Four years and counting: can UK Athletics get it right for 2012?

After the announcement of the departure of the UK Athletics Performance Director Dave Collins today, UK Athletics have a big decision to make about who is going to take them forward to the 2012 Olympics in London.

Team GB enjoyed unprecedented success in the velodrome, superb results on both the rowing lake and at the sailing regatta in Qingdoa and their best boxing results for 50 years. However, in athletics, which is probably going to be the event that the British public most crave success in, the target of five medals was not achieved. Athletics' failure in this context of supreme performance across other Olympic events for Team GB came to a head today with the departure of Collins.

Niels de Vos, the boss of UK Athletics, saw the departure of Collins as simply the end of a contract, Collins was not pushed. The job was done according to De Vos, in an interview given to the BBC, and now it was time to pursue a different structure. The role of performance director has now changed and a change of direction is needed. 

After Athens, UK Athletics was restructured. However, most of the appointments within the structure, had no experience within the top level of athletics. One might think that in an era of professionalism in track and field that this wouldn't matter. The thinking behind the restructuring surely must have been that, if the structure was right, the technical development of the athletes would come from the coaches working with the individuals.

But it isn't a coincidence that all of the areas of success for Team GB were fronted by someone with considerable experience and great pedigree within their respective sport. Dave Brailsford, Performance Director of cycling for Team GB, was a former professional cyclist. David Tanner, Performance Director of rowing for Team GB, has a good record as an international coach and a depth of experience within the sport that Collins simply doesn't have in athletics.

This has been acknowledged by De Vos who is now going to turn his attention to a Performance Director who already has a proven record within the sport as a coach. As such, Charles Van Commenee, the Chef de Mission of the Dutch Olympic team and former coach to Kelly Sotherton and gold medalist Denise Lewis is set to be appointed as Performance Director. He brings great knowledge and a ruthless attiude towards the sport, having described Kelly Sotherton's run in the 800m of her heptathlon in Athens as weasel like and being the former multi-events director for UK Athletics. Van Commenee has the reputation to drive UK Athletics forward.

However, one mustn't expect too much from one man. De Vos did hint today that more appointments were going to be made, and one can only hope that this happens sooner rather than later so that the Athletes can make the most of the winter's training.

Michael Johnson, during the athletics meet in Beijing whilst working for the BBC, emphasised on numerous occasions, that the right advice is not often given to athletes before they compete on the biggest stage. The pressure gets to athletes who are not given sound advice, and as such, performance drops.

It is vital, that these extra appointments made by De Vos, are able to coach both the technical but more importantly the mental elements of competing, not just at major championships but in the lead-up to the meet. 'Train as you mean to race' is an apt maxim to have. 

More importantly though, and this is potentially the largest hurdle for UK Athletics to clear, the Athletes must follow Van Commenee's lead. This is going to be easier said than done as the athletes in track and field in the UK tend to train in smaller groups that are more remote from the Performance Director than Team GB's cyclists, for example.

For success to follow the appointment of Van Commenee, and hopefully his crack team of coaches, mentors and experts, greater use needs to be made of the High Performance Centres that Collins has overseen the development of in Britain. Athletes training together will drive the standard of performance on. 

The track and field team of Great Britain is already widely regarded by other athletes as having great spirit during international competitions. However, for success to be fully realised in London this needs to extend to being the case during training throughout the year as well. Competition between the middle distance runners, the throwers and the sprinters, for example, is only a good thing. Train as you mean to race.

These are exciting times for Great British sport. I hope that some brave decisions are made throughout UK Athletics which lead to the British athletics team emulating the success of the cycling, rowing, sailing and boxing teams.