinct which Bernard showed in Birmingham augurs well.
Osaka goal Final

Key dates

June 15 Golden League, Oslo
June 23-24 European Cup: Munich (men); Vaasa (women)
July 6 Golden League, Paris
July 13 Golden League, Rome
July 15 British Grand Prix, Sheffield
July 27-29 World Championships trials, Manchester
Aug 3 London Grand Prix, Crystal Palace
Aug 25-Sept 2 World Championships, Osaka

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A weakened Russian contingent made life easier in a lot of events.

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Still, as a country that was a record…

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http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=I/ageGroup=N/season=2007/gender=W/discipline=60/legal=A/index.html

it’s already march 7th and we didnt see one american - jamaican top sprinter in action :s
I don’t like all that hiding stuff before a main event.

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“main event” for everyone Except Europeans is Osaka in August-September. There is no “main event” indoors for American and Jamaican athletes this year. They are not eligible to compete at the European Indoor Championships and there is no World Indoor, so presumably they are laying in wait for the sun to shine on the outdoor tracks and preparation to lay waste to the European sprint stars.