Puzzled Dick urges coaching successor to take in Melbourne and view new talent
STEVEN DOWNES
FRANK Dick, doyen of European athletics coaches and a prominent adviser on Olympic sports in Scotland, has spoken out against the decision of his successor not to travel to Melbourne in March for the Commonwealth Games.
Dave Collins left a psychology lecturer’s job at Edinburgh University to become performance director for UK Athletics a year ago, and the ensuing period has been characterised by a series of controversies with leading athletes and coaches and a set of dire results.
Collins has seen Britain’s men’s team finishing in the relegation places at the European Cup and dip to an all-time low at last August’s World Championships, when Paula Radcliffe was his team’s only individual medallist. Yet the former Royal Marine has opted not to take the chance of seeing the best athletes from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland in action at the Commonwealth Games.
Instead, Collins will remain at UKA’s headquarters in Birmingham sticking to paperwork, a decision which has been met with barely-disguised incredulity.
As Scotland’s chief coach, Dick oversaw a fine crop of sprinters, including Allan Wells, David Jenkins and Drew McMaster in the late 1970s, and he held the same post at UK level through the Golden Decade of British athletics that was the 1980s.
In criticising Collins’s decision, Dick reflected: “There will be kids in Melbourne who will be serious contenders at the 2012 Olympics. I would strongly advise him to go.”
Dick is well aware that, as Collins is employed by UKA, he fulfils no role with any of the teams from the home countries, and in 1990 Dick had to seek accreditation as a member of the Falkland Islands team to gain access to the Commonwealth Games stadium in Auckland.
But the Scot, who personally coached Daley Thompson to two Olympic decathlon gold medals and three Commonwealth titles, advised Collins: "It is an opportunity to see life from the balcony rather than in the middle of it all.
“As the chief coach with the national team, you face many day-to-day pressures in the running of the team. At the Commonwealths, because you are not part of the team, you do not get those pressures and get an overview of not only the current talent, but also the ones to watch for the future. This is critical.”
But Collins has made up his mind, and he emphasised: "There will be enough people from UK Athletics in Melbourne watching what athletes are doing and reporting back.
“I would not have any role at the Commonwealth Games, and my going there to watch did not seem the best use of my time. I will stay in Britain putting in place the systematic changes to the sport that are necessary.”
This article: http://sport.scotsman.com/athletics.cfm?id=144372006
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