Congrats to Neil Black

I was really pleased to see that Neil Black became the British Athletics team performance director recently. Neil is a great motivator and hands-on operator (literally in his case being the team’s physio for many years) and is someone I have a great respect for.

I remember when I was struggling with injuries throughout the 1990s and became quite depressed and unable to feel positive about anything. I saw every quack under the sun, from acupunturists to Zen Budhists, but to no avail. A GP friend, Peter Greenaway, who had just begun to specialise in sports medicine, put me in touch with Neil as a last throw of the dice. Neil immediately highlighted several muscular-skeleto problems and set about a course of treatment that enabled me to not only begin training again but also gain the bronze medal in the Zest Peugeot National Fitness Championships in 2000, aged 45.

I’ve learned a lot during my time in sport and one of the things is to beware of fads, BS merchants, psychologists and anyone who tries to reinvent the wheel. Saying that, science plays a major part in the sporting arena nowadays and Neil is in the same mould as Dave Brailsford as someone who will leave no stone unturned to give Team GB that vital edge in competition.

Now all we need to do is sort out our football team!