Scientific support plan for UK athletes

A £1m four-year plan has been unveiled to give the UK's leading athletes scientific support through to the 2004 Olympic Games and beyond. The first UK Athletics Sport Science Panel has been launched, tasked with improving the services to athletes on the lottery funded World Class Performance and Potential Programmes in the fields of biomechanics, nutrition, physiology, psychology and strength conditioning. Chaired by Brian Miller, sport psychologist and a veteran of four Olympic Games, the panel evolved following an independent review of existing services carried out by Steve Lawrence, sports science manager of the Western Australian Institute of Sport in Perth. After visiting the UK last year, Lawrence's warning was stark: If this opportunity is not taken, scientific support for UK sport in general - not just athletics - will suffer. Australia has taken 14 years to reach the point we are at now. Brian Miller says because of its successes internationally, athletics is hugely influential in the UK: The services we deliver regionally will be quality assured to help our athletes be even more successful, starting with this summer's IAAF World Championships. In short, we've hit the ground running!