East wants athletics coaching rethink
Commonwealth Games winner frustrated at approach taken by coaches to bring through the next generation of athletes. JAMES AYLES reports...
RETIRED Olympian Michael East has called for a radical rethink of athletics coaching in the UK, claiming there has been little change since he retired in 2008.
MICHAEL EAST has called for a radical rethink of athletics coaching in the UK, claiming there has been little change since he hung up his spikes in 2008.
The retired North End racer, 41, was one of Britain’s foremost athletes at the start of the century, earning a 2002 Commonwealth gold in the 1500m.
He was also the only male athletics finalist for Team GB at Athens 2004, finishing sixth.
Yet, despite a sparkling international career, East remains frustrated at the approach taken by coaches to bringing through the next generation of athletes.
East said: ‘If you look at the track these days it is the same old coaches involved as when I was young.
‘They need to bring back in the talent that came through the system. A lot of guys I raced with aren’t involved despite everything they achieved. How do you use them well to benefit others?
‘I can say I know what it likes because I went down the track and I know what it means, but a lot of young guys don’t have that.
‘I think its jobs for the boys with UK Athletics and I don’t think they know how to go past where they are at, they need to bring in some great help.
‘It is the same group of coaches I came up with, and how do you evolve a sport with the same people involved?’
East, outspoken while a competitor, also admitted that many athletes were aware of just how rife doping was in the sport. Yet he also accepted that, at the time, authorities were reluctant to challenge the sport’s big names. He said: ‘Whenever we got onto the start line you knew it (doping) existed but you just knew you would have to do everything in your power to override it. It was everyone for themselves and all to win it. ‘It would be nice if they went back to 2004 and started to dig into those tests but they stopped going back that far. If they did there would potentially be a medal there. ‘At the end of the day I knew what was going on there. With the big hitters, I genuinely felt there was an element of ‘let’s not challenge that’ because they are the ones that bring in the audience. ‘It is definitely cleaner now. You can see that, it is the consistency of the performances. When you would perform to any high level, your body would take an absolute smashing if you are completely clean. ‘If you are not clean and using synthetic substances you don’t have to operate at such a high level. ‘When I ran my fastest ever time it took me 10 days to recover from that, whereas other guys were just doing it week in, week out and it is not just humanly possible. ‘You also see a lot of the Brits being super competitive when perhaps they weren’t so before and we know we have one of the toughest testing systems in the world. So I think you can tell it has been cleaned up a lot.’ East is keen to see more innovation and technology within athletics competitions.
With two young daughters – Florence and Olivia – both keen runners, East has seen first-hand the difficulties in keeping young people involved in sport.
He added: ‘Young people have to be happy fundamentally with what they are doing.
‘Keeping those girls moving through system is a real challenge, especially as things become more interesting through their teens, so it is about keeping them motivated and interested.
‘They need to make competition more interesting, they have league systems that are complicated and dated and difficult to understand. Track and field guys can be anti-anything encroaching on them.
‘Great that they volunteer but they are sticklers for detail and it’s not engaging.
‘As soon as you pin a number it freaks people out, they don’t want to do it.
‘Nike are bringing tech in a really big way into track and field with self-tying laces. That brand are really influencing how track and field should look. There’s a leap between that and this dated world and something needs to change.
‘That’s really interesting now and something I’d like to get my teeth stuck into at some point.’
East is now general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa for American sportswear brand Mitchell & Ness.
With American sports exploding in popularity in the UK, he has turned his hand to something slightly different in retirement, but is thriving.
He added: ‘I just knew I’d done what I needed to do and I was comfortable with it and I needed to go and find a new challenge.
‘I need to be challenged, my biggest fear is complacency.
‘There is such a huge opportunity for Mitchell & Ness in the UK. American sports are hugely popular here and it is so exciting to be part of.’