Judy Oakes and Mike Winch, directors of the British Athletics Coaches Association, say the approach is just one of many issues for mentors across the UK
Coaches are “frustrated” and some have “had enough”, as a result of UK Athletics’ Olympic selection policy.
According to Judy Oakes and Mike Winch – directors of the British Athletics Coaches Association [BACA] – “more and more coaches have become dissatisfied with it” and that “they feel like they have no influence on the wider say [of decisions taken within the sport] at all”.
This comes after a letter was sent by Oakes and Winch to UKA, stating that “BACA has no hesitation in supporting our athletes and their coaches in seeking to accept the World Athletics invitations and will continue to support the inclusion of all qualified athletes in the team”.
Over the past few weeks, UKA’s strict selection policy has once again come under the spotlight after athletes who qualified via the World Athletics rankings were left out of the Olympic team because they hadn’t met the national governing body’s own standards.
Those standards, according to UKA, are “reflective of athletes making the top eight in their event”. The national governing body also argues that they don’t “turn down invites”, rather “national federations can select athletes through this route [world rankings] if they consider it appropriate to do so”.
A total of 64 names will represent Team GB in the athletics at Paris 2024. Overall, 327 British competitors were selected for this Olympics, the lowest number for all sports at a Games since Beijing 2008 (311).
Unlucky athletes who missed out for Paris included hammer throwers Jake Norris, Anna Purchase and Kenny Ikeji, discus thrower Jade Lally, shot putter Amelia Strickler, 5000m runners Hannah Nuttall, Verity Ockenden and Izzy Fry, plus 3000m steeplechaser Phil Norman.
Jade Lally (Getty)
Oakes and Winch, who both won medals for their country at multiple major championships, wanted to see all athletes who qualified via the world rankings selected for this Olympics.
“My viewpoint is that if you are good enough to qualify via the rankings from the global governing body to represent your country at an Olympics, then you should go,” Oakes says.
“These athletes’ places are then given to others who are actually ranked below them. Not only are they told they’re not good enough by the national governing body, World Athletics will just pick the next best person qualified on the rankings.”
Given that the teams were selected earlier this month, attention will eventually turn to selection for future major global championships. Winch insists change should be made immediately after the Olympics.
“I think that there is a necessity now, ahead of future Olympics and World Championships, for universal agreement between World Athletics and the national federations on the world rankings,” he says.
“The qualification standards are so high that anyone ranked in the top 32 in the world should be picked.”
Judy Oakes and Mike Winch (Mark Shearman)
The pair also emphasise that the policy has “demotivated” coaches as well as athletes. Both Oakes and Winch warn that those they help to represent via BACA, are largely critical of the policy.
BACA, founded by Oakes, Winch, Alexander Starr, Sarah Hewitt and Malcom Fenton, is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support, represent and assist British athletics coaches in all aspects of their work.
Since its inception at the turn of the decade, over 2400 coaches have joined the Facebook group run by BACA, with around 1500 of those based in the UK.
“The feedback that we’re getting back from pretty much all of the coaches is that change [to the selection policy] is needed,” Winch tells AW. “BACA will be working for it in a positive and constructive way. We have already lost coaches over this [policy].
“We had someone message in saying that the sport in this country has lost its focus and what it is. Due to lottery funding we’ve had this massive focus on medals and what’s been forgotten is that athletics starts at the kids club on a Saturday morning. Then it moves to the clubs, counties, areas, home countries and eventually Great Britain at an international level.”
Both Oakes and Winch know what it’s like to travel up the ladder to eventually represent your nation on a global stage. Oakes is a four-time Olympian and threw for Great Britain in the shot put at LA 1984, Seoul 1988, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. A triple Commonwealth champion in the event, she still holds the British shot put record of 19.36m.
Judy Oakes (Mark Shearman)
She finished fourth at the LA 1984 Games and, even though she failed to get out of qualifying four years later, bounced back to make the final once again at Atlanta 1996.
Oakes knows what it’s like to compete in some of the most pressurised atmospheres in sport and states that such an experience can easily boost an athlete’s performance.
“Every athlete, when they start out, dreams of being an Olympian,” says Oakes. “Seeing the top throwers, runners and jumpers raises your level in that arena. You don’t want to look stupid and disappoint yourself. You get a tremendous boost being in that environment because you feel so proud and you want to do your best. So many athletes get personal bests in major championships and because they’ve done it once, they think they can do it again.
“Many athletes who have been to the Olympics have not made the final the first time round but four years later they were winning medals. They’d experienced the stresses of an Olympics so in the next cycle they were much better prepared mentally and physically. They then knew what they had to do to get the medal.”
Earlier this month, UKA chair Ian Beattie outlined the reasoning behind the governing body’s strict policy, stating: “UK Sport’s view – and it is a view I agree with – is that an athlete getting to the Olympics with little chance of qualifying from their heat or pool, does not have a significant impact on inspiring the nation, and therefore does not merit public funding.”
Beattie added that “larger teams can dilute the level of support given during the championships to our genuine medal contenders”.
Winch, who claimed two Commonwealth silver shot put medals at the Christchurch 1974 and Brisbane 1982 Games, disagrees and states that the Olympics is about representing and inspiring your club and community.
Mike Winch (Mark Shearman)
“They need to focus on how athletes develop through competitions and it’s offensive to say that to athletes, and their coaches, who have tried their hardest to get into the Olympics,” he says.
“Being an Olympian or a major championships performer means the athlete doesn’t just get a buzz out of it, the community does. It’s that issue that the selection policy hits. You are not not getting qualified athletes who won’t be able to go back to their community. The sport has to start realising the value of it.
“When an athlete goes to an Olympics, they have all originated from a club. Dina Asher-Smith will be representing Team GB at the Games but she’s also a part of Blackheath & Bromley AC. The club is proud of that and they can publicise that Dina, even though she is currently training out in the US, is going for a medal.”
Oakes agrees with Winch and recalls how just being at the Olympics helped inspire schoolchildren in her area. “When I went to primary schools I always used to take my shot put,” Oakes says. “For starters, I’m not sure anyone realised how heavy it was. I also used to bring a tape measure with me and put it a long way down the corridor to mark my British record. They were bug-eyed and couldn’t believe it.
“After that, they wanted to try the shot put out. So sometimes I’d take them to the field and practice with little and much lighter balls! They loved it and it made it fun.”
Winch states that there is a danger that kids coming through the athletics system are “going to be more inspired by other sports like football, hockey and rugby for example”, adding that there is a wider impact and that coaching “numbers have dwindled in the past 10 years”.
He argues the reasoning for this isn’t just the policy but the entire eco-system that coaches are working in across the UK.
“It’s hard enough to coach now,” Winch continues. “These are people who are spending hundreds of hours per month and they’re frustrated that their athletes, even though they’ve qualified on the rankings, are not selected.
“But this [selection policy] kind of impinges on a more general question about coaching. You know, companies that are running tracks are now starting to charge coaches to train their athletes. We went to a track recently and they said ‘oh no you’ve got pay as you’re coaching’.
“I remember we also had the internationally famous Loughborough summer school – a fortnight of athletics lectures, summer schools, workshops – which ran for 49 years, but that’s not here anymore.
“We have a lot of coaches who are doing work within the sport that in truth, feel like they have no influence on the wider say at all.”
BACA is working closely with England Athletics on aiming to solve any issues within coaching. Both Oakes and Winch are now appealing to UKA for more engagement in the long-term.
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