Athletics: British facing barren time

Jul 30 2006 Peter Shuttleworth, Wales on Sunday

UK ATHLETICS president Lynn Davies fears next month's European Championships could be Britain's worst since the war.

The world-class talent void in British athletics seems set to deepen as legendary long-jumper 'Lynn The Leap' admitted none of Team GB "are solid gold medal candidates".

The last time a British team failed to strike gold at the Europeans was at the first championships back in 1934 in the Italian city of Turin.

Davies, an Olympic gold-medallist at the 1964 Tokyo Games, said: "For so long British athletics has relied on athletes who were medal bankers.

"But all at once six of our superstars have retired. And we haven't recovered from losing Colin Jackson, Jonathan Edwards, Denise Lewis, Steve Backley, Sally Gunnell or Kelly Holmes.

"They are hard people to replace and, if we're honest, there's no one that stands out as a solid gold medal chance for the forthcoming Europeans which is a shame bearing in mind we won 12 medals in Munich in 2002.

"We have no strength in depth as British athletics is currently in a transitional period.

"There doesn't seem to be a conveyor belt manufacturing top performers and we must find out why. There seems to be no logic in our system and that's something we desperately need to address.

"Welsh rugby once had a fly-half factory, now we need a similar production line for top athletes in all disciplines."

British gold medal contenders at the Euros in Gothenburg would have included Paula Radcliffe, but the marathon ace won't race as she's pregnant. Other potential medallists sprinter Dwain Chambers and world No 3 400m runner Tim Benjamin are recovering from injury so won't be in top gear in Sweden.

Former European champion Davies tries to explain why British athletics is currently in crisis.

"A lot of youngsters drop out because being an athlete is very hard work compared to a team sport," Davies said.