GB to review 'athlete by athlete'

Britain's 4x100m relay squad was one of the disappointments of Beijing

UK Athletics has promised an "athlete by athlete" review of British displays at the Beijing Olympics as part of the funding process for the 2012 Games.

Great Britain's athletes won just four medals in China, with only 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu taking gold.

"There will no doubt be some tough discussions," UKA chairman Ed Warner told BBC Sport.

"There's no point funding athletes who haven't got the ability to potentially medal in 2012."

Ohuruogu's Great Britain team-mates Phillips Idowu, Germaine Mason and Tasha Danvers also made it to the podium in Beijing, but that still left Team GB one short of the pre-Games target of five medals.

"We will focus our resources on those that really have the ability, in their gut and in their bodies, to turn their potential into medals," added Warner.

Warner also believes the successor to UKA performance director Dave Collins must adopt a more hands-on approach to the job.

Dutch Olympic chef de mission Charles van Commenee is the favourite to replace Collins, who left his post on Monday once it became clear UKA would not renew his contract in March.

Warner praised Collins for his work in creating an "infrastructure" for athletics in Britain, but said a change in approach was required to progress.

"We need something different now," he said.

In the next four years we need to turn finalists into medallists UKA chairman Ed Warner

"We have the infrastructure, but can we get the best out of it?

"We're going to replace Dave with a head coach, not a performance director, and it'll do what it says on the tin.

"It'll be someone who will be in a tracksuit, working up close with our best athletes and their coaches over the next four years.

"This is something we've worked on for a number of months. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to Beijing - we won't be hiring someone we bumped into in a bar in a Beijing hotel."

Warner called on athletes to reflect on their own performances in Beijing, suggesting many would be disappointed.

"For me Beijing was a nearly Games, a 'What if?' Games, with too many examples of athletes who'll be kicking themselves that they made it to a final then didn't perform at their best," he said.

"I'm not going to point fingers at them, they know who they are.

"It's if you come back from the Games and kick yourselves saying 'We dropped a couple of batons', or if you made finals then didn't produce personal bests or season's bests on the day.

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"There will be a review, athlete by athlete. We are lottery funded, and the funding decisions for each athlete and their coaches take place this autumn."

However, Warner insisted British athletics "should not kick itself too much", claiming the four-medal tally had proved the envy of other European nations.

"Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden won four medals in athletics between them," said Warner.

"The chief executives of those nations are asking us what we're doing right, but we think we can do better.

"In Beijing a whole string of athletes made finals, but in the next four years we need to turn finalists into medallists."