My advice to our new athletics chief: Only first is good enough

WE have a new head of British Athletics settling into his job and I hope he is a tough, determined guy. Richard Bowker needs to be because there are some hard words needed.

Ed Warner was in charge for 10 years and he bowed out with six medals at the World Championships. We hit our target. But was it a success?

Certainly, London 2017 was a success in terms of organisation and the public flocked to the old Olympic Stadium. But the medal count was dire until the last couple of days. Mo Farah and the relay teams saved British Athletics from serious questions and Bowker needs to do better.

His first test will be the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham next March.

There will be huge TV, media and public interest. Are we up to it? I have my doubts.

Our target must be to be the world’s best. We are too comfort- able being ‘almost’. And we are not learning fast enough. We don’t have the ability to turn winning potential into winning performances. Athletes can only be world best if all who influence their performances are world best at doing so.

The athletics culture in Britain is soft. We don’t have the hardness and commitment to win. Warner has stepped down claiming he has left the sport in great shape, but there are those who disagree.

We have the highest high performance budget in the world. British Athletics has received £27.1 million in UK funding to cover the four-year cycle from the Rio Olympics to the Tokyo 2020 Games. If our purpose is not to be the No 1, then why do we compete in the Olympics and World Championships? Is six medals out of 144 on offer in London this summer — and not the ones we aimed for — a success?

If we do not have a culture of constructive honesty and accountability fly out the window. Lessons that must be learned are ducked and nothing changes.

Worlds and Olympics are only for the best, the real fighters who will put everything on the line.

Twenty- five of our athletes made the top eight in their events, putting GB third in the points table at the World Championships. We identify with the hurt of the athlete who goes so close. But are we doing them a favour in this? If losing doesn’t hurt, winning doesn’t matter.

It is me trying to redirect attitude, thinking, behaviour and, as a consequence, performance.

Let’s see how close we are to being No 1 in the world in Birmingham in March. Alternatively, let’s continue to be happy being also-rans. Interview by John Wragg