By Mark Walker, PA Sport

Injuries cost us, says Jones
Injuries blight medal haul - team

Athletics chief David Moorcroft has called for a complete overhaul of how the sport in this country is run following Britain's worst performance in a major championships for 25 years.

UK Athletics chief executive Moorcroft insisted big changes had to be made after Britain collected just two medals - one gold and a bronze - in the World Championships in Edmonton.

But he also questioned whether it was fair to expect our athletes to compete with the best in the world on a regular basis.

The former world 5,000metre record holder cited a disastrous spate of injuries as one of the main reasons for Britain's collective failure, but said he was not looking for excuses.

"I have been involved with athletics teams for 30 years and have never known an injury situation like the one we have had," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"But we cannot make excuses. It is our worst performance for some considerable time."

Following the euphoria of the British team's display in last year's Sydney Olympics in Sydney as many as 10 of our athletes were considered medal-winning contenders ahead of the games in Canada - but only gold medal winner Jonathan Edwards in the triple jump and decathlete Dean Macey (bronze) delivered.

"We will do a major review of what went wrong and how we can do better in the future.

"We've got to be better at planning our athletes' careers, of knowing when to peak and not to peak.

"Too many people have broken down and we will be looking at what we can do to minimise their chances of breaking down in the future."

Moorcroft insisted that there was a "climate of collective responsibility" among athletes, coaches, doctors and administrators for Britain's poor showing.

"We (administrators) certainly accept our fair share of responsibility. We've all got to work harder to do everything we can to make it likely that athletes perform to their best."

The former distance runner insisted however that there was an air of optimism in British athletics.

"There is still great belief within the team of the talent that exists. Dean Macey's achievement was staggering and Christian Malcolm and Mark Lewis-Francis have shown that they can mix it with the rest of the world, but there is still some way to go."

Asked whether the World Championships should revert to being held every four years like the Olympics rather than every two, Moorcroft responded: "It's the same for every nation and we are not the only nation to have done relatively poorly at these games.

"And we must ask whether we can realistically expect to be among the leading nations every year."

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