Brown believes Olympic archers are at least eight years in the making
The new man at the helm of the British archery squad wants to establish a programme to take the sport "well beyond" the London Olympics in 2012. Lloyd Brown added he had inherited a "very good" GB team "with a lot of international experience". "Archery is a long-term development sport - it takes at least eight years to develop an Olympic athlete," the American told BBC Radio 5 live. "You have to get way ahead to stay competitive internationally." Brown's appointment was confirmed by Archery GB on Monday following the departure of his predecessor, Peter Suk, in September. Suk guided Britain to a number of World Championship medals but his squad returned from the 2008 Beijing Olympics empty-handed, before he elected to return to his native South Korea.
 |
It's just pulling the squad together and making sure they're prepared to put in their best performance in London
|
Despite their Olympic blank, Brown expressed confidence in the current crop of British archers. "I've looked at each individual and met them in competition as well," he said. "They are very good competitors and some of them have quite a bit of accomplishment already, including Olympic medals and major championship wins. "It's a very good team with a lot of international experience. It's just pulling them together and making sure they're prepared to put in their best performance in London." But Brown, who admitted knowing "nothing" about Lord's cricket ground, the venue for the archery event in 2012, declined to set a medal target for the London Games. "There's the potential for the maximum with three individual men and women and also the team medals," he said. "But I really don't have a prediction, I haven't got that far yet."
|
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~59~RS~){kind=small}
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~59~RS~)
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
Bookmark with:
What are these?