The Electronic Telegraph Sunday 29 July 2001 Owen Slot IT WOULD be nice to report that British athletics go into the World Championships in Edmonton this week in a fine state of health. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Yes, the British team do look peppered with medal chances. They are probably as strong as any in recent years. It seemed once that we might struggle to replace the stars of the Linford Christie era but it has not been a problem. We have a splendid new generation in place and the wealth of medals carried home by young Britons from World and European Junior Championships in recent weeks suggests that there is more and better to come. Good athletes? We've got planeloads. But in a fine state of health? Barely enough to fill the cockpit. Every competing nation in Edmonton will suffer injuries, but the fact that the British team are once again suffering more than most is no coincidence. As Max Jones, head coach of the GB team, explained: "Sports medicine in Britain is abysmal." Goodness knows how well Britain would do in Edmonton with a fit team. Katharine Merry, who pulled out on Thursday after suffering an Achilles tendon injury, would have been Britain's best gold chance while Denise Lewis would have been joint favourite for the heptathlon but foot and Achilles problems mean she can barely get off the ground in the high-jump. Britain would also have had decent chances of gold in the two men's relays but, in the 4 x 100m, neither Jason Gardener nor Darren Campbell is fit to travel and, in the 4 x 400m, Daniel Caines is unfit to go and Iwan Thomas and Jamie Baulch are both emerging from long-term injuries. But if we add to the list the other sick, injured or recovering athletes who would have had a better sniff in the hunt for medals had their bodies not let them down - Kelly Holmes, Dean Macey, Ashia Hansen, Natasha Danvers, Donna Fraser (and thus the women's 4 x 400m team too) - then we see exactly how glorious this next fortnight might have been. So let us not blame British athletics in two weeks' time if the medal cupboard seems a little bare. Let us acknowledge the fact that in the fields of science and sports medicine, Britain is about a decade behind its competitors. About as fit an athlete as Britain has had in the last decade is Colin Jackson and he was only able to make the big championships year in, year out, explains his coach Malcolm Arnold, because he was able to afford to scour the earth in search of the best treatment. "He's never been afraid to spend the money to look after himself," Arnold said. "Some athletes are extremely lucky in that they can afford it themselves because they earn well. But there are only a very few of those." The others, of course, are left to do the best they can with the system as it stands and the problem here is that there has never really been one. "You can't knock the medical profession for this," Arnold says, "because there have never been career opportunities in this field." That is why the likes of Jackson have had to go abroad. It is worth noting that Jackson's career almost halted in 1986 when no one in Britain could treat his hamstring injury. Finally, he found someone in Norway who could. He has been making regular trips to a clinic in Germany ever since. "I think there are good people out there in this country," says Roger Black, who encountered many injury problems during his career, "but there aren't enough and so they become over-worked and stressed out. There's no doubt that the system is hit or miss. You find a good physiotherapist and people will drive halfway across the country to sit on their doorstep and wait." This view is endorsed by Steve Smith, the high-jumper, who used to have to drive from Liverpool to Gatwick to receive physiotherapy. A withering verdict comes from Dr Bradley Basaraba, an American-trained Canadian sports doctor based in Surrey who has worked at a number of international events and has been recruited by the team from Ukraine for Edmonton. "They're just not up with the times over here," he said. "There are fewer people to see, fewer opinions. It's not so much treating the problem, it's locating it. If you don't know what to look for, you can't correct it." Dr Basaraba is in no doubt that certain athletes' careers (he declined to name them) have been damaged by inadequate health care. "People are on the edge of chronic injury and no one is treating them," he says. "A lot of injuries are sub-acute and they're allowed to roll on." These opinions, though, are by no means extreme. "We don't seem to prevent injuries before they happen," says Lorna Boothe, the former Great Britain team manager. "We're behind other countries on that." And Frank Dick, former head coach of the Great Britain team, says: "There isn't a strong system to fast-track athletes to the help they need. Some of the problem is in the diagnosis. We don't have the quantity and quality of context to make the correct diagnosis." A measure of sympathy is therefore due for the people at UK Athletics who have had to pull another team together despite the adversities. The good news is that change is afoot; the bad news is that it has come far too late to help the team for Edmonton. Consultants from Australia are flooding in to tell us how to organise a national structure for sports medicine; given that Australia is over 25 years ahead of Britain in this field, this is probably a very good thing. "We have never had any state sports medicine in place," Jones says, "so we have had to start from scratch. Two or three years ago, the situation was abysmal. We are now putting a system in; it's nowhere near perfect and it's not as good as other countries, but it's a start. "You can't make one leap and expect to be suddenly on a par with Australia and Germany. It's not an overnight thing." This is by no means a problem restricted to athletics. In football, which is awash with greater funding, Arsenal are in the habit of sending injured footballers to a clinic in Antibes to mend themselves; other clubs, who screen their players by taking blood samples, are in the habit of sending the blood abroad for testing. At least at UK Athletics they are making the best of a situation that is historically bad. Lottery funds are made available for athletes to receive medical care but, whether the diagnosis is right and the treatment near at hand, is another matter. They also organise screening weekends for athletes, a sort of regular MOT test; it is a crying shame that some athletes decide to ignore these priceless opportunities. As ever, then, it is the Colin Jacksons of this world who will succeed in Edmonton - those who are professional and wealthy enough to ensure that they arrive at the World Championships in the best state of health. Not content with what the Great Britain team themselves can provide, some, like Paula Radcliffe, will travel with their own personal physio. That way they can ensure that they get the best treatment when they need it and from someone who knows what they need. It makes sense, doesn't it? Jackson proved that this is the way to win medals. Hopefully, one day, it will not be such a hard path for other Britons to follow. Eamonn Condon www.RunnersGoal.com
