The new CEO of UK Athletics believes the coronavirus shutdown will provide the organisation with a “great opportunity” to accelerate its much-needed reform.
Joanna Coates, who took up the post in mid-March, just days before the country was sent into lockdown, said the cancellation of competitions such as the Anniversary Games and the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games would give people “time to think about the future of the sport”.
Coates also confirmed plans are in place to allow an organised re-opening of Loughborough’s high-performance centre for a select group of athletes by the end of the month, though Standard Sport understands a small number of individuals have already begun to use the facility, in line with government guidelines.
An independent review into UKA last month ordered a raft of structural changes, having found the sport was “not in a good position” following a series of high-profile controversies.
The body has been given until the end of the year to implement the recommendations, which include the appointment of a new independent chair, and Coates believes the lack of major events this summer could be something of a blessing as far as the behind-the-scenes transformation is concerned.
“This situation is absolutely awful – for the general population, for athletes that were ready to perform in July 2020,” she said during the Leaders Week virtual conference.
“But for us as an organisation, because we’ve got to go through so much change, it actually has given us a great opportunity because it’s given us a time where people have more time to think about the future of the sport.
“We’re not all now focused on this July. So, as a new sports administrator coming in, from a very selfish point of view, this gives us an excellent opportunity over the summer to make that change much quicker than it possibly would have been made before.”
