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Glen Mills may oversee next generation of British sprinters!
September 2, 2008
Track & Field - News
UK Athletics is ready to call on Usain Bolt's coach, Glen Mills, to help spark a revolution in the sport that will carry it to the Olympic in London in 2012 and beyond. Mills has made Bolt into the greatest sprinter in history, with the Jamaican winning an unprecedented three sprinting gold medals while setting three world records at last month's Games in Beijing.
Officials at UKA have spoken to Mills about sending sprinters and coaches from Britain to Kingston to have their skills developed by the most sought-after guru in track and field. The idea is part of a major structural change at the top of the organisation that yesterday not only saw Dave Collins officially relieved of his position as national performance director but also saw his job title ditched.
In the next fortnight, possibly after the Paralympics which will bring an end to the four-year Olympiad cycle under which Collins was contracted, UK Athletics hopes to announce the Dutchman Charles van Commenee as his successor but in the role of head coach rather than performance director.
"The rationale behind it is that 'performance director' is just too broad and wide a job in a sport as complex as athletics. We are gearing up very much towards 'coaching' and 'director of coaching'. There will be somebody stepping into the role of head coach."
UKA wants to ensure that any foundation set for the Olympics in 2012, where British athletics will be under its greatest pressure to succeed, is taken on to the Games in 2016 and beyond by both athletes and coaches. That is where the likes of Mills come into the picture.
In Beijing, Bolt won almost as many medals as the whole British track and field team managed between them, having been coached by Mills, a fellow Jamaican, since the end of 2004. One of the reasons behind Jamaica's growing success has been an investment in their coaching system, an area that has been given priority at places such as the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in St Catherine.
Mills has helped transform Bolt into a phenomenon who ran 9.69sec to break the 100m world record as he won Olympic gold in Beijing before his equally amazing 19.30 to break Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200m world record. Bolt finished his Games by helping Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay, in another world-record time. He was also responsible for the development of Raymond Stewart into a world class sprinter even as a schoolboy and coached 2003 100m world champion Kim Collins.
Going nowhere fast
Since Linford Christie's gold in Barcelona in 1992, Britain's performances in the men's 100m at the Olympics paint a picture of sprinting decline:
Beijing 2008
One semi-finalist
Tyrone Edgar
Athens 2004
Two semi-finalists
Jason Gardner and Mark Lewis-Francis
Sydney 2000
Two finalists
Dwain Chambers, 4th, and Darren Campbell, 6th
Atlanta 1996
One finalist
Linford Christie, DQ
Earl Bailey
Editor - www.JamaicaWin.com
September 2, 2008
Track & Field - News
UK Athletics is ready to call on Usain Bolt's coach, Glen Mills, to help spark a revolution in the sport that will carry it to the Olympic in London in 2012 and beyond. Mills has made Bolt into the greatest sprinter in history, with the Jamaican winning an unprecedented three sprinting gold medals while setting three world records at last month's Games in Beijing.
Officials at UKA have spoken to Mills about sending sprinters and coaches from Britain to Kingston to have their skills developed by the most sought-after guru in track and field. The idea is part of a major structural change at the top of the organisation that yesterday not only saw Dave Collins officially relieved of his position as national performance director but also saw his job title ditched.
In the next fortnight, possibly after the Paralympics which will bring an end to the four-year Olympiad cycle under which Collins was contracted, UK Athletics hopes to announce the Dutchman Charles van Commenee as his successor but in the role of head coach rather than performance director.
"The rationale behind it is that 'performance director' is just too broad and wide a job in a sport as complex as athletics. We are gearing up very much towards 'coaching' and 'director of coaching'. There will be somebody stepping into the role of head coach."
UKA wants to ensure that any foundation set for the Olympics in 2012, where British athletics will be under its greatest pressure to succeed, is taken on to the Games in 2016 and beyond by both athletes and coaches. That is where the likes of Mills come into the picture.
In Beijing, Bolt won almost as many medals as the whole British track and field team managed between them, having been coached by Mills, a fellow Jamaican, since the end of 2004. One of the reasons behind Jamaica's growing success has been an investment in their coaching system, an area that has been given priority at places such as the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in St Catherine.
Mills has helped transform Bolt into a phenomenon who ran 9.69sec to break the 100m world record as he won Olympic gold in Beijing before his equally amazing 19.30 to break Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200m world record. Bolt finished his Games by helping Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay, in another world-record time. He was also responsible for the development of Raymond Stewart into a world class sprinter even as a schoolboy and coached 2003 100m world champion Kim Collins.
Going nowhere fast
Since Linford Christie's gold in Barcelona in 1992, Britain's performances in the men's 100m at the Olympics paint a picture of sprinting decline:
Beijing 2008
One semi-finalist
Tyrone Edgar
Athens 2004
Two semi-finalists
Jason Gardner and Mark Lewis-Francis
Sydney 2000
Two finalists
Dwain Chambers, 4th, and Darren Campbell, 6th
Atlanta 1996
One finalist
Linford Christie, DQ
Earl Bailey
Editor - www.JamaicaWin.com
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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