"I'm happy to be judged on number of medals our athletes win in 2012", Charles van Commenee
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UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee insists he is happy to be judged by the number of medals won by British athletes at London 2012.
Van Commenee's predecessor, Dave Collins, paid the price for falling one medal short of the target in Beijing, Britain winning four medals on the track instead of five.
Britain had a total of 17 finalists last summer and endured a number of frustrating fourth place finishes, with Kelly Sotherton's performance in the heptathlon a particular disappointment.
But Van Commenee is content to put his neck on the line, even if it could all come down to one tactical error of the kind committed by Lisa Dobriskey in the 1,500m final in Beijing, which cost her a medal and contributed to Collins' departure.
'My mission statement is winning, from the day I was born I think. I'm in the winning business, we try to get people on the podium,' Van Commenee said.
'What is success? The number of medals in the Games. If I am one medal down I will not be happy.
'You can do calculations based on rankings, past performances, recent junior championships and come up with a number between four and six, but that would not be good enough for me. It will be something over six.
'This job for me is only focused on medals. I'm not performance director, I'm head coach so you can easily measure me whether I was a success or a failure. At the very sharp end of the sport there are no excuses and I accept that.'
Van Commenee will spend his first few weeks in the job assessing just where Britain stand in terms of available talent and medal prospects, and plans to focus the vast majority of his time on athletes and coaches rather than administration.
Kelly Sotherton's fourth place finish in the heptathlon at the Beijing Olympics summed up a frustrating Games for Britain's track and field athletes
And the 50-year-old Dutchman insists there are reasons to be optimistic about the home nation's prospects in three and a half years' time.
He added: 'It's not like you have to invent athletics in the country as in Azerbaijan, we are in Britain, we know about athletics and we know about winning. It's not as if I have to spread a new gospel.
'If we need to win let's say seven medals I should have 14 guys in the medal zone. If I travel to London having only seven medal shots we're not going to win seven medals.
'At the end of the day I want to be judged at the closing ceremony and if I haven't hit the target I'm sure I'll be gone the next day. At this moment I think it's a mission possible, so I'll do anything to make it happen.
'We've had 17 people in finals in Beijing. We need to get a few more and turn finalists into medalists. I have to get a better understanding about where everybody stands at this point
UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee insists he is happy to be judged by the number of medals won by British athletes at London 2012.
Van Commenee's predecessor, Dave Collins, paid the price for falling one medal short of the target in Beijing, Britain winning four medals on the track instead of five.
Britain had a total of 17 finalists last summer and endured a number of frustrating fourth place finishes, with Kelly Sotherton's performance in the heptathlon a particular disappointment.
But Van Commenee is content to put his neck on the line, even if it could all come down to one tactical error of the kind committed by Lisa Dobriskey in the 1,500m final in Beijing, which cost her a medal and contributed to Collins' departure.
'My mission statement is winning, from the day I was born I think. I'm in the winning business, we try to get people on the podium,' Van Commenee said.
'What is success? The number of medals in the Games. If I am one medal down I will not be happy.
'You can do calculations based on rankings, past performances, recent junior championships and come up with a number between four and six, but that would not be good enough for me. It will be something over six.
'This job for me is only focused on medals. I'm not performance director, I'm head coach so you can easily measure me whether I was a success or a failure. At the very sharp end of the sport there are no excuses and I accept that.'
Van Commenee will spend his first few weeks in the job assessing just where Britain stand in terms of available talent and medal prospects, and plans to focus the vast majority of his time on athletes and coaches rather than administration.
Kelly Sotherton's fourth place finish in the heptathlon at the Beijing Olympics summed up a frustrating Games for Britain's track and field athletes
And the 50-year-old Dutchman insists there are reasons to be optimistic about the home nation's prospects in three and a half years' time.
He added: 'It's not like you have to invent athletics in the country as in Azerbaijan, we are in Britain, we know about athletics and we know about winning. It's not as if I have to spread a new gospel.
'If we need to win let's say seven medals I should have 14 guys in the medal zone. If I travel to London having only seven medal shots we're not going to win seven medals.
'At the end of the day I want to be judged at the closing ceremony and if I haven't hit the target I'm sure I'll be gone the next day. At this moment I think it's a mission possible, so I'll do anything to make it happen.
'We've had 17 people in finals in Beijing. We need to get a few more and turn finalists into medalists. I have to get a better understanding about where everybody stands at this point
Comments
Ik wist via via van Doha. Geweldige ervaring en volgens mij een droombaan. Fantastisch centrum, lijkt mij.
Leuke blog.
Groet,
Mischa van Stee, CIOS 96 ( Judo ) en nu fysiotherapeut in Zichron Yaacov, Israel.