UK Athletics decision to send only “big hitters” to Olympics draws criticism

UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner has announced plans to take a more “ruthless” approach to the selection of Great Britain’s track and field teams at future major championships. According to a recent report from the Daily Mail, Buckner said the organization’s selection process for the recent world championships and Olympics has been “too soft,” and in an effort to increase Great Britain’s medal haul, he plans to move away from sending bigger squads and focus solely on the country’s best track and field stars. 

Great Britain will take smaller squads to future championships in a major selection overhaul designed to prioritise potential medallists.https://t.co/A9X5EHQ1cW

— David Coverdale (@dpcoverdale) February 28, 2023

Buckner mentioned the organization’s philosophy as they look to the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and next summer’s Paris Olympics, noting that it will be “more about performance” and that it “will have a slightly sharper edge.” He continued, saying, “You need to really focus on the big hitters. We could have a list of six to 10 names and we need to be all over them. We need to identify where the medals are coming from and have the right resources in place.” 

A damaging decision

The decision means there will be British athletes left off of their national team despite meeting the qualifying standards for the world championships and Olympics. In a tweet, running coach and author Steve Magness said this is like an NBA team making the playoffs but opting not to play unless they were ranked as a five-seed or higher. That would never happen, Magness wrote, but “that’s what occurs every year in track” as countries “set higher standards than the governing body of the sport sets.” 

Track and Field = dumbest sport at the pro level

Imagine an NBA team saying “We’re only competing in the playoffs if we are a 5 seed or better”

Yet, that’s what occurs every year in track.

Countries decline spots/set higher standards then the governing body of the sport sets.

— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) March 7, 2023

Denying qualified athletes the chance to compete at major events could have two negative results. First, it prevents any underdogs from producing unanticipated runs and sneaking onto the podium. (Consider, for example, Josh Kerr, who took home bronze in the 1,500m at Tokyo 2020; with such deep competition, he would certainly be expected to make the final, but his medal was something of a delightful surprise–or even Jake Wightman, whose stunning win at the world championships in 2022 was predicted by no one.) From time to time, an athlete no one would’ve bet on to win grabs a medal at worlds or the Olympics. If other countries go the UK Athletics route and only focus on “big hitters,” then those unexpected wins likely won’t happen.

Second, by only sending medal hopefuls to big events, national sporting organizations prevent their younger, budding runners from gaining experience and growing as athletes. The plan for UK Athletics may work out in the short term as money and focus is only directed to the top one per cent, but it could have detrimental effects in the long run as athletes who have yet to find the spotlight fail ever to be noticed or supported. 

Before Buckner took on the role of chief executive of UK Athletics last March, he had an extremely successful run as the head of British Swimming from 2017 to 2022. In his final full year in that position, British athletes swam to a national team record of eight medals at the Tokyo Olympics. UK Athletics, on the other hand, didn’t see a single athlete from Team Great Britain take home a gold medal from Tokyo, an unfortunate result the nation hadn’t seen since the 1996 Games. 

Buckner’s proposed selection process for UK Athletics may be aggressive, but it’s similar to how he approached the matter with British Swimming. “[I]n swimming, we were a little bit more ruthless about who is going to deliver for you,” he told the Daily Mail. “[UK Athletics needs] to be a bit tougher around that.” 

Buckner noted that the Budapest world championships, which are set for August, will be the first big test for this new approach. “We want to come away from Budapest with a decent medal haul and the potential to build on for Paris.” he said.