UK Athletics On Track for Strong 2012, Says Chief

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(ATR) UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee says his team of athletes is on target to be "in the best position" possible with just over one year to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"I think we are definitely are heading in the right direction," van Commenee said Wednesday, ad-dressing a UK Sports Journalists Association lunch.

"In athletics it’s easy to measure," he added, "with distances and times and results at champion-ships. These are all better than they were a year ago, two years ago especially. We’ve made im-provements in many areas but there is still room for improvement over the next 13 months."

The Dutchman also spoke of his mission to try to build a team of "15 athletes" who could possibly win a gold medal rather than just relying on one or two big-name individuals. But he also warned of the threat of injury that could occur at any moment between now and July 27, 2012.

"We are where we want to be. However, things can suddenly change. Injuries can happen, they are a fact in athletics. I will never use it as an excuse but it is a reality," van Commenee said.

"Jessica Ennis could slip in her bathroom and be ruled out of the competition, it happens."

Although wary of "freak injuries," he maintained his ambitionto see Team GB's track and field ath-letes next year secure "right medals, including at least one gold."

Though appearing to be a conservative target at first, the last time Team GB won eight medals in a non-boycott athletics was in Seoul, and none of them was gold.

"Back in Seoul in 1988 you had a ‘golden era’ in athletics with the likes of Seb Coe and the rest – but there were no gold medals that year. We can achieve that next year. It’s ambitious, I’m not entirely confident we hit it but we will use every day between now and then to get better."

With the test events already well underway for the Olympics in the British capital next summer, the athletics test event will come in the guise of the British Universities (BUCS) championships between May 4 and 7 in the Olympic Stadium. Despite the tradition of the event which includes students enrolled in their University teams, van Commenee hoped there would be space to give a test to some of his Olympic hopefuls.

"It is not easy to get a place for an Olympic athlete in the University athletic world. Even if we just had two or three lanes, or two to four places in the shot-put that would help, but it is very hard to break a 300-year-old tradition," he said.

Written in London by Christian Radnedge.