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Coe reins in expectations

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Lord Sebastian Coe believes there is unreasonable pressure on British athletes to win medals at London 2012.

Coe, the man responsible for delivering the London Games, and a two-time Olympic champion himself, has warned people not to get too carried away at the prospect of an enormous medal haul in the Olympic Stadium in two years' time.

While the sports of sailing, rowing and cycling have brought a healthy British medal haul over recent years, British athletes have been unable to replicate the success, with the likes of Kelly Holmes and Christine Ohuruogu proving to be rare triumphs on the track.

"We are not as strong as we once were," Coe said in The Daily Mail. "But sometimes we are unrealistic in thinking we have the right to expect that. When you look at a world athletics championship, there are more than 200 flags up there. Track and field is the most global of all the Olympic sports by a distance. It is harder to win a medal in it than in any other sport. Everybody runs.

"We have a young team. Are we going to win a sack load of medals? Probably not. But I think we have a better Olympic squad than for a long time.'

Ahead of next week's European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, Coe believes the British team is making healthy progress under the direction of chief coach Charles van Commenee. However, Coe believes more money needs to be invested in the system as well as the athletes, in order to replicate the success of the cycling and rowing squads.

"Charles is a guy of extraordinary talent,' Coe said. "He is a very good technical coach. But over the years I don't think we have got our coaching structure right. We didn't invest enough in coach education or really value it enough, as they do in Europe and the States.

"I hear a lot about legacy. But I have yet to hear anyone argue coherently how we will do that with coaches. We talk of bringing new young people into sport, which is vital. We talk of getting medals to provide role models. But in athletics we don't think enough of getting young coaches with world class skills into the system.

"The smart governing bodies like rowing are doing it. In cycling they are looking not only for the next generation of Chris Hoys but the next generation of David Brailsfords."

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