Campbell worried by lack of new stars
Jul 5 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
DARREN Campbell is confident British athletes can comfortably reach their target of five medals in Beijing this summer, but does not believe the sport is doing enough to find people who can succeed him as an Olympic champion.
Campbell and Linford Christie were in Walker this week for the Newcastle heat of Street Athletics – a competition to find talented sprinters in deprived areas.
The under-20s ran on the tarmac around the local sports centre, eliminating the need for running spikes. The 2004 gold medalist Campbell feels it is a lead the authorities ought to follow.
“I don’t think they’re doing enough,” said the former sprinter. “That’s why street athletics is important. If you’re going to get that raw talent you have to go to the real grass roots, the rough places. That’s what football has done but athletics hasn’t. Having come from that background myself, pressure was never a factor.”
He feels the pressure will be off in China, where the British Olympic Association has challenged the athletics team to pick up five of the 35 medals they are targeting.
“It’s a realistic target,” said Campbell. “In the women’s events alone I think we’ve got the potential to get five medals. It’s conservative without putting too much pressure on. Winning the European Cup showed there’s an abundance of talent.”
Since Christie’s retirement British sprinters have promised much but delivered little at the Olympics. But Tyrone Edgar’s recent victory at the European Cup in Annecy has encouraged Campbell.
“I was very pleased with the performance of Tyrone Edgar,” he said. “One of his weaknesses was on the big stage and I know first-hand the pressure of a debut in an event like the European Cup.”
Campbell was speaking on the day Dwain Chambers filed court papers against the BOA in the latest episode of the soap opera surrounding his Olympic ban.
Campbell, who was stripped of two major relay medals because of Chambers’ drug-taking, does not believe it will be much of a distraction.
“Athletics is a very individual sport and a very selfish one,” he said. “Athletes are more concerned with themselves than what’s happening to other people but we need it sorted one way or another and with a solution for the good of the sport.”
