Shooting will be the first sport to benefit from an Olympic coaching programme devised by Sir Clive Woodward, the man who steered the England rugby union team to a World Cup triumph in 2003.
In a move that suggests Woodward’s role in the 2012 set-up is finally settled more than two years after he joined the British Olympic Association as performance director, he will work with the Great Britain shooters in their preparation for the London Games. His programme is designed to fill in the gaps in expertise on world-class programmes caused by a lack of funding.
Shooting suffered the single biggest blow to its budget when it was handed a 75 per cent cut from £5.1 million to £1.2 million by UK Sport because of a £50 million funding gap for Olympic sport. It meant that 25 athletes lost their funding and the performance director his job.
Woodward will form a core team comprising Dave Reddin, who was England’s conditioning coach in the rugby union set-up, Marco Cardinale, the head of sports science at the Olympic Medical Institute, and an as yet unidentified “leadership expert”.
Their costs, as well as Woodward’s sizeable salary, are ultimately to be covered by the sponsorship expected to be raised through Team 2012, once the controversial collective rights agreement for Olympic athletes has been finalised.
While Woodward’s Olympic coaching programme is far from its original concept of embracing the top athletes in the most successful sports, it appears to be evolving into something that the smaller sports can work with.
Phil Boakes, chairman of British Shooting, was positive about Woodward’s involvement. “Who wouldn’t want Clive Woodward working with them if they had the option?” he said. “I am sure he can bring a number of qualities to most sports.”
Source:The times
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