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

88 A poisoned chalice? The Modahls virtually bankrupted themselves with the heavy costs they expended on the defence and, in February 1996, sued the BAF for around £480,000 in an attempt to recover their costs and damages. Likewise for the BAF, the costs had absorbed some £200,000 of the BAF’s already stretched resources and the drain continued as the legal dispute went on. Diane Modahl’s had been only one of a spate of British doping cases at this time and, although British Athletics was respected as being tough on doping cheats, the adverse publicity and attendant costs were harming the reputation of the sport. The problems landing on Radford’s desk were mounting and, at the same time, he was trying to look ahead and plan for the future. With the support of the management board, he undertook a wide ranging review of the state of the sport and produced a blue print for the future called Athletics21 – Strategic Planning for British Athletics in the 21 st Century, which was published in April 1995. He was also lobbying hard for a change to the rules for disbursing National Lottery funds which, hitherto, had been restricted to capital projects. He launched a bid for Britain to host the World Athletics Championships and gained the support of the government to commit to build a new national athletic stadium in north London. In these endeavours, he achieved remarkable success and has not received enough credit for the pioneering work that he did and which has resulted in substantial National Lottery and Sports Council monies flooding into athletics since 1997. Radford had inherited a declining income from television and sponsors which meant that budgets were constantly under pressure. This affected the whole sport and not least the athletes through their appearance fees. Some of the athletes did not take kindly to these “cuts” and relationships between them and the BAF deteriorated. One incident involving Colin Jackson sparked off others. One of the most important events every year was the AAA Championships which doubled as the trials for the major championship of the year. No appearance money was paid but, nevertheless, athletes were obliged to participate as part of the qualification process towards selection. In 1995, Colin Jackson had competed in the heats of the 110m hurdles but