Athletics in the UK: The Rise and Fall of the BAF

132 Epilogue It has also been responsible for creating what can only be regarded as an administrative mess in England where there exist both the AAA, overseeing three geographical regions (North, South, Midlands) with little to do, and England Athletics, overseeing nine geographical regions and wielding a substantial budget that is dependent on the continued flow of Sports Council and Lottery grants. It says much for the personnel involved that relative harmony prevails but the mismatch leaves the potential for tension in the future. Paradoxically, with more resources than the old organisations ever had (in its financial year to March 2010, UKA turned over £25 million, had over 100 full and part time employees and spent £8.5m on funding athletes), the performances of British athletes on the international stage initially disappointed compared with those of the previous decades when there was a direct link between athletes’ performances in competition and their income. After an excellent Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 which yielded six individual medals including golds from Jonathan Edwards and Denise Lewis, the medal count dwindled. The world championships in 2001 produced only 1 gold (Edwards) and 1 bronze; in 2003 only 1 silver and two bronze (no gold); and in 2005 1 gold (Paula Radcliffe) and 2 bronze. There was an improvement at the Olympic Games in 2004 when Kelly Holmes took 2 gold medals alongside Kelly Sotherton’s bronze in the Heptathlon and a further gold from the men’s 4x100m relay but the world championships in Osaka in 2007 did mark the start of what appears to be an improvement, with 5 medals but only one gold (Christine Orohuogu in the 400m). The 2008 Olympic Games were more successful than expected and the world championships in Berlin in 2009 even more so, with 6 medals including 2 gold. The 2010 European Championships in Barcelona produced a record haul of 19 medals, including 6 gold, one more than the 18 medals won in Split in 1990. Great Britain was second to Russia in the overall national rankings and British athletics was once again riding high. A sterner test, however, would lie ahead with the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Much hope is being pinned on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012 to provide the inspiration for and the legacy of a new generation of successful British athletes.