Sport-by-sport - Disability Athletics
David Weir
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| Chairman | Ed Warner | |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive | Niels De Vos | |
| Performance Director | Peter Eriksson (Head Coach) |
Sport Profile
| Funding Award (2009-2013) | £6,730,000 |
| London 2012 Performance | 11 Gold, 7 Silver, 11 Bronze |
| Athletes on World Class Performance Programme | 40 |
| Past Performances | Paralympic Games, Beijing, 2008: Gold (2); Silver (7); Bronze (8) |
| Press Officer | Liz Birchall and Sophie Ashcroft |
| Press Officer tel | 0121 713 8400 / 07718 526 363 |
| Website | http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/# |
| National governing body | British Athletics |
“National Lottery players should be really proud that they are supporting us to the hilt. Their investment allows me to train full-time and gives me the professional support to go for gold in London, I can’t wait to compete at a home Paralympic Games.”
Nathan Stephens
UKA had agreed a performance target with UK Sport of 30 medals for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, so a final haul of just 17 was a relative underachievement, despite some fantastic individual performances. UK Sport, however, recognised the huge potential in this team for 2012, and backed them with over £6 million for the London cycle. In 2011 this confidence was rewarded by the team finishing third in the medal table at the IPC World Championships with 38 medals made up of 12 gold medals, 10 silver and 16 bronze, seeing the team finish third in the medal table (compared to 18th in Beijing).
Peter Eriksson’s leadership of the programme as Head Coach since 2009 has increased the professionalism of all staff and athletes involved and has been a major contributory factor in this dramatic performance progression. Peter has created greater alignment between the Olympic and Paralympic programmes, including integrated training camps in Italy, South Africa and the USA. The standard of the programme has also been raised in terms of quality of camps, coaching and additional support services, including the recent recruitment of Chantal Petitclerc, the most decorated female track and field athlete of all time with 14 Paralympic gold medals, to the team, and talent identification through their Aviva Parallel Success and Talent Programmes.
Input from UK Sport’s Research and Innovation team has also helped the sport step up a gear for London 2012, with support for the wheelchair racers David Weir and Shelly Woods through wind tunnel testing with BAE Systems, which has led to a greater awareness of the optimal body position for better racing aerodynamics and also some modifications to each athlete’s racing wheelchair (both in set up and design), working alongside Draft wheelchairs. Meanwhile Stefanie Reid and Scott Moorhouse have benefited from a project on event-specific prosthetic set up. Bespoke socket production and component selection, including carbon fibre blades, knee and ankle joints, involved Ossur UK and ProActive Prosthetics who systematically decided on the optimal set up for each athlete based on events they will contest in London.
Throws coach Phil Peat completed the UK Sport Paralympic Coach Development initiative in 2011. Launched in April of that year, the Paralympic-specific programme came about following a period of consultation with a number of sports who had requested assistance in the area of development of the coaching workforce through Mission 2012. Peter Eriksson says: “it’s another example of good progress and increased professionalism.”
Did You Know?
David Weir has benefited from the funding and support of UK Sport’s World Class Performance Programme since 2001. In that time he has won six Paralympic medals (including two golds in Beijing in 2008) and a record equalling six London Marathon titles.
Selected athletes:
Men:
Ola Abidogun (T46 100/200m)
Jonathan Adams (F34 shot putt)
Graeme Ballard (T36 100/200m)
Paul Blake T36 (400/800m)
Mickey Bushell (T53 100/200m)
Jamie Carter (T34 100/200m)
Aled Davies (F42 shot putt/discus)
Derek Derenalagi (F57 discus)
David Devine (T12 800/1500m)
Kyron Duke (F40 javelin/shot putt)
Dan Greaves (F44 discus)
Jordan Howe (T35 100/200m)
Rhys Jones (T37 100/200m)
Andy Kaar (T20 1500m)
Dean Miller (T37 1500m)
Stephen Miller (F32 club throw)
Steve Morris (T20 1500m)
Scott Moorhouse (F42 javelin)
Stephen Osborne (T51 100m)
Jonnie Peacock (T44 100m)
Sam Ruddock (T35 100/200m)
Ben Rushgrove (T36 100/200m)
Nathan Stephens (F57 javelin/discus)
Kieran Tscherniawsky (F33 discus)
David Weir (T54 800/1500/5000/marathon)
Dan West (F34 shot putt)
Richard Whitehead (T42 100/200m)
Rob Womack (F55 shot putt)
Women:
Hollie Arnold (F46 javelin)
Olivia Breen (T38 100/200/4x100m relay)
Sally Brown (T46 100/200m)
Libby Clegg (T12 100/200m)
Hannah Cockroft (T34 100/200m)
Katrina Hart (T37 100/200/4x100m relay)
Tracey Hinton (T11 100/200m)
Bev Jones (F37 discus/shot putt)
Jade Jones (T54 400m/800m/1500m)
Sophie Kamlish (T44 100/200m)
Jenny McLoughlin (T37 100/200/4x100m relay)
Maxine Moore (F32 club throw)
Mel Nicholls (T34 100/200m)
Josie Pearson (F51 discus/club throw)
Gemma Prescott (F32 shot putt/club throw)
Stef Reid (T44 100/200m/F44 long jump)
Hazel Robson (T36 100/200/4x100m)
Sophia Warner (T35 100/200/4x100m relay)
Claire Williams (F12 discus)
Shelly Woods (T54 800/1500/5000/marathon)
Bethy Woodward (T37 200/4x100m relay)
