Olympic chief says Team GB must think bigger for 2012
Team GB will not meet its goal of finishing fourth at the 2012 London Olympics unless it broadens its sporting horizons, according to British Olympic Association (BOA) Chief Executive Simon Clegg.
"We've traditionally been strong in cycling, rowing, equestrian, sailing and athletics, but quite frankly these are not enough to meet our targets," said Clegg, who visited the Chinese capital last week to carry out site visits and receive updates from BOCOG, the organizing committee of next year's Games.
"Taekwondo and the triathlon are two good examples of areas where we will need to perform well in 2012 to reach this aspirational target."
"We've acknowledged that we will not be able to surpass the United States, China or Russia."
The performance of the host nation is crucial to the success of the Summer Games, he said. Three years ago in Athens the Games were tarred by doping scandals involving high-profile Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thannou.
"The thing that people tend to remember from the Olympic Games is not the results of all the different competitions or things like traffic, but how well the host nation did. The performance of the host nation is an integral component to the success of the Games."
Clegg described Beijing 2008 as "a stepping stone to London 2012", but it could prove a hard act to follow due to the huge investment that has been made in facilities and performance.
London, which received $600 million in extra funding for high-performance sports last year, will want to focus on showing how progressive and forward-thinking it is at the 2012 Games, Clegg said.
Sporting development
"We've watched in awe of China's sporting development over the last few years," said Clegg. "Especially watching China's high performance athletes, who I'm convinced will top the overall medal table in Beijing."
The BOA is now busy building good relations with Chinese sports officials to help make life easier for the British athletes in Beijing. Even minor conveniences could potentially have an impact on their competition results next August.
"Fractions of a second differentiate between success and failure," said Clegg. "Five of our gold medals in Athens were run over a total performance time of 13 minutes and 2 seconds. The cumulative difference between the gold and silver medals in those events was 0.545 seconds."
"So for my colleagues and I, we passionately believe that every day we come into the office, we're contributing to those 0.545 seconds."
The BOA has even sent its team leaders to courses at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London to familiarize themselves with Chinese culture. Last week, several of its Olympic team leaders met the competition managers of their respective sports in China to foster better relations.
Equestrian events
Will Connell, performance director of the British Equestrian Federation, praised the facilities being built by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, but said that much preparatory work needed to be done as the team would effectively be operating on its own. Hong Kong will host the equestrian events next year and Qingdao the Olympic regatta
"The facilities will be outstanding. The challenge we face in Hong Kong is that we will be separated from our Olympic Committee by such a large distance. That can be a problem in terms of Olympic atmosphere. It would also normally be providing services like doctors, physios, administrative support, so we need to set up a complete satellite operation in Hong Kong."
He said the equestrian test event this August would be a good start.
"The test event as a competition is not important. What's more important is the data we get on the horses, such as how they cope with the air, travel, living in air-conditioned stables. How they and the riders acclimatize. It's more focused on learning about competing in Hong Kong."
One major prospect is BBC Sports Personality of the Year Zara Phillips, the current eventing world champion and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. She qualified for Athens 2004 but failed to compete due to an injury to her horse eight months earlier that ruled it ineligible.
Britain will warm up for the Beijing Games at a training camp in Macau, chosen for its comparable climate and its success at hosting the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, said Clegg.
He said the BOA expects to have 300 athletes at the Beijing Games but has not yet set a medal target.
(China Daily 05/24/2007 page23)
