Dick fears Edmonton will be a get-out clause for 2005

Frank Dick, Britain's former national athletics coach, believes the Government may renege on their commitment to stage the 2005 World Championships in London. "I have heard the rumours, and I know that people in the sport are very worried," he said yesterday. "My fear is that what has been perceived as a bad result for Britain at the World Championships in Edmonton, together with the poor attendances, might be the ammunition they need to think they can now safely ditch their promise without causing too much of a public outcry.

"But my message to them is this: Please don't even think about it. To abandon the championships now would be a terrible slap in the face to what over the years has been our most successful sport and would do irreparable damage to our reputation overseas. Also, irrespective of what happened in Edmonton, we have some terrific youngsters coming through and they deserve the chance to win medals in their own backyard. The Commonwealth Games next year could be a springboard for us staging the greatest World Championships ever."

Dick, who presided over the Coe-Cram-Ovett-Thompson-Christie-Gunnell era of the Eighties and early Nineties, when all that glittered really did turn to gold without the handouts from the Lottery, believes the Edmonton performances should be kept in perspective, though he is strongly critical of some aspects of the team's preparation and management.

"You could argue that we should have done better at both the World Championships and European Cup, where we had our lowest medal returns since 1976 and 1979 respectively. But remember in Edmonton we without three medal winners from Sydney, Denise Lewis, Darren Campbell and Katherine Merry. Indeed, Lewis and Merry would probably have won gold had they been fit.

"To return with three or four gold medals instead of one would have been hailed as a major achievement and there certainly could not have been any thought of the Government turning their backs on the 2005 championships.

"But what needs to happen now is a review which embraces every aspect of those performances, not only of the athletes, but management. Max Jones is a great coach but it is unfair to ask him to do both roles, that of chief coach and team manager.

"He needs to be supported by someone equally competent with full responsibility for the management role. There are issues of discipline and pastoral care that you don't want to be bothered with if you are the guy who is trying to get results as a coach."

Dick says a firmer managerial hand was needed in two incidents involving Paula Radcliffe. "We have to be very careful about mounting public demonstrations against a girl being found positive and then being let off, when in this country we have had several athletes who also tested positive in drugs cases, and in some cases were let off. We are being ridiculed abroad because of this. Paula is accountable to the management in a team situation so what on earth were our management thinking about allowing her to stage that demonstration?

"Also, no one who is involved emotionally or commercially with an athlete should have access to the team's competitive situation. So why was Paula's husband, who is also her agent, allowed near the arena, which led to their public shouting match? Can you imagine the chaos if Victoria Beckham or David's agent were in the England dug-out?"

The 60-year-old Dick, who is chairman of the European Coaches' Association and one of the country's top motivational experts, did have some sympathy with those involved in the relay baton fiasco. "I've been there myself as a coach. You shouldn't come away from a world championship thinking 'oh, we had a really bad one because we dropped the baton and the tactics were poor.'

"But I couldn't work out why Dwain Chambers was on the first leg and not the last. You should never put someone with low-level experience of major championships on last leg. That was a mistake."

However, Dick thinks that returning with a solitary gold medal could be beneficial in that it will prompt the sport into the all-round review he considers vital. "Even just a couple of gold medals gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card. People then tend to ignore the bits that didn't go right.

"At least we now have the opportunity to look at everything, from the preparation to the medical back-up. All those involved, managers, coaches, doctors, physios, bio-mechanics should sit down every six weeks and see what they can learn from each other. And the management need to be accountable for what they have done with that advice.

"I am not despondent about the future because we have some great youngsters. This year our junior team equalled Russia's total of 17 medals at the top of the European Junior Championships table and we have had outstanding world and European junior results in the two previous years.

"The potential is huge but progress must be managed effectively. It is what we do with the lessons to be learned from Edmonton that matters most. Don Shula, the legendary Miami Dolphins NFL coach summed it up when he said: 'The game doesn't end with the final whistle; it ends after you've learned all you can from that experience'."